Article courtesy of The Nightly.
To its devotees, Nature Positive is far more than a commitment to protect our environmentally-significant natural assets.
It’s a religion, the core tenet of which is not just to prevent or offset environmental damage, but to leave the land in better condition than it was before.
That might sound like a commendable, righteous ideal. But like with many other religions, the danger comes when zealots demand complete, rigid adherence to its doctrine.
Because in the extremist Nature Positive worldview, there’s no balancing the desire to preserve the natural world with the practical reality that for our society to function, we need to farm things, mine things and build things.
Instead, Nature Positive’s fanatical followers want us to sacrifice good sense and economic prosperity on their altar to the environment.
Like other shadowy sects, Nature Positive has been born out of secrecy.
The so-called “consultation process” was conducted in the darkness, far from the prying eyes of public scrutiny.
Invitees to closed-door briefings with Government were barred from even bringing in mobile phones and laptops, instead having to rely only on handwritten notes to take in what is incredibly complex legislative reform.
They were then given just a few weeks to respond to what was a radical shake-up of the way business operates in Australia.
It’s important to note that when Nature Positive believers talk about protecting “the environment”, they’re not only talking about the Great Barrier Reef, our national parks or important habitats for flora and fauna. “The environment” is every patch of dirt, every blade of grass that might have to be disturbed in order to advance the economy.
So great is the danger posed by Nature Positive to our national prosperity, that, as revealed the The Nightly today, a group of corporate heavyweights banded together to make a collective appeal to Anthony Albanese.
The letter sent to the Prime Minister, bypassing his Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, was signed by seven of Australia’s biggest names in business, including Rio Tinto’s iron ore boss Simon Trott and Hancock Prospecting chief executive Garry Korte.
They warned Mr Albanese that Nature Positive would devastate industry, rip untold billions out of the economy and put tens of thousands of Australians out of work and into the dole queue.
So far, the Government appears intent on pushing ahead with this wide-ranging reform, despite the opposition from both industry and within Parliament.
Worryingly, that means it is courting support from the Greens and teal-dominated crossbench in order to push the changes through.
That’s left the door ajar for one of the most radical propositions pushed by Nature Positive disciples — the inclusion of a so-called “climate trigger”, which could scuttle billions in investment in major projects, including those in the renewable energy sector.
The Government needs to pump the brakes on Nature Positive lest Australia is left in a hell of its own making.
