{"id":34097,"date":"2025-08-04T23:41:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=34097"},"modified":"2025-08-04T23:41:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:41:40","slug":"no-funding-no-strategy-labor-drops-the-ball-on-climate-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/08\/04\/no-funding-no-strategy-labor-drops-the-ball-on-climate-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"No funding, no strategy: Labor drops the ball on climate, environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ACT Greens are alarmed by Labor\u2019s inaction on climate change and nature restoration, saying work in progress when Greens previously held the portfolios have ground to a halt.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following questioning in Budget Estimates on Friday<\/a> from the ACT Greens, it was uncovered that the ACT Labor Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water has no vision and is dragging her feet on climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT Greens Leader and former Minister for Energy, Water and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury said one thing Labor can do to show they are taking climate action seriously is to progress the next ACT Climate Change Strategy, given the current one ends this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next strategy should be almost ready to launch but the Labor Minister couldn\u2019t provide any clear update on where it\u2019s up to, or when we might see it,\u201d Mr Rattenbury said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no excuse. Towards the end of my term as Minister, I instructed the Directorate to prepare options for the development of the new Climate Change Strategy for consideration by the incoming Minister in November 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt usually takes about 12 months to prepare, consult and then get Cabinet approval for a new strategy. Nine months later and we still can\u2019t get a timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the hearings, the Head of ACT Climate Change Council, Arnagretta Hunter, said that Canberra needs to plan for 55 degree days. We know more extreme weather events are coming and that we need to better equip Canberra to remain resilient in the face of these threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the election Labor promised almost nothing on climate action, but did say there would be \u2018no backwards steps\u2019. Clearly they also meant no steps forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT Greens Deputy Leader Jo Clay said Labor is going backwards on environmental care, and that the green spaces and key environmental areas that currently make Canberra a great place for people, animals and plants, will further decline without major ongoing investments in nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnvironment is clearly at the bottom of ACT Labor\u2019s list of priorities. In the hearings they doubled down saying they won\u2019t boost much-needed funding for environment and nature care delivered by environmental volunteers,\u201d Ms Clay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are the organisations that maintain Canberra\u2019s green spaces, keep nature thriving across our suburbs and generate a strong sense of community, belonging and mental wellbeing across the ACT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust a few months ago, in their Close to the Edge report, the ACT\u2019s Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment damned the \u201cdemonstrably inadequate\u201d environmental funding from ACT Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe report stated \u2018It is therefore hard to take the view that biodiversity protection is a genuine priority for the ACT.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had hoped Labor\u2019s new Environment Minister would take the Commissioner\u2019s recommendations seriously, but it\u2019s clear that is not the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Greens are still driving environmental protection from the crossbench this term, with the Labor Government sitting in the back seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only because of Greens work alongside the community that the ACT will set an urban growth boundary, fund efforts to save the Canberra Earless Dragons from extinction, protect all of Bluetts Block and recognise the environmental, cultural and agricultural values of the Western Edge and Eastern Broadacre areas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ACT Greens are alarmed by Labor\u2019s inaction on climate change and nature restoration, saying work in progress when Greens previously held the portfolios have ground to a halt. Following questioning in Budget Estimates on Friday from the ACT Greens, it was uncovered that the ACT Labor Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water has no vision and is … Continue reading “No funding, no strategy: Labor drops the ball on climate, environment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34098,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34097\/revisions\/34098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}