(Tim winton, ‘The Guardian’, 22nd Feb 2025)
Having acknowledged our extinction crisis and the climate emergency, Anthony Albanese promised to introduce more effective nature laws. His government hasn’t delivered on that promise. A policy failure this monumental isn’t just politically embarrassing – in the real world of blood and fur and feathers, it’s calamitous. Because without positive action, precious things and places will die. That’s not tragic – it’s shameful.
Sad to say, part of that shame can be sheeted home to my home state of Western Australia. The last-minute intervention of our premier, Roger Cook, ensured the extinction of those new nature laws.
WA, of course, is the only Australian state without a 2030 emissions target – here, carbon pollution is increasing. So, no surprise that temperatures are already dangerous, fires and floods are intensifying, and homes and properties are becoming uninsurable.
Polling shows that most Western Australians want climate addressed properly as a matter of urgency. But the Cook government’s fealty to the fossil fuel industry, backed by local press barons, is almost tribal. Despite the science, they want to back the likes of Woodside to drill and pollute for another 50 years. That’s a death warrant for Australia’s corals.
After this week, our shock will turn to sorrow. But while we must own that grief, we should be sure to identify its sources and use that knowledge to bring about change. Elections aren’t our only opportunity to disrupt and destroy business at usual, but they’re a good place to begin.
Read Tim Winton’s full report here.