New environmental protection agency must be more than tokenistic

There is no more telling indictment of Australia’s environmental efforts than the nation’s flora and fauna casualty list. Since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia has lost about 100 unique flora and fauna species. Every decade, another one or two animal species is added to that list.

“We are the extinction capital of the world now,” federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek says in today’s Sun-Herald. What a terrible achievement, and this from a nation with one of the lowest population densities in the world.

Tanya Plibersek flies to Montreal this week to push for greater efforts to protect biodiversity.Credit: James Brickwood

Plibersek flies to the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal on Wednesday determined to put an end to Australian extinctions, and to push for greater international action to protect the world’s lands, oceans and species.

She is also determined to stop UNESCO listing the Great Barrier Reef as an endangered world heritage site, after a report from the United Nations agency said Australia was not doing enough to stop the global warming that has put the reef at risk.

The best way to stop that happening is for Australia to do more to stop global warming, so it is good to hear Plibersek advocate for a “strong target” on climate emissions.

It is welcome that someone of Plibersek’s stature and capability is now in charge of the environment portfolio.

While she may have been disappointed not to retain the education portfolio, as environment minister she has raised the profile of the biodiversity challenges that face Australia and the world and embarked upon an ambitious agenda to overhaul the nation’s environmental laws.

The federal government’s decision to adopt stronger national environmental standards and create a national Environmental Protection Agency, in light of a scathing legislative review, is to be applauded.

But the new body must be more than tokenistic, an exercise in virtue signalling by a new government eager to establish its environmental credentials.

The former Coalition government’s Emissions Reductions Fund is now the subject of an inquiry after a whistleblower claimed it was a “fraud” that had wasted $4.5 billion of taxpayers’ money and had done little to reduce emissions.

The review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, carried out by Graeme Samuel, found it had failed to protect Australia’s ecology or halt extinctions and was not fit for purpose, especially in a changing climate.

In particular, Samuel found the act was cumbersome and resulted in “piecemeal decisions” which failed to account for the cumulative environmental impact of various development projects. There were also jurisdictional issues when it came to working with the states.

To this end, the new agency is intended to streamline project assessment processes and ensure greater oversight of the environmental impact of development, including emissions. The federal government should also consider enacting a “climate trigger” to allow it to intervene in projects that could harm the climate.

It is not easy to balance environmental protection with the need for affordable housing and a growing economy that can support the nation. But unless we are happy to keep losing one of our native animals every decade, and live with the consequences of a changing climate, we have no choice but to meet that challenge.

To this end, the federal government has taken a step in the right direction this week. Let’s hope history judges it well, for our sake and the sake of all our native plants and animals, which after 234 years of destruction, are relying on the government to get it right.