2020-06-15
The Morrison Government’s “deregulation plan” is code for letting big business cut corners at the expense of our environment, the Greens say, pledging to fight the plan in the Parliament.
Greens Spokesperson for the Environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“The Morrison Government wants to sacrifice environmental protections so miners and developers can bank bigger profits.
“The push to cut environmental protections for corporate profit is outdated, last century thinking, that will take Australia backwards. Morrison’s plan is a fast-track to the 1950s, not to a modern smarter Australia.
“Our environment laws are already failing to protect Australia’s wildlife. Koalas, native birds and hundreds of other Australian animals need urgent protection from extinction.
“The Government is trying to pre-determine the recommendations of the independent 10-year review into the EPBC Act in favour of more habitat destruction.
“Under the EPBC Act, koalas have already lost one million hectares of critical habitat. Rio Tinto was able to blast away 46,000 years of Indigenous heritage. Water catchments for Sydney have been polluted by dirty coal mines.
“At least 7.7million hectares of critical habitat has been destroyed for mining and development over the last 20 years.
“The Government’s attack on the environment means more dead koalas, more logging and more pollution.
“Using Covid19 as an excuse to scrap environmental protections is an act of bastardry. Most Australians want better protection for the environment, not less. Australians want jobs and projects that look after our forests, beaches and parks, not jobs that trash our environment and kill off our native animals.”