Anthony Albanese should make reform earlier than financial growth, Ken Henry says

Anthony Albanese’s plan to construct 1.2 million houses, enhance the nation’s transport system and carry Australians’ dwelling requirements will fail if the federal government can not repair damaged nature legal guidelines and arrest the decline of the setting, former Treasury boss Ken Henry warns.

In a speech to the Nationwide Press Membership on Wednesday, Henry will argue that regardless of stress on fast-track necessary developments, the nation additionally wants a resilient and wealthy pure setting. With out that, Australia might be simply “constructing a sooner freeway to hell”.

Henry, who served as Treasury secretary beneath John Howard and Kevin Rudd, will argue there’s “no probability” the federal government will attain its many key coverage targets with out fixing the damaged venture approval system within the federal Setting Safety Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and in addition state environmental legal guidelines.

“If we will’t obtain environmental regulation reform, then we should always cease dreaming about extra
difficult choices,” he’ll inform the press membership.

“Boosting productiveness and resilience depends upon environmental regulation reform.”

The 2020 Samuel Overview discovered the EPBC Act, established by the Howard authorities in 2000, was failing. The regime overlays state nature legal guidelines to guard issues of nationwide environmental significance, like threatened species or uncommon habitats.

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Since colonisation, about 100 of Australia’s distinctive natural world species have turn out to be extinct. The speed of loss, which is as unhealthy as anyplace else on Earth, exhibits no signal of slowing, with greater than 2000 species listed as threatened with extinction and ongoing habitat degradation.

The Albanese authorities promised in 2022 to bolster the EPBC Act with the creation of an Setting Safety Company (EPA). A federal watchdog, the company would police compliance of huge tasks that have an effect on the setting, corresponding to mines and tourism resorts, handing out fines for breaches.