It’s our nature as West Australians to stand up for the places we love. We love the ocean, getting out on the water, bushwalking in the South West’s beautiful forests, spotting dolphins, eagles and cockatoos, camping out under the stars. We know WA’s nature is unique and extraordinary.
We also know WA has special natural resources – resources that have helped make our economy strong and helped to deliver the lifestyles we enjoy. But what makes us strong also needs protecting. WA’s nature relies on the Environmental Protection Authority.
Like the thin blue line responsible for safety in our society, the EPA is the thin green line that helps preserve our natural law and order to ensure we don’t destroy our ultimate life support system. In recent weeks, even while forests are collapsing after our longest, driest summer on record, the rhetoric about slashing “green tape” to make it easier for industry to fast-track project assessments has been heating up . While turtles and penguins die in devastating numbers, both major parties have been competing to brag about their plans to gut the EPA and sell out WA’s nature to big business.
WA’s EPA has been buffeted over the years but has survived mostly intact through successive governments. But now it is facing a major – and deeply worrying – overhaul. We know what these reforms really are.
They are directly from big businesses wanting to exploit WA’s resources for their own short-term profits. The changes that .