WA Labor MP slams government, state’s newspaper over ‘nature negative’ slant

WA Labor MP Chris Tallentire has launched an extraordinary attack on his own government’s report and Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media, accusing the state’s only daily newspaper of waging a campaign to derail environmental protection efforts.

Tallentire, who was environment spokesman when Labor was in opposition, used the cover of parliamentary privilege on Wednesday to lay bare concerns about the report underpinning the state’s Environmental Protection Amendment Bill.

Tallentire said recommendations from the Vogel–McFerran review to streamline environmental approvals were akin to “a wishlist” industry groups had sought for years and claimed the report contained “very serious” inconsistencies.

Chris Tallentire has been a Labor MP for 16 years and has announced he will not contest the 2025 state election.Credit: WA Labor

Tallentire, who has been Member for Gosnells for 16 years, questioned a proposal to strip third parties of the right to appeal EPA decisions not to assess projects, and challenged the competency of the environmental watchdog’s staff.

He also raised concerns about changes that would enable the environment minister to give weight to the economic and social implications of a project (as well as environmental implications) and rubbished claims the appeals process had been hijacked by “green activists”.

But the former environmental consultant was also scathing of coverage of the federal government’s “nature positive” laws, which have been pulled from Thursday’s senate notice paper over concerns levelled by the business community about their so-called “climate trigger”.

Tallentire singled out Seven West Media, owner of The West Australian.

Although claiming he had “never heard” of the ASX-listed company’s national masthead The Nightly, backed by mining magnates Gina Rinehart and Chris Ellison, he said its coverage had been referenced at an environmental conference in Canberra hosted by “the architect” of the new laws.

And Tallentire accused the media giant of joining the effort to counter environmental protection laws at both a state and federal level.

“This concerted effort is most clearly seen in the writings of the Seven West Media group, with the number of headlines and stories on at least a weekly basis, attacking Nature Positive, evidence of this,” he said.

“[Conference keynote speaker Professor Graeme Samuel] actually referred to The Nightly and its campaign against nature positive, and now we see headlines on the front page of The West Australian that these laws are nature negative.

“Actually, nature negative is the situation that we have got into. This is why we must have the strongest possible environmental protection laws at a state and federal level.”

Tallentire said international investment could be stymied if the state and federal government did not have the best environmental standards and keep pace with global expectations around environment, social and governance issues.

Last week, WA Premier Roger Cook told a Perth business breakfast he welcomed news the federal government was willing to scale back the nature positive reforms that had drawn the ire of the state’s miners, saying he believed they could feel WA “coming en masse”.

The Albanese government pulled the key election pledge from discussion on Thursday morning amid pressure from sections of the business community about the implications for major projects.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA had been lobbying against the laws with sections of the mining industry over fears they would duplicate approvals, delay and blow out costs on major projects and deter investment.

Seven West Media’s billionaire chairman Kerry Stokes has business interests spanning mining, property and construction.

Seven West Media has been contacted for comment.

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