{"id":6423,"date":"2020-05-07T11:34:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T11:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=6423"},"modified":"2020-05-07T11:34:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T11:34:50","slug":"68-of-australians-want-stronger-environmental-laws-new-poll-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/05\/07\/68-of-australians-want-stronger-environmental-laws-new-poll-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"68% of Australians want stronger environmental laws, new poll shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than two thirds (68%) of Australians want stronger laws to protect our wildlife and environment, new research shows.
\nPoll figures released today, come after the Federal Government announced plans to amend Australia\u2019s environment laws in a bid to fast-track\u00a0applications for developments such as new mines and land-clearing as part of its post-COVID-19 agenda.
\nGreens Spokesperson for the Environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
\n\u201cThe Government thinks it can use the cover of COVID-19 as an excuse to scrap environmental protections, but this polling shows they are barking up the wrong tree.
\n\u201cTwo-thirds of Australians want stronger environmental laws, not weaker ones that favour the Government\u2019s big mining mates.
\n\u201cThe poll results show little support for the Morrison Government\u2019s attack on the environment, with respondents rejecting the push to cut \u2018green tape\u2019\u00a0before the scheduled 10-year review of environmental laws is even complete.
\n\u201cAustralians have just experienced and witnessed overwhelming destruction of our environment with the catastrophic bushfires and so many of us have turned to nature to help us through the Coronavirus pandemic.
\n\u201cThey know our precious wildlife is endangered and our pristine wilderness and native bushland is being pummelled by miners and developers, and they want it protected.
\n\u201cThere was more than 1700 threatened species in Australia before the bushfire crisis including our beloved koalas and Victoria\u2019s faunal emblem the Leadbeater\u2019s possum, and with so much more habitat lost from the summer fires, many more species are expected to now be endangered.
\n\u201cThe EPBC Act is already failing in its purpose of protecting conservation and biodiversity with flora and fauna becoming threatened, endangered and even going extinct.
\n\u201cFast-tracking applications will do even more damage. As it is, only about 2 per cent of applications under the existing laws get knocked back.
\n\u201cWorse still, many applications to clear potential habitat for threatened species and ecological communities are not even referred to the Federal Government for assessment, which has resulted in 7.7 million hectares being cleared between 2000 and 2017.
\n\u201cAustralia is losing more and more of our precious environment and the public want change that protects wildlife and habitat.
\n\u201cThe public will not fall for the lazy argument that sacrificing the environment is\u00a0necessary for economic recovery, particularly when so many industries like tourism, accommodation and hospitality \u2013 some of the hardest hit by COVID-19 shutdowns, depend on our environment.
\n\u201cThis poll shows only 5% support the Government\u2019s plans to weaken environment laws. It\u2019s\u00a0time the Morrison Government\u00a0started listening to the people rather than the mining lobby, and protect what makes Australia such a great place to live and visit.\u201d
\nQuestion:\u00a0The Federal Government wants to make the process for approving developments and projects faster by changing\u00a0laws that protect the environment and wildlife. Under the new laws, do you believe the environment and native wildlife\u00a0should have \u2026? Base: Australians 18+ (n=1,008)<\/em>
\n
\nThe national poll of 1008 adult Australians in all states, was commissioned by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and conducted by Lonergan between 30 April and 4 May 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than two thirds (68%) of Australians want stronger laws to protect our wildlife and environment, new research shows. Poll figures released today, come after the Federal Government announced plans to amend Australia\u2019s environment laws in a bid to fast-track\u00a0applications for developments such as new mines and land-clearing as part of its post-COVID-19 agenda. Greens … Continue reading “68% of Australians want stronger environmental laws, new poll shows”<\/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-6423","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\/6423","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=6423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}