Environmentalists say our green goals don't protect nature or work for business. Here's how Labor plans to fix the problem
In his first decision as environment minister, Murray Watt gave provisional approval to Woodside to extend its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions.
Watt's initial act in the Albanese government's second term, following its May re-election, followed a rocky environmental record for Labor in its first term. It failed to deliver on an election pledge to create a federal environment watchdog by 2025 and made limited progress on its open-ended promises to reform federal environment laws and enhance Indigenous heritage protections.
The government's former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made three other ambitious pledges in 2022. She promised there would be 'no new extinctions' of Australia's native wildlife and to reform Indigenous cultural heritage laws following Rio Tinto's legal 2020 destruction of the globally significant Juukan Gorge, which contained 46,000 years of cultural heritage, to expand one of its mines.
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Plibersek also pledged to conserve 30 per cent of Australian land and 30 per cent of its seas by 2030 – known as the '30 by 30″ commitment – barring all extractive industry such as fishing or mining in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Australian Conservation Foundation policy officer Brendan Sydes said the government needed to deliver on it promises to protect thousands of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction.
'There's an urgent need to fix our national environmental laws. They're not working, they don't protect nature, and they don't work for business either,' Sydes said.
'We're now up to well over 2000 species listed as threatened under Commonwealth environmental laws and the numbers are only going up. They are being listed because they're at imminent risk of extinction.
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Somewhere in a remote mountain village, or perhaps on the dusty streets of Honiara, a youngster is kicking a football and dreaming big – and could soon be caught up in the Pacific's great geopolitical battle of our time. Australia's regional rivalry with China was a key driver of the federal government's $600 million decade-long commitment to Papua New Guinea's NRL team. That same contest is at play in neighbouring Solomon Islands, an impoverished nation where the World Game reigns supreme, and where a new fully professional soccer club is taking shape. Solomon Kings FC, a joint venture between the Solomon Islands Football Federation and Brisbane club Wynnum Wolves, is a near-certainty to be an inaugural member of the FIFA-backed Oceania Professional League. The club's moniker is a nod to King Solomon, the biblical figure after whom the nation was named. 'Informally, we have been given the guarantee that we will be in,' SIFF president Donald Marahare told this masthead. 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'The Solomon Kings FC will definitely need financial, budgetary support and we will not hesitate to call on or to actually approach the Chinese government if there's a need,' Marahare said. 'Certainly this will not go down well with the Australian government, but this is something that we will need to talk about or discuss in the near future.' One of the club's driving forces, Wolves chairman and former North Queensland Cowboys chief executive Rabieh Krayem, said the Kings' potential for Australian sports-led, soft-power diplomacy could rival the NRL team in PNG. Loading 'From the Australian government perspective, it's a no-brainer, to be quite honest,' he said. 'I mean, you saw the prime minister in China talking to Kevin Muscat – well, I've got to tell you, football in the Solomon Islands will do more for diplomacy than anything else. 'In PNG, rugby league's the No.1 sport, but they also have football. 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The Age
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After PNG, Australia's soft power game with China extends to Solomons
Somewhere in a remote mountain village, or perhaps on the dusty streets of Honiara, a youngster is kicking a football and dreaming big – and could soon be caught up in the Pacific's great geopolitical battle of our time. Australia's regional rivalry with China was a key driver of the federal government's $600 million decade-long commitment to Papua New Guinea's NRL team. That same contest is at play in neighbouring Solomon Islands, an impoverished nation where the World Game reigns supreme, and where a new fully professional soccer club is taking shape. Solomon Kings FC, a joint venture between the Solomon Islands Football Federation and Brisbane club Wynnum Wolves, is a near-certainty to be an inaugural member of the FIFA-backed Oceania Professional League. The club's moniker is a nod to King Solomon, the biblical figure after whom the nation was named. 'Informally, we have been given the guarantee that we will be in,' SIFF president Donald Marahare told this masthead. 'It's just the formalities – we have to make sure that we take all the boxes and there should be certainty in terms of getting us participating Pro League.' Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele has thrown his weight behind the club, and discussions have been held with the Australian High Commission in Honiara about Australian government support. While an interview request with Australian High Commissioner Rod Hilton was denied, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said the Commonwealth actively engaged with Pacific nations through sport. 'The Australian government's partnership with Football Australia provides increased opportunities for Pacific men's and women's national teams to train and compete with Australian teams, in Australia and across our region,' she said. 