We should use Australia's environment laws to protect our 'living wonders' from new coal and gas projects
Federal laws made in 1999 to better protect the environment are failing.
- Federal laws made in 1999 to better protect the environment are failing.
- These shortcomings have prompted a volunteer environment group to mount a legal challenge against federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek “to protect our living wonders from coal and gas”.
- Read more:
Times have changed: why the environment minister is being forced to reconsider climate-related impacts of pending fossil fuel approvals
Australia’s national environmental law
- The primary objective of the EPBC Act is to:
provide for the protection of the environment, especially those aspects of the environment that are matters of national environmental significance. - provide for the protection of the environment, especially those aspects of the environment that are matters of national environmental significance.
- However, climate change is not considered directly in the EPBC Act as one of the factors affecting matters of national environmental significance.
- According to the Climate Council report, since 1999, 740 new projects to extract coal, oil and gas have been approved or passed, with 555 of them not having undergone detailed environmental assessment.
Climate risks to Australia
In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the most recent comprehensive global assessment of climate change risks. The special fact sheet about climate impacts on natural and human systems in Australia and New Zealand provides a helpful summary of that assessment. It lists nine key risks in Australia associated with climate change. Of these, the top five risks for our living wonders are:
That last one is particularly relevant to the EPBC Act.
A legal challenge is underway
- Last week, the environment council challenged Plibersek’s rejection to reconsider two of the three coal mine expansion projects, both in New South Wales.
- A decision from the judge on this case is pending and should be provided in the next few months.
- A spokesperson for the minister has advised the media they would not comment “as this is a legal matter”.
Protecting our living wonders means fixing Australia’s environment law
- We need a national environment law that genuinely protects our environment by stopping highly polluting projects and enabling ones that can help us rapidly switch to a clean economy instead.
- Read more:
Australia’s environment law doesn’t protect the environment – an alarming message from the recent duty-quashing climate case