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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/16/fixing-australias-broken-environment-laws-hold-key-to-productivity-ex-treasury-head-says>
"Federal Labor should make the case for a new carbon tax, former Treasury
secretary Ken Henry says, describing the measure as “the world’s best carbon
policy”.
Speaking in Canberra about ways to fix the nation’s broken environment
protection laws, Henry said Australia had no hope of curbing carbon emissions
without re-embracing a pricing mechanism.
“Why the hell did we ever drop it? That’s the question,” an exasperated Henry
told the National Press Club.
“It still boggles the mind that we had the world’s best carbon policy, and
then, for purely political reasons, decided that we can afford to do without
it.
“Of course we need a carbon tax … and I am not of the view that, without a
carbon tax, we should give up.”
Henry, now the chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation,
used Wednesday’s speech as a rallying cry to federal parliament to finally
agree on a rewrite of the quarter-century old
Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
“We have had all the reviews we need. All of us have had our say. It is now up
to parliament. Let’s just get this done,” he said.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, is designing a new package of federal
nature laws after Anthony Albanese shelved the earlier version ahead of the
election amid lobbying from mining companies and the Western Australian
government.
Henry cast EPBC reform as critical to boosting productivity – the economic
priority of Labor’s second term.
“Reforming our broken environmental laws is an obvious lever to enhance
resilience and lift moribund productivity growth. And reforms provide an
opportunity to dramatically cut the cost to government,” he said.
“Of course, I can think of other reforms to boost productivity. Some even
harder, though none more important. And if we can’t achieve environmental law
reform, then we should stop dreaming about more challenging options.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
