Save the laws that protect the places you love

Save the laws that protect the places you love

image of Save the laws that protect the places you love

Please tell Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Minister for the Environment Simon Corbell to stand up for Commonwealth environment responsibilities and long-gained powers. Tell them we want Federal environmental laws kept and strengthened - not watered down. 

If it was not for these essential national environmental laws we would have oil rigs on the Great Barrier Reef, a dam blocking the majestic Franklin River and a coal port in pristine Shoalwater Bay.  In the ACT we would have lost more endangered Yellow Box Red Gum woodland and nationally endangered wildlife such as the Pink-Tail Worm-Lizard.

It is crucial that the ACT ...

Please tell Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Minister for the Environment Simon Corbell to stand up for Commonwealth environment responsibilities and long-gained powers. Tell them we want Federal environmental laws kept and strengthened - not watered down. 

If it was not for these essential national environmental laws we would have oil rigs on the Great Barrier Reef, a dam blocking the majestic Franklin River and a coal port in pristine Shoalwater Bay.  In the ACT we would have lost more endangered Yellow Box Red Gum woodland and nationally endangered wildlife such as the Pink-Tail Worm-Lizard.

It is crucial that the ACT Government hears loud and clear from the community that it is essential we maintain and strengthen the environmental laws that protect our native woodlands, wildlife and our beautiful Bush Capital landscapes. That means not letting the Commonwealth offload their environmental protection responsibilities onto State Governments

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ACT Government: Save our environmental protections laws

Please sign our online letter to tell Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Minister for the Environment Simon Corbell to stand up for Commonwealth environment responsibilities and long-gained powers. Tell them we want Federal environmental laws kept and strengthened. We need this to safeguard our environment here and across Australia.

Sign the petition below and go here to learn more.

Dear ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and ACT Minister for the Environment Simon Corbell,

CC: Shadow Minister for the Environment Nicole Lawder, Federal Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt

I do not want the ACT Government to take on environmental approvals which are currently, and should remain, the responsibility of the Commonwealth. So I am writing to express my deep concern that the ACT has started a process of negotiation to take on these responsibilities. Our national environment laws need to be strengthened not weakened.

These national environmental laws are a critical part of a healthy society. They protect our land and wildlife, and ensure that our air and water are not polluted by destructive development.

The current process to create a “One-Stop-Shop” to reduce “green tape” will wind back over 30 years of national environmental protection laws, leaving our water, land and iconic wildlife vulnerable to unchecked development. The ACT Government should not be a part of this. Now more than ever we need the ACT Government to demand that we uphold and strengthen national environmental laws to safeguard Australia’s natural heritage for future generations.

History has shown us that the Commonwealth Government has played a critical role in protecting matters of national environmental significance. Short-sighted development proposals have threatened Australia’s natural heritage many times in the past and the Commonwealth Government has stepped in to prevent irreversible damage. Examples include preventing a dam on the Franklin River, a coal port in Shoalwater Bay and oil rigs in the Great Barrier Reef. If it wasn’t for national environmental laws we would have lost even more of our local endangered woodlands, grasslands and species, such as the pink-tailed worm-lizard here in the ACT.

I urge the ACT Government to oppose the weakening of our national environmental laws and to champion keeping and strengthening these laws. I urge the ACT Government not to take on Commonwealth environmental approval powers.

Ironically, the reality of this move is that this process will lead to an ‘eight-stop-shop’ as each state and territory will continue to have different environment assessment and approval processes.

I ask you to stop these negotiations and instead to make representations to the Hon. Tony Abbott, Prime Minister and the Hon. Greg Hunt, Minister for Environment, and call on them to keep and strengthen national environmental laws to ensure the Federal Government will continue to play an important role in protecting our land, water and wildlife.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,