‘Green Tape’ inquiry hears from Redlanders

As part of its agenda to place less importance on environmental issues, the Federal Liberal Government has instigated an inquiry into “Streamlining environmental regulation, ‘green tape’, and one stop shops”. This inquiry is being undertaken by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment.

Despite the fact that Queensland has many landmark environmental values and just as many threats to their preservation, the Environment Committee has not announced any plans to hold hearings in this state. Coincidentally, none of the Committee’s members are from Queensland.

In response to the Committee’s call for submissions six people from the Redlands responded. Here are some of their comments:

“Cleveland residents know full well the effect of a PDA and the draconian powers it entails. The Toondah Harbour PDA will obliterate an area of outstanding beauty that also happens to be a community hub and cultural icon (G J Walter Park).” Bryn Maidment submission number 78

“Environmental regulation prevents governments from rushing plans which can have dire consequences if not thought through properly and carefully.” Erica Siegel submission number 46

“Environmental regulations, or green tape, don’t need to be streamlined, in fact they need to be strengthened. They are protecting our community and our environment for the decades to come.” Jan Smith submission number 55

“Queensland’s failure to properly enforce state environmental laws raises serious questions about how effectively Federal environmental legislation might be administered by the Queensland Government.” Chris Walker submission number 40

“The Priority Development Area (PDA) legislation, new and unique to Queensland, appears to allow the Minister for Economic Development Queensland to make final decisions and override any other issues including community input. This is of grave concern if environmental approval rights are handed over to the states. Many in the Redland City of South East Queensland already feel that our democratic rights are threatened by this legislation.” Jeanette Douglas submission number 74

“We must have in place extremely effective measures to protect and preserve the critical elements of our natural environment from the greed of people who are unaware of what may be lost.” Troy Robbins submission number 48

For another perspective on the subject of environmental regulations read “Green tape should be strengthened, not cut” by Simon Copland.

The image used in this post is of a Golden Mantella frog at Oakland Zoo, California.