The general feeling is that the policy is a smokescreen, it will be implemented as slowly as possible, and it will have no positive environmental effects.
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But environmental costs are no longer something the government needs to worry about. On Monday the Coalition passed changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to strip away any government responsibility should repercussions occur as a result of the government failing to consider expert advice before approving major developments such as mines and ports.
Is it coincidental that one of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent Abbott point decision will be Gina Reinhart's Hancock Coal? I'll leave that up to you to decide.
Hunt has tried to sell this approval as a move that will improve the environment. That assertion assumes of course that the operators are independently monitored, that are they are then held to those the standards, and that operations are immediately shut down should the standards be breached.
I haven't seen the agreement, but I doubt it has that many teeth. We only need to look at the dredging debacle in Gladstone harbour, and the official cover up which absolved the dredgers and the government of responsibility.
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How at risk our reef actually is was addressed recently on ABC Radio National's Background briefing.
The economics of this decision is also questionable.
The world market for coal is in decline, a trend which most experts suggest is likely to to continue unabated. The evidence for that is here, here, here, here, and here. There is of course short term money to be made (hence the haste of the Newman and Abbott govts to fast track such developments), but the long term cost to the reef is infinitely higher.
This comes on top of the short-sightedness of the Coalition in not supporting, and seemingly going out of its way to aggravate, the car industry and by extension... manufacturing.
What is this government's vision for Australia other than a 'Fortress Australia' approach to immigration and Asia-Pacific relations; a slow, dumb, cheap Australian work force (through its attacks on Gonski, the NBN, cuts to wages for early childhood workers, and the as yet secret plans for the budget and IR); and unrestrained and largely under-taxed mining?
The Abbott government is a complete disaster, with each week bringing another poor performance, more poor decision-making, and further turmoil for Australia and the economy.
Keating said of Abbott that his approach to Opposition was... 'give me the job or I'll trash the place'.
Now that he has the job, he still seems intent on trashing the place.