Saturday 21 November 2015

TURNBULL GOVERNMENT DERAILS SENATE INQUIRY INTO ENVIRONMENT BILL

Media Release

Mark Butler MP.

Shadow Minister for Environment
 Climate Change and Water


Date:  18 November 2015
Labor has slammed the Turnbull Government for shutting down a Senate inquiry tasked with scrutinising the controversial bill that would deny the right to appeal project developments on environmental grounds to all but those with direct local interests.  
Tasmanian Labor Senator and Deputy Chair of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee Anne Urquhart said the government used its voting numbers in the committee to cancel public hearings and change the reporting date to a non-parliamentary sitting day to avoid scrutiny. 
“The government has shown absolute contempt for due process and for the more than 20,000 individuals, organisations and academic experts who took the time to raise their very legitimate concerns about the EPBC bill,” Senator Urquhart said.
“The Turnbull Government has wantonly trampled on key democratic principles by trying to dodge accountability and remove fundamental rights of appeal, and then shutting down a legitimate inquiry before a single hearing has been held.
“While we might have a new Prime Minister, this debacle shows the Abbott-era anti-environment policy continues unabated with the radical right of the Liberal party still calling the shots.”
Senator Urquhart said the idea that you need to live near an affected area of national environmental significance to have a stake in its continued health is “clearly preposterous”.
“Our precious environmental assets are part of the common wealth that benefits us all – not just those who live near them,” Senator Urquhart said.
“Mr Turnbull is asking Australians to accept a situation where the government could wreak untold damage on the environment through reckless project approvals, but recourse is reserved for the very few with direct local interests.  
“If the Bill proceeds, the burden of holding our government to account to protect our environment would fall squarely on the shoulders of individual landholders who probably won’t have the time, resources or expertise to undertake legal action.”
Senator Urquhart said the legislation, which was roundly rejected by the majority of submitters to the inquiry, was designed to disguise a government botch-up that saw the Carmichael Mine approval fall on appeal.
“The government bungled the Carmichael Mine approval and now they are casting around for an excuse to hide the fact they dropped the ball.
“Less than 0.5 per cent of projects have ever been rejected under this legislation so the government’s claims of widespread ‘vigilante lawfare’ are not only nonsensical, but totally baseless.”   
Senator Urquhart said the expert advice provided to the committee revealed the legislation would open up large holes in legal safeguards for environmental assets with no benefit for project proponents.
“The clear advice from legal experts is that the legislation would actually increase project approval timelines as courts would be tied up in lengthy consideration of who has a legal right to appeal,” Senator Urquhart said.
Environment Shadow Minister, Mark Butler, called on the government to retract the Bill, saying “If Australians are to have any faith in the environmental credentials of the Turnbull Government and its commitment to transparency, accountability and due process, this Bill must be withdrawn from the Parliament immediately.”

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