'Australia is Solomon Islands' largest development partner.' But on the ground in Solomon Islands, China's influence still looms large. The new national stadium, which the Solomon Kings will call home, was funded by the Chinese government to host the 2023 Pacific Games. In response to China's growing influence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a $190 million security deal with Solomon Islands last year. That came two years after a similar deal was reached between China and Solomon Islands, which caused alarm in Australian defence circles. 'In terms of their influence, they [China] have entered or intruded into every aspect here in the Solomons,' Marahare said. 'At one stage, probably two years ago, they were prepared to provide support the football federation, in terms of equipment and staff. 'They insisted on us signing a paper to promote the One China policy, to actually sign a public document, which we had reservations to do.' But that might not always be the case. 'The Solomon Kings FC will definitely need financial, budgetary support and we will not hesitate to call on or to actually approach the Chinese government if there's a need,' Marahare said. 'Certainly this will not go down well with the Australian government, but this is something that we will need to talk about or discuss in the near future.' One of the club's driving forces, Wolves chairman and former North Queensland Cowboys chief executive Rabieh Krayem, said the Kings' potential for Australian sports-led, soft-power diplomacy could rival the NRL team in PNG. Loading 'From the Australian government perspective, it's a no-brainer, to be quite honest,' he said. 'I mean, you saw the prime minister in China talking to Kevin Muscat – well, I've got to tell you, football in the Solomon Islands will do more for diplomacy than anything else. 'In PNG, rugby league's the No.1 sport, but they also have football. In the Solomons, it's football No.1, 2 and 3 – the best way I can describe it is it's like being in Brazil.' Though based in Honiara, Solomon Kings will have a secondary training base at the Wolves' Carmichael Park in bayside Brisbane. Initially, OPL rounds will be held in one location – similar to the NRL's Magic Round – with the hope of eventually evolving to a home-and-away competition. And with the Queensland government teasing an upgrade to Perry Park, Krayem said the Bowen Hills venue could serve as the Kings' second home ground. 'You're bringing eight teams from eight different locations into Brisbane to play here for 10 days,' he said. 'From an economic perspective, it's a massive economic boost for Queensland.' Krayem's journey with Solomon Kings started about two years ago, when he met with Oceania Football Confederation president Lambert Maltock. Having failed to get the Brisbane United joint venture for the second-tier Australian Championship over the line, Krayem considered a solo Wolves entry to the new OPL, which would allow a maximum of one Australian side to join. 'At that point of time, airfares and accommodation were to be funded by FIFA, and to the most consistent team over a four-year period qualifies for the [FIFA Club World Cup],' he said. Oceania representative Auckland City took home more than $AU7 million for competing at this year's tournament. 'That's huge. I said, why wouldn't we do that?' Krayem said. But when it became clear Australian clubs would have to fund their own airfares and be denied entry to the lucrative Club World Cup, due to Australia's membership of the Asian Football Confederation, Krayem took a different approach and teamed up with the SIFF. He said it was an obvious partnership for a club with a connection to the Solomon Islands that started a quarter-century ago, when the club took a team over to play exhibition matches. Several Solomon Islander internationals have played in Wynnum's black and white kit – colours it shares with German powerhouse Borussia Dortmund, with which it has established formal links, and the new Solomon Kings FC. Loading Krayem said 65 per cent of Solomon Islanders in Australia lived in south-east Queensland, which had the only direct route by air to their homeland. 'There's already that sort of connection,' he added. 'A lot of Australian businesses operate out of Brisbane straight into Honiara and I think they want to grow their tourism.' The Kings have lined up a chief executive with English Premier League experience, and have already agreed terms with a high-profile head coach. But as important as success on the field would be for the club financially, it was the transformational effect on the community that excited the Kings' backers. 'As soon as it's dark, kids get out when no one's on the road and they're kicking a ball. I think the impact that we could have, what Australia could do for them, through football is huge,' Krayem said. The International Monetary Fund estimates the Solomon Islands' per capita GDP is just $US2380 (Australia's, by comparison, is $US65,550). For this Pacific island nation, the potential benefits of this new venture could be invaluable. 'It is an opportunity for the kids and the youth to have something to look forward to,' Marahare said. 'One thing for certain is that you go anywhere in the villages, all the villages in the provinces, it's very difficult to see clinics and hospitals, but you will be able to see soccer pitches, soccer fields everywhere. 'And this is a testament of how people, both in the urban and in the rural areas, love football.' And with Brisbane set to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, engagement with Pacific nations through sport would only get more important. Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris said while he was unaware of the Solomon Kings until informed by this masthead, the diplomatic potential of sport to solidify links with the Pacific was central to Games planning. 'They really feel that these are their Games as well, and there is definitely a geopolitical positive to that,' he said. 'In other words, Oceania – a vast amount of territory, small population, small islands, strategically important to Australia – is not lost on us, nor the Prime Minister, nor DFAT.'
