Climate change often dominates the headlines and there is little mention of the other key and urgent environmental issue – the rapid decline of our natural environment that Australians love so much. LEAN’s latest publication, Australia Restored 2030 outlines how an Albanese Labor government can protect and restore our country whilst also creating jobs and economic opportunity. It’s the LEAN roadmap to healthy environment. The current Government, under the leadership of Tony Abbott smashed a long held bi-partisan commitment to funding the basics of environmental protection – managing and expanding the National Parks and Indigenous Protected Area network, addressing feral pests and spending to arrest species decline and so on. When Labor left government in 2013, funding on the environment was approximately $2 billion per year, it is now nothing like this – right when the science is telling us the biodiversity crisis threatens system collapse. This latest work – Australia restored 2030 – fits under the umbrella of the “Climate action is core Labor business” campaign which focuses on the job opportunities available by taking action on both climate change and biodiversity loss. They are all part of the same interwoven picture and together form the “Core Business” campaign. Check out “Climate action is core Labor business” here.
Back in 2018, 500 party branches and units back campaigned hard for Labor to commit to reforming the environmental laws (the EPBC Act) and creating a federal watchdog (EPA) to protect and restore the country. This document is taking the next step, providing a details of how a Labor government can proactively take care of country and an outline for commitments and policy to take to the upcoming federal election.