“If the reef were an employer, it would be Australia’s fifth-largest,” he said.
“Yet neither the present laws nor the proposed reforms, provide the Australian government with the ability to act to protect the reef from irresponsible clearing, due to a 25-year-old loophole.
“Of course, the climate case for closing the loophole is massive, with millions of tonnes of emissions released each year through both deforestation and native forest logging.”
Henry said “genuine co-operation” between the Australian and Queensland governments was needed, the starting point of which was a recognition of the Commonwealth’s power to intervene when the state was not living up to its responsibilities.
“Queensland doesn’t have to wait to be dictated to by the Commonwealth,” he said.
“This legislation offers another vehicle to facilitate co-operation – regional plans must be developed in a collaborative, inclusive and transparent process that respects the science.”
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But despite his criticism of the EPBC reforms, Henry said “with further improvement” they offered hope of a better approach.
“The proposed reforms offer two substantial improvements. First, they reaffirm the Australian government’s role in protecting the national interest,” he said.
“Second, they inject greater certainty and consistency in the application of the laws.”
Henry said as demand for renewable energy soared, the average time for EPBC assessment and approval of wind or solar farms blew out from a little more than 500 days in 2018 to 831 days in 2021.
“All these projects, whether they be wind farms, solar farms, transmission lines, new housing developments, land-based carbon sequestration programs, new and enhanced transport corridors, or critical minerals extraction and processing facilities, must be delivered, and they must be delivered quickly,” he said.
“They must be delivered efficiently. Most importantly, they must be delivered in a way that not only protects but restores nature.”
The proposed reforms have received friendly fire from within Labor. Backbencher Ed Husic warned that reforms to expand so-called national interest powers could be open to abuse by future Coalition governments.
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