Federal Budget is a missed opportunity on climate and nature

This year's Federal Budget is a missed opportunity to move the dial on climate and nature, containing precious few meaningful investments to protect Queenslanders from climate change and safeguard our state’s native species.

Rather than meeting the moment and taking bold action to tackle the climate and extinction crises, this budget will keep Queensland locked into fossil fuels and contains worrying signs for implementation of our newly-reformed Federal nature laws.

Despite massive community support to implement a 25% gas export tax at a time when fossil fuel giants are making massive profits from overseas conflicts, the Federal Government failed to deliver on making these polluters pay their fair share.

That measure could have returned $17 billion to the community to help future-proof them against rising climate impacts and tackle a cost of living crisis exacerbated by fossil fuel market volatility.

Instead, more than $13 billion in public money will flow back to the polluters in fossil fuel subsidies, putting taxpayer dollars into the hands of some of the world’s biggest corporations instead of supporting households.

On climate adaptation, this budget outlined no investment to assist communities to adapt and build resilience in the face of rising sea levels, heatwaves, and increasing climate disasters such as flooding, bushfires and cyclone activity.

This is particularly important for Queensland communities, especially in the Torres Strait, where sea level rise caused by climate change is already having a devastating impact on Country and culture.

In terms of brighter spots in the budget, the $127 million investment in the establishment of the national Consumer Energy Resources (CER) program is welcome. It will help households benefit more from rooftop solar and batteries, including here in Queensland.

There are also spending measures to maintain household battery programs and reduce fuel dependence with electric vehicles, shared and active transport, however these commitments were far below what is necessary for a meaningful transition to a low carbon economy.

On nature, the budget did not contain any significant commitments to protecting or restoring native habitat and biodiversity.

In total, nature spending accounted for less than 0.1% of the Federal Budget, far below the modest 1% mark that conservationists are arguing for and which represents the bare minimum necessary to ensure native species and ecosystems have a fighting chance to survive and thrive.

Of greatest concern is the $153 million allocated to develop agreements to devolve decision-making under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to state and territory governments.

This would effectively hand over approvals under our Federal nature laws to the state, placing the future of the Great Barrier Reef, vulnerable species like the koala, and World Heritage areas like the Daintree and Gondwana Rainforests in the hands of the Queensland Government.

Investment is also earmarked to use Artificial Intelligence in project assessment with a view to speeding up approvals, an extremely concerning sign given AI’s woeful track record on implementing government policy.

The budget contains $250 million to establish a national Environmental Protection Agency that will enforce Australian environmental laws. This is a much needed agency and a welcome commitment.

The investment of around $100 million to roll over Saving the Native Species program is also welcomed, as is the $92 million for programs to protect and restore the Great Barrier Reef, and support the implementation of the Reef 2050 Long-term Sustainability Plan.

While these commitments are positive, they are well below what is needed to save the Reef and prevent our precious native species from going extinct, and there are no major commitments in broader ecosystem restoration to ensure that native species have a home.

The challenges of climate and nature require a far bolder budget than what was delivered yesterday, and substantially increased investment in renewable energy, climate resilience and adaptation, and nature protection and restoration.

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