Is the Abbott Government trying to silence opposing voices?

THERE was an uncomfortable exchange between The Project host Waleed Aly and broadcaster Steve Price last night, leading the former to cut their interview short.

THINGS got very heated on The Project last night with host Waleed Aly shutting down conservative broadcaster Steve Price after the two traded barbs on the show.

The interview did not get off to a good start with the 2GB presenter unhappy about a disclaimer broadcast ahead of his appearance that his wife worked for the Environment Minister.

“That’s got nothing to do with what I say ... so let’s get that straight,” Price said.

The segment explored the Federal Government’s plans to stop green groups from challenging its decisions in court after the Environment Minister was forced to withdraw his approval for a $16.5 billion coal mine.

Price said the legislation attempted to stop “cashed up groups like Greenpeace” which wanted to stop coal projects using litigation that stopped the creation of Australian jobs.

But when Aly disputed Price’s figures, saying the Adani’s Galilee coal mine would create less than 1500 jobs, not 1500 to 10,000 as suggested by Price, things got really heated.

“Hang on Waleed,” Price said.

“10 jobs is good, 100’s good, 200’s good, you’ve got a job, why shouldn’t the people who are going to work on these mines have a job?”

Aly hit back saying he wasn’t saying they shouldn’t: “It’s a question ... of whether there’s other jobs available, or what the cost should be ...” before being cut off by Price, who said “alright, go build a few windmills”.

“I will get to a question eventually Steve,” said a clearly frustrated Aly.

Price interrupted with: “Oh, will you? Well let’s just be honest about the way we do these things”.

The exchange ended with Aly saying: “I’ve heard your argument, thank you very much for joining us tonight”.

So what was it all about?

SABOTAGE

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has revealed there is a war going on in Australia but this battle isn’t being fought with guns.

Instead the fight over the future of one of the world’s biggest coal mines in Queensland is being waged in the courts, with devastating results.

Now Mr Abbott wants to cut back his enemy’s arsenal by restricting the rights of certain groups to challenge government decisions in court.

He wants to rid Australia of “vigilante legislation” that allows groups to engage in “law-fare” that is sabotaging investment and jobs.

But a former adviser to John Howard and now president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Geoffrey Cousins, said the government was simply trying to “silence any voices that have a contrary view to their own”.

THE BATTLEGROUND

Adani’s Carmichael mine is a $16.5 billion project located in the Galilee Basin that has been hugely controversial because of its potential impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.

Activists argue it could hurt marine life in the World Heritage-listed site because the coal would have to be shipped out of a nearby port.

Coal mining in the Galilee Basin would put the Great Barrier Reef at risk, activists say. Picture: AFP/Sarah Lai

But the mine will also create jobs and Mr Abbott said massive projects such as this should not be held hostage to law-fare.

Currently anyone adversely affected by a government decision is able to challenge it in court under section 487.2 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. This includes anyone who has been a member of a green group in the two years before the decision was made.

The government wants to restrict these legal actions to those directly impacted, such as land holders, but it’s unclear how this would be defined.

As Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has said, if people live 1600km away from a project, what right do they have to stop economic investment in local communities?

THEIR RIVALS

In the case of the Carmichael mine, community organisation Mackay Conservation Group, based about 450km away from the Galilee Basin, took the Environment Minister Greg Hunt to court after he approved the mine last year.

It was helped by GetUp! which provided funds for the legal action and the environmental legal centre EDO NSW, which represented the group in court.

Mr Hunt eventually admitted he did not adequately consider the impact of the mine development on two threatened species when he approved the mine in 2014.

The two reptiles were the yakka skink and the ornamental snake, which are both vulnerable species. This forced the minister to withdraw his approval for the mine.

Going through photos from last month. Here's an adorable little Ornamental Snake (Denisonia maculata). Very rare. pic.twitter.com/poDlPo76kQ

— Stephen Zozaya (@StephenZozaya) June 27, 2013

Don’t forget about Yakka Skink.

The minister must now reconsider the mining application and decide whether or not to approve it again. This time, Mr Hunt has to make sure he considers all impacts.

As Mr Cousins told Radio National, the minister made a mistake and the only person the government should be angry at is Mr Hunt.

ENEMIES ARE CIRCLING

While the mine approval has been withdrawn, some issues were left resolved because the Federal Court did not actually make a ruling on the case.

The Mackay Conservation Group also wanted the court to consider whether Adani’s environmental history was relevant in Mr Hunt’s assessment, and whether the minister should have considered climate change impacts.

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.

Other groups have also lodged legal challenges to the mine, and this has been effective in forcing changes.

Earlier this year, the North Queensland Conservation Council dropped its case against Adani when the company agreed not to dump dredge spoil in the marine park, but to dump it on land instead. This happened after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) also threatened to place the reef on the list of world heritage in danger.

Environmental “vigilantes” protesting against the Adani mine. Photo: Michael Ross

Traditional owners of Galilee Basin, the Wangan and Jagalingou (W & J) people have mounted their own separate Federal Court action to stop the mine proceeding.

Attorney-General George Brandis said current laws allowed “radical green activists to engage in vigilante litigation” to stop important job-creating projects. “The activists themselves have declared that is their objective.”

But an Australia Institute report showed just 33 cases of 5500 projects had been taken to the Federal Court by third parties.

Of these, six were “legally successful” and four were discontinued or resolved between the parties. The remaining 23 cases were unsuccessful.

THE HOSTAGES

During an interview on Radio National on Wednesday morning, Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche, said he had spent time with the Townsville mayor and the community was in despair about what happened to the Carmichael project.

“This is a community that’s lost 13,000 jobs in the last two and a half years, and it’s slated to benefit to the tune of about 2,000 jobs form the Carmichael project,” Mr Roche said.

But Mr Cousins said coal jobs were disappearing.

“Technology always wins, it wins against government, it wins against corporations,” Mr Cousins said.

“This is like Kodak saying, ‘film will always be there’, well film isn’t there anymore and Kodak isn’t there anymore, technology overtakes.”

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.

Both Adani and the Prime Minister have said the mine would create 10,000 jobs but during court proceedings earlier this year, Adani’s expert conceded it would only create 1464 job years.

The four mines planned for the Galilee Basin were originally spruiked to create a total of 28,000 jobs. But the Australia Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Canberra, said the figure was based on a “disputed” model that does not include the loss of jobs in other industries such as manufacturing.

Meanwhile, environmental groups lobbied banks to refuse to lend Adani money for its project. As of last week, 12 major global banks including the major lenders to Australian coal projects, have withdrawn from involvement with Adani or ruled out lending money to it.

NEXT MOVES

The change to the legislation was approved by Federal Cabinet on Monday night and went to the Coalition party room on Tuesday. It is expected to be introduced to parliament this week.

Senator Glenn Lazarus told Radio National this morning that the government’s plans were just another attempt to have full control and give the people of Australia no rights.

“They just don’t want anybody to be able to appeal or complain about decisions that they make,” Senator Lazarus said.

“I would strongly oppose anything that takes away the rights of Australians to appeal against anything like this,” adding, he suspected his fellow crossbench senators would feel the same.