Labor’s own environment action network laments delay of EPA legislation, stating ‘terrible loss’ would allow illegal logging to continueGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPlans for a federal environment protection agency have been shelved indefinitely after Anthony Albanese intervened to quell a pre-election backlash in Western Australia.The prime minister has confirmed laws to establish the EPA and a separate information-gathering body won’t be debated this term, dashing the hopes of green groups and Labor backbenchers who wanted them passed.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…Labor’s own environment action network laments delay of EPA legislation, stating ‘terrible loss’ would allow illegal logging to continueGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPlans for a federal environment protection agency have been shelved indefinitely after Anthony Albanese intervened to quell a pre-election backlash in Western Australia.The prime minister has confirmed laws to establish the EPA and a separate information-gathering body won’t be debated this term, dashing the hopes of green groups and Labor backbenchers who wanted them passed.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
Plans for a federal environment protection agency have been shelved indefinitely after Anthony Albanese intervened to quell a pre-election backlash in Western Australia.
The prime minister has confirmed laws to establish the EPA and a separate information-gathering body won’t be debated this term, dashing the hopes of green groups and Labor backbenchers who wanted them passed.
On Sunday, the Greens accused Labor of capitulating to vested interests in a decision that showed it had “no integrity on the environment”.
Three months after scuttling a draft deal that his environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, reached with the Greens and David Pocock to establish the nature watchdog, Albanese has again pushed the reform off the agenda.
Albanese blamed the Coalition and Greens for opposing the proposal, leaving Labor without a path through the Senate.
The Greens hardened their position over summer and were unwilling to support the laws without a nationwide ban on native forest logging, which the government described as an “extreme demand” it wasn’t prepared to accept.
“I can’t see that it has a path to success. So at this stage, I can say that we won’t be proceeding with it this term. There simply isn’t a [Senate] majority, as there wasn’t last year,” Albanese told The Conversation.
The prime minister indicated a re-elected Labor government would look to revive the plan after the election.
The latest intervention came after the WA premier, Roger Cook, and WA-based miners reacted furiously to the renewed push from Plibersek, Labor backbenchers and Labor’s grassroots environmental action group (Lean) to rescue the stalled legislation before the election.
In a message to his federal colleagues, Cook – who is facing a state election in March – said the WA government would not “stand by idly and allow you to damage our economy”.
Lean’s co-convener, Felicity Wade, declined to comment on the decision to pull the EPA bill.
But in a social media post, the group said delaying the legislation was a “terrible loss” that would allow the illegal logging of endangered species habitat to continue.
The Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young accused Labor of caving to the WA mining industry rather than standing up for nature.
“Gina Rinehart, Roger Cook, the WA mining industry said ‘boo’ and the prime minister jumped,” she told reporters in Canberra.
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s national biodiversity policy adviser, Brendan Sydes, echoed Hanson-Young’s sentiment.
“Three years on, the Albanese government has nothing to show for its 2022 election commitment to establish a national environment protection agency,” he said.
“It’s disappointing the government has been spooked by a blatantly self-interested campaign run by the resources industry and peak business groups opposing the independent administration of national nature laws.”
The Minerals Council of Australia chief executive, Tania Constable, welcomed the decision to shelve the EPA, which she claimed would have delayed projects, driven up costs and undermined investor confidence.
Constable said Labor should have abandoned the proposal altogether, arguing there was “no path forward for these laws”.
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