Labor leader Dean Winter has launched an outrageous and reckless attack on Tasmania’s environment, suggesting in today’s edition of The Australian there should be new and wide-ranging exemptions for industry in federal environmental laws.
We’re in a climate and biodiversity crisis. Communities are already experiencing serious impacts through bigger floods and more frequent fires. Threatened species like the Tasmanian devil, swift parrot, and masked owl are being pushed towards extinction as their habitat is destroyed by logging. Our waterways and beaches are being polluted and poisoned by multinational corporations.
In the face of all the major environmental damage being inflicted, any responsible government would be moving to strengthen environmental laws. Instead, the Labor leader wants to weaken them.
This idea from the Labor leader sounds more like something Eric Abetz would have come up with.
The logging industry has been exempt from environmental laws for decades. As a direct result, species like the swift parrot are now on the brink of extinction. Now is the time to end this ‘carve out’ for logging, instead of Dean Winter’s proposal to expand it to other industries.
Labor needs to understand the environment is critically important in its own right, and it underpins the health of our society and economy. Properly protecting the environment is essential for now and future generations.
Labor’s move to tear up critical environmental laws shows why it’s so important to have more Greens in Parliament, holding the major parties accountable, and being a strong voice for our island home.
