THE decision follows the Federal Court’s move to overturn approval of Indian mining giant Adani’s $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine in central Queensland.
Advertisement
The provisions of the law in question were introduced by the Howard government in 1999 and relate to who has the right to mount a legal challenge against a ministerial approval.
It is the third attempt at a plan for Adani’s new terminal, after earlier versions involving the dumping of potentially toxic seabed in reef waters and sensitive wetlands were scrapped amid public outcry, legal challenges and a change of state government.
THE federal government will repeal a section of environmental law that allows “activists” to stop major projects.
If the court had found in favour of the group, this could have had far reaching consequences for mining projects and how they are assessed.
GetUp!and Environmental Justice Australia have also asked the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) to investigate whether the project will actually create the number of jobs it says it will.
Mr Macfarlane said the recent court win was just the start of a “very well orchestrated and highly funded campaign that will see the end of coal-mining development in Australia”.
“We’re saying if there are environmental issues, there are plenty of people adjacent to the project who can raise those concerns”.
“Farming and agriculture – with a lower exchange rate and with the Free Trade Agreements – has a bright future so it’s important that the government sticks to a plan instead of just coming up with this random piece of legislation when they’re under a lot of pressure”.
It’s been reported that Tasmanian-based environmental group Save the Tarkine has described the proposed changes to Federal environment protection laws as “an attack on democracy”.
“This is a pathetic thought bubble devised, it would appear, by the Government to distract from their current political woes”, Mr Butler said.
“These laws are historic”.
A key feature of authoritarianism is that the government is above the law-it is not accountable to the people for its actions.
“Now if the Government can’t get its act together, it’s simply irresponsible for them to tear up an arrangement that has been in place for more than 15 years”.
Senator Brandis said legislative reform is needed to prevent the rise of “lawfare”, where community groups use the courts as a political weapon. “The problem is not the community, it is the Government’s incompetence, and its total lack of empathy of effectively protecting the environment”, said Kennedy in a press statement.
Yet the government would have you believe Australia’s economic progress has been thrown into chaos by radical environmental activists and by this pesky thing called the judicial process.
Section 487 (2) allows “individuals and organisations engaged in the protection, conservation or research into the environment within Australia and its territories” to take action against government decisions on the environment.
The Institute’s executive director is Ben Oquist, who used to be a senior adviser to former Greens leader Bob Brown. As The Australia Institute points out, third-party appeals to the Federal Court have only affected 0.4 per cent of all projects referred under the legislation.
Advertisement
Cynically stripping away the rights of communities to defend a healthy environment is not the type of behaviour we should expect from our national leaders.
