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Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
Tue Jun 16, 2020, 01:50 AM Jun 2020

Scientists fear Coalition push to deregulate environmental approvals will lead to extinction crisis

Scott Morrison’s announcement in wake of bushfires is ‘distressing’ and puts threatened species at risk, ecologists say

Scientists have expressed dismay and frustration at Scott Morrison’s latest push to deregulate the environmental approval process for major developments, noting it comes just months after an unprecedented bushfire crisis and during a review of national conservation laws.

In a speech on Monday, the prime minister said he wanted to slash approval times for major projects by moving to a streamlined “single touch” system for state and federal environmental assessments.

Morrison said the change would be informed by the review of Australia’s environment laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, which is under way. But his speech did not mention the environment or the act’s objectives to protect threatened species and ecosystems.

“It’s distressing,” said Ayesha Tulloch, a research fellow at the University of Sydney and vice-president of the Ecological Society of Australia.

“It’s an act which has the word environment in it and yet the conversations we have about it don’t even mention it. Even that term, ‘green tape’, is perceived as a negative thing rather than something that could promote economic stimulation.”

Graeme Samuel, a former competition watchdog chairman, is leading the once-in-a-decade review of the EPBC Act. He is due to hand down an interim report later this month.

Scientists and environmentalists argue the act is failing to prevent an extinction crisis. Just 22 of 6,500 projects referred for approval have been knocked back in the act’s 20-year history.

Australia has the world’s highest rate of mammalian extinction. Reporting by Guardian Australia has found the government has failed to implement or track measures for species known to be at risk, stopped listing major threats to species, and not registered a single piece of critical habitat for 15 years.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/16/scientists-fear-push-to-deregulate-environmental-approvals-will-lead-to-extinction-crisis



Scientists argue the environmental protection act is failing to prevent an extinction crisis. Just 22 of 6,500 projects referred for approval have been knocked back in the act’s 20-year history. Photograph: Evan Quartermain/Humane Society International


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