Greens up the stakes on minority

If not always for the right reasons, the Albanese government has done the right thing staring down the more extreme demands of environment groups and the radical Greens. Yet refusing to find a commonsense compromise with business and the federal opposition has left Labor, and the nation, in a more vulnerable position in the event of a minority government after the election.

Greens’ demands to ban future coal and gas developments and insert a climate trigger into an updated Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act wedged the government and diminished the standing of Environment Minister, and Albanese rival, Tanya Plibersek.

There was strong support for an overhaul of the EPBC Act from all sides of the debate because the present arrangements are acknowledged as unwieldy and overly complex. The Greens again showed themselves unable to compromise. Rather than fight hard to secure a bipartisan approach that used the EPBC reform process to protect the environment while streamlining approvals, the Albanese government ended up delivering nothing.

It was a mistake to split the EPBC reform agenda into two. First, the establishment of an independent federal Environmental Protection Agency, to be followed by a new set of guidelines and rules that it would oversee. Unrealistic demands about the powers of an EPA and what it would mean for government made it difficult to progress. Mistrust about what the second instalment of reforms would be made the risks too great. This was due in large part to the extreme positions taken by the Greens and lobby groups that viewed the EPA as a way to further bureaucratise and frustrate mining and fossil fuel projects they did not like.

The Albanese government’s environmental journey has culminated in a justifiable decision to pass legislation that cements the future of the salmon farming industry in Tasmania, against the cries of Bob Brown and activist Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The legislation was supported by the federal opposition.

In response to criticism, the government now says it will revisit its controversial Nature Positive agenda, including an independent EPA, if it wins the election. The Greens have let it be known they will seek to overturn the salmon decision. The Greens and some teal MPs are also proposing that an end to native forest logging be a non-negotiable demand to win their support in the event of a minority Labor government.

The experience of the Albanese first term emphasises how perilous the prospect of having to negotiate with the Greens would be. Labor must remember the lessons of the last time it jumped into bed with the Greens. Julia Gillard’s carbon tax scuttled Labor’s electoral fortunes when it last was subjected to the coercive demands of the protest party. With the energy transition at a critical point, the stakes this time around for the nation are much higher.