The Albanese Government is giving you the gift of coal, this Christmas. Our government has just approved four coal mine extensions via weak, outdated, neglected nature laws that will create new climate pollution equivalent to:
- 10+ years’ worth of Australia’s transport pollution
- 13 years’ worth of Australia’s agriculture pollution, and
- More than Saudi Arabia’s annual climate pollution.
The Albanese Government has now made 27 coal and gas approvals. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeased the mining lobby by personally killing a deal to give Australia our first national environmental regulator (EPA). Our government’s actions are forming a clear, concerning pattern. It’s time for thousands of us to give a clear riposte directly to our Prime Minister before next year’s federal election, while he still has time to act for nature.
Send the pre-filled letter to the Prime Minister demanding he:
- Establish an independent national EPA to protect the animals, plants and places we love, and
- Stops approving nature and climate-wrecking coal and gas projects.
This decision is downright disappointing. The Albanese Government’s extension of four coal projects beyond 2050 – including the Boggabri coal mine smack-bang in critically endangered Swift Parrot habitat – amid a climate and extinction crisis is irresponsible and unfathomable. Our government has greenlit over one thousand million tonnes of new climate pollution that will drive even more destruction of habitat, food supplies and ecosystems Australia-wide.
But there’s still time to turn things around. Before the next federal election, there will likely be a few sitting weeks in February for our Prime Minister to get his priorities right, ignore the mining lobby and listen to the people of Australia. After all, recent YouGov polling shows 86 per cent of Australians want stronger nature laws!
We’re giving him plenty to think about thanks to our grassroots pressure. We’ve sent thousands of pledges to vote for nature and climate to Labor MPs across the country already. With generous donations from our community, we ran a full-page ad in the Sydney Morning Herald publicly calling on Mr. Albanese to step up for nature.
There have also been countless national headlines lambasting Mr Albanese for “killing” nature legislation.
A Prime Minister has never been under so much community and public scrutiny to deliver nature protection. It’s a credit to the power of our movement and the pressure we’ve built over years. But as many of us know, change doesn’t happen overnight.
We must keep the pressure up and show the Prime Minister we are furious and disappointed. Send the letter to Albanese now!
Banner image: Boggabri coal mine in the Leard State Forest, NSW. Credit: Dean Sewell