Environmental Law

Friends of the Earth Adelaide > Environmental Law

please help with a fast and furious EPA action

January 26, 2025

Hi FOE members and friends.
Remember how upset you were last year when the Environmental Protection Agency amendments for Environmental Standards were not voted on in Parliament?
We need you to use that energy for good and put pressure on Labor MPs and Senators to pass these environmental amendments in the February sitting of Parliament (weeks starting 3/2 and 10/2).
The Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) have mobilised their members to make calls to MPs and Senators next week. LEAN are inviting the environmental movement community to call their Labor MPs and Labor Senators as well, to show the widespread community support for the EPA amendments. We need to make the calls between 9am and 5pm Tuesday 28/1 to Friday 31/1.
Please take up this invitation to take this strong action for the environment. If you have a Labor MP, please make 5 calls to both them and the four SA Labor Senators. If you don’t have a Labor MP, please make 4 calls to each of the 4 Labor Senators.
If you chose to call and speak to the politician’s staffer, please be polite but clear about why you want the parliamentarian to take action. Each call should take less than 5 minutes, but is a powerful way you can let MPs and Senators know that their constituents are watching.
Phone numbers are below, and a suggested script is attached..
Please feel free to contact me if you need more information on 0423 219 096. It would be good if you could send me a quick email to let me know who you have called and what they have said.
Thanks for your support!
regards
Robyn Wood
0423 219 096

Steve Georganas

MP Adelaide

(08) 8269 2433

Louise Miller-Frost

MP Boothby

(08) 8374 0511

Mark Butler

MP HIndmarsh

(08) 8241 0190

Matt Burnell

MP Spence

(08) 8258 6300

Tony Zappia

MP Makin

(03) 9534 8126

Don Farrell

Senator

(08) 8231 8400

Penny Wong

Senator

(08) 8212 8272

Karen Grogan

Senator

(08) 8269 6022

Marielle Smith

Senator

(08) 8340 0444

Here’s the  script for the EPA ES Blitz

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Environmental Law

Script to assist calling your local MP/Senator

January 26, 2025

Script to assist calling your local MP/Senator (and yes they do want to hear from you)  — Of course it is only a guide to be used as you need

I am (insert name) and I am a local constituent.
I am hoping you can pass on a message to (insert MP/Senator name).

In brief, I’m ringing to ask (MP/Senator’s name) to raise their voice in the Labor caucus, and with the Prime Minister’s office, to ensure that the EPA bills are passed in the February sitting weeks – including the Labor amendments to deliver environmental standards within 12 months.

I really appreciate that the Prime Minister has promised to bring the bills back to Parliament, in the upcoming sittings. I am hoping the Government can work closely with the cross bench to get a good outcome.

I believe we need to pass this legislation to show to environmentally concerned voters that Labor cares about the environment.

My request is that (insert MP/Senator name) raises the deep concern within the environmental community that we pass the EPA bills in February, with amendments to create environmental standards. Maybe they can advocate for the EPA by bringing it up with caucus colleagues, in factional meetings and with the Prime Minister’s office.

Can you pass that on? Would it be worth me calling back tomorrow or the next day to hear how your conversation went?

Thank you

The bills: what are we asking for?

The legislation before parliament creates the EPA and a data agency to improve decision making, Environmental Information Australia. It also increases penalties and fines for not complying with current environmental laws.

Both business and environmental advocates want to see changes to how the legislation itself works. The creation of new institutions, while game changers for environmental governance, makes no immediate improvements to the environmental outcomes of the legislation, nor do they deliver increased certainty and clarity in decision making which business needs.… Read more >>

Clean Futures, Environmental Law

A Law Against Ecocide

June 29, 2021

From the Press Release by the Stop Ecocide Foundation:

The Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation has completed its deliberations.  The proposed definition of ecocide as a 5th crime under the Rome Statute is now available for states to consider – and for civil society to demand.  We think the drafting panel has achieved something remarkable – we love this legal definition!  It’s well pitched between what needs to be done to protect ecosystems and what will be acceptable to states – it’s both bold and workable at same time.  Governments and activists alike will take it seriously.  
You can find the full text of the definition with accompanying commentary HERE and on the newly launched Ecocide Law website, an academic and legal resource hub we are co-managing with the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law.  There is also an additional FAQ page. 

Earth Jurisprudence, Environmental Law, Old_Notes

Traditional owners can challenge nuclear waste dump on Country

June 29, 2021

In 2019, the Australian Electoral Commission conducted a month-long community ballot, asking the question ‘Do you support the proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility being located at one of the nominated sites in the community of Kimba?’

The ballot returned a 61.58 per cent ‘yes’ vote.

Barngarla conducted their own poll, saying they had been excluded from the AEC’s postal ballot.

100 per cent of the votes returned from Native Title holders said ‘no’ to the proposed nuclear facility.

Barngarla said the site selection process had been “completely and utterly miscarried”.

“No proper heritage assessment of the site was ever undertaken,” read the statement.

“… the most obvious and appalling example of this failed process was when the Government allowed the gerrymandering of the Kimba ‘community ballot’ in order to manipulate the vote.

“The simple fact remains that even though the Barngarla hold Native Title land closer to the proposed facility than the town of Kimba, the First Peoples for the area were not allowed to vote.

“…Mistakes have been made and the process needs to start again.”

“Traditional owners can challenge nuclear waste dump on Country”, Keira Jenkins, NITV News, SBS

Environmental Law, Nuclear, Old_Notes

Why we must ban secret corporate courts from trade deals

May 14, 2018

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is a dispute resolution method included in hundreds of trade and investment agreements designed to give exclusive legal protection to foreign companies investing abroad, giving them the right to sue host governments in a private tribunal over any perceived breach of the rules around the treatment of investors. This secret corporate court system is system is a threat to Australia’s democracy and environment and we believe it should be banned.

Click here to read in full Friends of the Earth’s briefing on The case for banning Investor State Dispute Settlement in Australia

ISDS allows Foreign investors can bypass domestic courts and have their case heard by three arbitrators who decide whether the host state is liable to pay huge sums in compensation. The origins of the provisions came from the need to protect companies against the seizure of their assets by host states, for example a mine being nationalised without just compensation. Investment agreements have since evolved to include the values of non-discrimination, prohibition of performance requirements, fair and equitable treatment and free movement of capital, and most controversially, indirect expropriation, in which any government measure perceived to affect the actual or expected profits can be challenged.

Read more at https://www.foe.org.au/secret_corporate_courts_from_trade_deals

Adelaide FoE Notes, Environmental Law, trade