We are fortunate to live in one of the most diverse and beautiful places in the world. But it’s under threat like never before. Our Great Barrier Reef is dying and our farmers are suffering through intense drought as a result of climate change caused by the mining, burning and exporting of coal and gas.
For decades, Liberal and Labor governments have let corporations get away with trashing our planet for their own private profit. Both parties have stood by while their big donors have dug up our environment, destroyed our climate and sold off our green spaces, with little accountability. They’re polluting the places we live – our farmland, our rivers and our oceans – and destroying the places we love. Hundreds of native Australian species have been pushed to the brink of extinction, while recovery plans for their survival gather dust.
The Greens recognise that good economic management means taking care of our planet. Our future will only be a prosperous one if we build our economy in line with the principles of long-term sustainability and science, rather than short-term self-interest and political point-scoring.
We will phase out support for industries that destroy our environment and support industries that protect our environment, creating the clean, green jobs and industries of the future.
The Labor and Liberal parties have taken millions from the big polluters in recent years, including $13 million from energy and resources companies since 2012. Unlike the major parties, the Greens refuse to take donations from these corporations who are buying policy influence. That means we are entirely focused on outcomes that are good for our community, not outcomes that suit big corporate donors. We can’t be bought and we won’t sell you, or our environment, out.
Our plan to protect our
environment & everything that depends on it:
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Overhaul our environmental laws · More » |
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Tackle the waste crisis to make Australia a global leader in reusing and recycling products · More » |
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Look after our oceans, forests, rivers and reefs by introducing a network of marine parks, ending deforestation, saving the Great Barrier Reef, protecting the Murray-Darling basin and stopping oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight · More » |
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Ban all new coal seam gas and fracking projects across Australia, including expansions to existing projects · More » |
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Protect animals from cruelty · More » |
Our plan for protecting our environment
Overhaul our environmental laws
We should all be able to enjoy the places we love in nature without them being threatened by big polluters and corporations who want to trash our environment for their own profit. The Australian government has the power, authority and resources to look after Australia’s natural heritage and better protect our wild places and threatened species. But we need to end the influence that corporations have over our parliament to make this happen.
The major parties have let big corporates dictate their environment policies and destroy our environment. Environmental funding has been slashed, while Liberal and Labor government efforts to demonstrate their ‘enviro-creds’ are nothing more than tinkering around the edges. Our planet needs a comprehensive plan rather than stop-gap measures at election time.
Better laws
To better protect our shared natural resources, our wild places and our threatened species, we have a plan to rewrite the outdated Howard-era federal environmental laws.
Better protection
Under our plan, a new generation of environmental laws will be introduced and overseen by a federal regulatory body with expanded responsibility and with real power to enforce the law. Crucially, this national Environmental Protection Authority will operate at arm's length from politicians and lobbyists.
Unlike the major parties, the Greens are committed to preserving, protecting and restoring nature. We are your voice inside parliament for the prevention of human-caused extinction of animals, plants and ecosystems, and will always hold governments to account when it comes to environmental regulation.
The benefits of our plan:
- Environmental protection laws that actually work
- Independent advice, free from political or corporate influence
- Expanded regulatory responsibility to include regulation of land clearing, invasive species, air pollution and more
- Increased community access to justice
Win the war on waste
As Australians, we pride ourselves on being good recyclers and doing our bit. But we are being let down by corporations and governments who send our recycling overseas or to landfill instead of repurposing it.
Rather than relying on other countries to deal with our waste, we have an opportunity to build a recycling system that creates Australian jobs, establishes new industries, makes the best use of our recycled goods and helps us live more sustainably.
Our recycling industry is in the midst of a major crisis. With the Liberal and Labor parties asleep at the wheel, tonnes and tonnes of low-quality recycling has been stockpiled and dumped into landfill. Much of this waste finds its way into our water, where it pollutes our beaches and destroys the health of everything that lives in our rivers and oceans.
Tackling waste
Unlike the Labor and Liberal parties, whose inaction has caused the waste crisis, the Greens have a comprehensive plan to create less waste, fix recycling and build a circular economy. This includes the establishment of a national container deposit scheme, to ensure a consistent nationwide approach, and to provide greater incentives for manufacturers to make recyclable products.
