Up there on the high horse of power in a greening world, a federal environment minister is these days a litmus for the colour of a government.
Ian Campbell was a passionate beaver in the Howard government’s mould. Near the troubled end of that era, Campbell was followed by the political comet that is Malcolm Turnbull.
The ascendant Rudd government just had to put Peter Garrett in the role, his star billing defining the fresh Labor look.
And now, under Julia Gillard, we have Tony Burke. Watching him recently finessing the issues was like watching a pokie eat cash. Lots of carefully arranged lights and noise, and the lurking knowledge that it will always win.
He began this week with an ABC Four Corners appearance on water and the Murray Darling. As the troubled Murray-Darling Basin Authority continued to implode, Burke suggested its board members might look to themselves – he had no statutory power.
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At the end of his busy week, two tough Tasmanian issues came his way. This island is a millstone around the neck of many an environmental minister.
Garrett’s media adviser used to hate coming, with the prospect that any minute some Wilderness Society activist dressed as a quoll would jump out of a doorway at them.
Burke’s sign-off on environmental conditions for the Gunns pulp mill project was widely predicted. The Commonwealth has only a limited role in regulating the mill, and the hard work was done under Garrett, who essentially approved what Turnbull started, except for some extra work on the effluent outfall.
But Burke, perhaps in memory of his old portfolio of Forests, went out of his way to laud Gunns for going the extra mile. More regulatory bling was also attached to the approval: a clause that demanded any change to the rules be only tougher.
Perhaps more defining for Burke was his decision on the much argued Tarkine wilderness region of north-west Tasmania.
He was taken to task for quietly letting lapse emergency national heritage listing for the region – an omission that gave interested miners some exploration rights. When this became a story, he had another quick look at it.
He was advised that a proposed open pit iron ore mine would have an impact on aesthetic values of the wilderness; its waste dump visible for some distance. Still Burke signed off on departmental advice that the likely impact was not enough to require a renewed emergency listing.
There’s a nagging feeling that it’s the way Tony Burke sheds responsibility, rather than embraces it, that has defined him so far. It remains to be seen what this says about the Gillard government.
Andrew Darby is Age and Sydney Morning Herald Hobart correspondent.
Read the full comment in The Age HERE
Matthew Denholm, The Australian:
Gunns’ Tasmanian pulp mill clear but bad smell lingers
AFTER seven long years of fraught deliberations by three federal ministers, court challenges and endless controversy, Gunns finally achieved a green light from Canberra for its Tasmanian pulp mill yesterday.
However, in keeping with what has become one of the nation’s longest-running industrial project sagas, an 11th-hour hitch emerged that may yet stymie the $2.3 billion project.
Hours after Environment Minister Tony Burke declared the mill had cleared the final federal environmental hurdles, it emerged that the company was having difficulty meeting existing state permit conditions.
Gunns managing director Greg L’Estrange told The Australian the federal decision was a “major step” in gaining financial backers for the project, proposed for the Tamar Valley.
“It will allow us to fully focus on that part of the transaction (securing finance and a joint venture partner),” he said.
“It’s a step forward, but there are still things to do and we have a timeline we are working from.”
He said Gunns was working on the basis of meeting a requirement of its state permit to have begun construction by the end of August. However, he appeared to confirm that it was struggling to meet several requirements of its state permit relating to noise and odour emissions — and may require changes.
Mr L’Estrange said Gunns was seeking “harmonisation” between state and federal permits, and did not deny this might lead to a reduction in some state permit requirements. “But it’s not what I would call a material change,” he added.
He said meeting noise limits under the state permits would be challenging and the company was “working through that” with the state government.
“We’re seeking some clarification of issues of a relatively minor nature,” he said.
Odour emissions represent a key issue for a project on the doorstep of a tourism, food and wine region. The release of odours from gases, such as total reduced sulphur, also known as rotten egg gas, was an area where Gunns has already failed to meet state guidelines.
Tasmania’s fast-tracked state approvals process found this was only a “minor” issue and that the guideline would be exceeded only once every 11 years, and mainly over non-populated areas.
Mr L’Estrange said last night there had been some “overly ambitious early discussions around odour”.
“If for some reason, for example a total (power) blackout in the region . . . there will be some odours emitted from the site and it’s normally in the range of 15 minutes to one hour,” he said.
“In normal situations in mills around the world, in the first year of operation, that might happen four times. Normally, it is one, maybe two, times a year. That’s allowed under the state permit.”
It is not yet clear whether the changes Gunns has sought to the state permit could require legislative change to the state permits.
Greens MP Kim Booth said last night if legislative changes to the permits were sought, he would move a no-confidence motion against the minority Labor government.
This could split his party, two members of which are in cabinet with Labor, and threaten the stability of the Giddings Labor government.
Full Matthew Denholm story HERE
Scott Jordan, Tarkine National Coalition
Media Release: 11/3/2011
Minister Burke misleads the public on Tarkine National Heritage Listing.
