Article by William Ton, courtesy of The West Australian.
By slashing the power and influence of environmental groups to challenge mining proposals if he wins government, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has anointed himself the resource sector’s best friend.
Mr Dutton will commit to defunding the Environmental Defenders Office and limiting the the ability for third parties to challenge decisions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act if he becomes prime minister.
“A government that I lead will not allow activists to dictate economic policy and to pull the handbrake on our prosperity,” Mr Dutton will say in an address to the Minerals Council of Australia on Wednesday.
“And we will cut green tape while striking the right balance between our responsibilities to the environment and the economy.”
The Environmental Defenders Office, the national body dedicated to protecting climate and communities through running litigation and advocating for law reform, had millions of dollars of federal funding restored by Labor after it was cut in 2013.
Mr Dutton’s promise comes after Minerals Council chief executive Tania Constable declared miners are “under siege” from a steady stream of restrictive policy interventions.
The opposition leader slammed the Albanese government’s “excessive intervention, undue regulation, and skyrocketing energy costs”, saying it has plunged the sector into “hardship, hurdles and headwinds”.
“Labor is worried about losing votes to Greens candidates in inner-city seats so the party is looking to shore-up that constituency ahead of an election,” Mr Dutton will say.
“The government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of the national interest.”
He promised to “turbocharge” the mining sector to help steer the nation through the economic slump and into another boom.
“A Dutton coalition government will be the best friend that the mining and resources sector in Australia will ever have,” he will say.
“I want to see more excavators digging, more gas flowing, and more trucks moving.
“And that requires removing those regulatory roadblocks which have needlessly inhibited projects coming online until years after they should have started.”
The industry body has campaigned against Labor’s “reckless” industrial relations changes.
Ms Constable said Australia had workplace regulations that consistently improved wages and productivity, while keeping workers safe.
“We need the government to explain why it is so determined to tear up successful workplace arrangements and drag us back to the failed ways of the past,” she said.
Mr Dutton reiterated his party’s push for an energy future consisting of renewables firmed by gas and nuclear, with plans to ramp up domestic gas production in the short term.
