The Australian government has brought forward consultation on its overhaul of the country’s environmental laws, which observers hope will create vast improvements on the way climate and biodiversity issues are handled.
Reforms to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act have been widely anticipated since the Labor government came to office last year, as the current laws are universally believed to be outdated and not fit-for-purpose.
A statement from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek released Thursday said that experts from more than 30 groups will be invited to examine the detail of the 1,000-page package, to make sure the laws were as effective as possible.
“The new laws are complex. This early consultation will help make sure we get the detail right,” the statement said.
“Consultation on drafts of the new laws will occur on a rolling basis over the coming weeks and months. This will allow us to incorporate feedback we get from experts as we go, so we don’t waste a minute.”
The first round of consultation will begin later this month, according to the statement, with the aim of introducing the laws into Parliament next year.
Plibersek made the announcement a day after she was roundly criticised by climate and environmental groups for siding with two coal companies in a legal action scrutinising her decision not to consider climate impacts when approving two new coal mine developments.
The Federal Court case ruled that it was “legally open” to the minister on whether to assess fossil fuel projects’ climate impacts on matters of national environmental significance.
In court, the government successfully argued that the emissions from the two projects were not significant from a global perspective, and that if the projects were rejected, other similar projects overseas would go ahead.
The Biodiversity Council released a statement Thursday saying it respected the court’s decision, but said it was “absurd” to continue to approve coal mines in Australia, and the ruling highlighted Australia’s environmental laws and policies required a “major overhaul”.
“This decision highlights the urgency of legislative reform,” Biodiversity Council member Professor Jan McDonald from the University of Tasmania said.
“As we face the consequences of a dual biodiversity and climate crisis, Parliament must amend our national environmental laws to require the emissions from new coal and gas projects to be an essential part of decision-making.”
Deakin University professor and council member Euan Ritchie said great opportunities existed for economic, cultural, social, and environmental gains as part of revised and strengthened environmental legislation.
“To not explicitly consider the impacts that industry, including fossil fuel production, might have on climate change and biodiversity is to stand in denial of laws of physics, and to disregard climate and ecological science,” he said.
The government has also been criticised for pursuing its voluntary biodiversity market scheme before its developed its EPBC reforms, with observers saying it had put the cart before the horse.
By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com
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