Another Federal Environment Minister bites the dust!!

Howard government in real trouble if it doesn't start taking the environment seriously.

The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) has welcomed the replacement of Senator Ian Campbell as Federal Environment Minister. The new Minister for Environment (and Water) will be Malcolm Turnbull.

“Senator Campbell, in his short stay, was an arrogant and narrow-minded Minister who appeared to delight in opposing everything that the Australian environment movement proposed, with the notable exception of whaling bans.

“He oversaw the shredding of the Commonwealth EPBC Act, opposed renewable energy, defied the public on Kyoto, tried to heavy States into new uranium mines, supported clearfelling old growth forests, approved the diversion of the NT’s McArthur River, and stripped many community environment groups of their small but important Commonwealth funding.

“Good riddance!

“We are very hopeful that Mr Turnbull, who seems like an intelligent and open-minded person, will adopt a very different approach that actually delivers crucial outcomes for Australia’s, including northern Australia’s, threatened environments.

“In particular, Mr Turnbull must ensure the Howard government dramatically improves its performance on climate change. This means dropping foolhardy plans for more uranium mines and nuclear reactors and getting on with the job of rapidly and substantially reducing Australia’s ever increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Other key areas include protecting our river systems from large scale land clearing and water extraction – and reversing the approval for the diversion of the McArthur River for mining; increased funding for biodiversity conservation; much greater emphasis on Indigenous land management and Indigenous Rangers groups, and strong international leadership on environmental protection.

“We are running out of time for real leadership on the environment and Mr Turnbull has a heavy weight of responsibility on his shoulders to deliver a lot more than his predecessor.”

Further comment: Peter Robertson 8981 1984 / 0409 089 020