Ending the recycling crisis
Under our plan, we would also introduce stewardship schemes for problematic waste items, like mobile phones, tyres and mattresses, and phase out single-use plastics for take-away food, including straws, containers, lids and other plastic packaging. Our plan will also invest in waste avoidance and resource recovery initiatives, to encourage greater recycling uptake, and in research to clean up our oceans and to develop new uses for recovered plastic.
The benefits of our plan:
- A consistent national approach to recycling
- An incentive for people to recycle
- Manufacturers are encouraged to make recyclable products
- A solution for problematic waste streams, like e-waste, tyres and mattresses
Protect the places we love
We can protect the places we live, and save the places we love, if we listen to the advice of experts and get big corporate interests, like mining and energy companies, out of politics.
Under the watch of negligent Labor and Liberal governments, Australia has become a deforestation world leader, our Great Barrier Reef has been dredged and bleached within an inch of its life, and the Murray-Darling basin is being run dry by big corporate irrigators. Our environment is under threat like never before, yet the major parties are just standing by and letting their big corporate donors get away with trashing it.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
The Greens have an extensive plan to protect our environment. Under our plan, a network of marine parks will be introduced based upon on scientific recommendations, Japanese whalers will be pursued for illegal hunting, and there will be no further oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight.
The Greens will prevent the destruction of our precious forests by completing the transition to 100% plantation-sourced timber and fibre. We will decrease the pressure on the Great Barrier Reef by stopping the Adani mine and investing $2 billion to improve its water quality. And we will stand up to corruption in the Murray Darling basin to stop water theft and return more water to the river.
The benefits of our plan:
- Healthier oceans
- Better forest protection
- No Adani coal mine and a safer Great Barrier Reef
- Less water for corporate irrigators; more water in the Murray Darling
No fracking way
By investing in renewable technology we can harness all the energy we need to live a good life without drilling into the ground and risking our water supplies. Using the sun and wind we can power our country, while protecting our agricultural land, farmers and communities for years to come.
Fracking and coal seam gas (CSG) pose a serious threat to our climate, groundwater, agricultural land and community. These practices are fundamentally incompatible with farming. Drilling for gas has the potential to contaminate and lower the water table, while extracting coal seam gas, shale and tight gas requires dangerous and risky fracking.
Despite damning evidence against these practices, there has been rapid expansion of the CSG and fracking industry across Queensland and New South Wales thanks to the industry’s cosy relationship with Labor and Liberal governments. And to make matters worse, if the Northern Territory is opened up for fracking then Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will rise by 5%.
Unlike the major parties, we will always fight for outcomes which are in the best interest of the community, not for political donors or big business mates.
The Greens are committed to defending farmers and our environment against the big gas companies by banning all new CSG and fracking projects across Australia, including expansions to existing projects. Under our plan, we will extend the ‘water trigger’ in our national environmental protection laws to cover all forms of gas extraction and protect farmers and their water sources. And we will make gas companies clean up after themselves by requiring sufficient funds to be set aside for rehabilitation once existing projects end.
We’ll work with unions and industry to ensure a just transition for workers including retraining for the industries of the future.
The benefits of our plan:
- Fracking is banned
- No new unconventional gas approvals or expansions on existing projects
- Landholders, including First Nations peoples, have the right to say no to gas mining on their land
- Gas companies will be made to clean up their own mess
Protecting animals
The Greens believe in a world where all animals are treated with compassion and we are committed to ending animal cruelty.
The way we treat animals reflects how we treat all life. We have a duty of care to minimise physical and psychological suffering of animals resulting from human activity. That's why it is unacceptable that, every day, animals across the country are made to suffer in order to maximise corporate profit in gambling, entertainment, cosmetics and agriculture.
We are committed to fighting for better animal welfare laws and an end to harmful practices in order to protect animals from cruelty and suffering.
Our priorities include ending live export of animals for slaughter overseas, banning the manufacture, sale and importation of animal-tested cosmetics, ending intensive factory farming across Australia, working at a state level to ban greyhound racing and banning the export of racing greyhounds.
The Greens will work with industry, farming and union stakeholders to include appropriate industry adjustment measures to ensure a best practice transition.
The benefits of our plan:
- An end to the live export industry and a smooth transition to local processing of boxed and chilled meat for export
- A ban on animal-tested cosmetics and cosmetics ingredients
- No cage egg production, sow stalls or other cruel industrial animal farming practices
- No greyhound racing and no exporting of racing greyhounds
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