The decision by the Federal Environment Minister to ‘go slow’ on the secretive Nature Positive Plan does very little to alleviate concerns regarding Labor’s true intentions in this space.
“Today’s backflip from the Federal Environment Minister is another concession by Labor that their policies do not align with community or industry expectations” said Neil Thomson Shadow Minister for Environment.
“Ever since the Albanese Government conducted meetings behind closed doors, industry and businesses across Western Australia have been sounding the alarm regarding what the Nature Positive Plan will really mean for our state.
“Considering we’ve already had decades of world class environmental protection in this country, these reforms would have been an unnecessary duplication and placed even further burdens on business.
“Thankfully, industry, business leaders and Western Australians saw the Nature Positive Plan for what it was – an opportunity for Federal Labor to appease their inner-city leftie base at the expense of WA’s resources sector.
The Green Web report, released last year by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, clearly highlighted that over $300 billion worth of current and future investment has been identified as held up by environmental approvals, and Labor’s Nature Positive Plan would have only made it much worse.
“The similarities between the Cook Labor Government and the Albanese Labor Government are best defined by their insistency on making it difficult to do business in Western Australia.
“Whether it’s the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, the Nature Positive Plan or years of accumulative red and green tape, Labor have destroyed our reputation as a state that is welcome for resource industries.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s state or federal, when Labor’s in charge you know that businesses will suffer.
“It is also laughable that the Premier and State Environment Minister, Reece Whitby, are posturing that it was due to their intervention that these reforms are being rolled back.
“If it wasn’t for the severe public backlash from industry and Western Australians, I’m confident that the Premier and Minister Whitby would have happily waved these reforms through. However, at the first sign of public backlash they’re shelving anything controversial, just as they did with the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act.
“The Nature Positive Plan was hatched up in Canberra and was going to do nothing to protect our environment while undermining our economy.” Mr Thomson said.