The Tarkine National Coalition has reacted with disbelief at Environment Minister Tony Burke’s misleading statements justifying his failure to apply a renewed Emergency National Heritage Listing over the Tarkine.
Minister Burke stated on ABC 1’s Lateline program last night that his department had advised him that the application of the additional criteria triggered by a National Heritage listing would have no effect on the assessment of the proposed open cut mines.
“This is a ludicrous statement. How can the Minister pre-empt the assessment’s results? And how can it even be possible to say that the digging of large open cut mines will not have an impact on National Heritage values?”
“The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is really clear on what is required to qualify for a Emergency National Heritage Listing, and the Tarkine case clearly meets these criteria
Section 324JL of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 provides that:
Minister may include place in National Heritage List if under threat
(1) If the Minister believes that:
(a) a place has or may have one or more National Heritage values; and
(b) any of those values is under threat of a significant adverse impact; and
(c) that threat is both likely and imminent;
Earlier this week a leaked report by the Australian Heritage Council recommended a 433,000 hectare Tarkine National Heritage Area, a report that Environment Minister Tony Burke suppressed before allowing the previous Tarkine emergency listing to lapse.
“We are calling for the immediate implementation of the AHC’s recommended 433,000 hectare Tarkine National Heritage Area.”
Environment groups’ response to Federal Minister Burke’s decision on Gunns’ pulp mill
Environment groups today acknowledged the constructive progress on plantation wood supply in Minister Tony Burke’s legally-binding conditions for the proposed pulp mill, but expressed serious concerns about unaddressed community opposition to the mill and the mill’s marine impacts and reiterated their opposition to the project.
“We are opposed to this project but we do recognise the Minister’s legally-binding decision to require the pulp mill to only use wood from plantations,” said Lyndon Schneiders from The Wilderness Society.
“It means it is illegal for the proposed pulp mill to ever use native forest timber and we recognise this is a step forward. Any pulp mill needs to be supplied from a plantation resource base that is sustainably managed and of a scale acceptable to local communities,” Mr Schneiders said.
“We do recognise and welcome tougher standards and the improvements to some of the environmental benchmarks set for the marine effluent, but will have to now have the opportunity to fully assess the complex marine modelling data associated with this decision to be able to make further assessment of these proposed changes,” he said.
“We are concerned about the potential impacts the ocean disposal of industrial process effluent will have on Tasmania’s marine environment, fisheries, and coastal amenity and believe the Minister has made the wrong decision because he has not implemented the precautionary approach,” said Dr Thomas Moore from Environment Tasmania.
“Despite the welcome improvements, much community opposition remains,” said Don Henry from the Australian Conservation Foundation.
“It is now up to the company, along with the state and federal governments, to embark on a legitimate, independent and transparent process, with public participation, to assess the impacts of a pulp mill development in the Tamar Valley. We are committed to a resolution of the forest conflict in Tasmania,” Mr Henry said.
Don Henry, Australian Conservation Foundation
Dr Thomas Moore, Environment Tasmania
Lyndon Schneiders, The Wilderness Society
Vica Bayley (in Hobart), The Wilderness Society
Christine Milne:
Minister must list Tarkine before 17 March
The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke must heritage list the Tarkine before a decision on a referral to mine the area is made on 17 March.
Minister Burke yesterday signed a brief from his department stating that any heritage listing occurring after 17 March will not legally affect any decision made on the Shree Minerals mining proposal.
“On 17 March Minister Burke is set to decide on Shree Minerals’ referral. If he has not listed the Tarkine before that decision is made, then the Heritage values will not have to be taken into account even if it is listed later,” said Greens Deputy Leader, Christine Milne.
“Having delayed and ducked for cover since 2004, time is up.
“Tasmania’s Tarkine has world heritage values with temperate rainforests, 50 or more rare and threatened species, a magnificent karst system and sites of global archaeological significance. Why is it so hard for successive Federal Ministers to use their powers to protect it?
“Whether or not a place has heritage values is an expert decision and the result in this instance is a resounding, ‘yes’. The decision to protect it, however, is clearly political and a delay by Minister Burke means a resounding ‘No’.
“Minister Burke has a Heritage Council report recommending listing buried in his Department. He must release this now, especially since the area is under threat from three mining proposals.
“Yesterday the Minister stated he could not reinstate emergency heritage listing as the nature of the threat had differed since the original application, yet his brief clearly states that he could re-list if necessary.
“The question then Minister Burke, is what you believe is necessary in order to grant heritage listing? Reading this brief it appears that a decision stalled is a decision to usher the mining companies through the door before they are constrained by the recommendations of the Australian Heritage Council.
“A paper just released by the Australian Centre for Environmental Law outlines what Minister Burke should be considering. It says the Heritage Council found that damaging just one part of the Tarkine will affect the wilderness value of the whole. Is that reason enough to re-list, Minister?
“Minister Burke needs to take a stand for the Tarkine now,” said Senator Milne.
Download Minister Burke’s brief:
DSEWPC_brief_tarkine_emergency_listing_March2011.pdf
