Questions are being raised about the Queensland State
Government’s environmental agenda in the days leading up to Premier Campbell
Newman’s first Council of Australian Governments meeting tomorrow in Canberra.
Mr Newman has criticised the findings of the COAG Business
Advisory Forum, saying that the recommendations of the forum do not adequately
support new business growth and that he hopes to help cut regulations and
so-called “green tape” to assist in economic growth.
“We’re going to cut 18000 pages of regulation and
legislation in the next six years… The current COAG agenda, and the way it’s
been working, positively discourages you from doing that,” said Mr Newman
today.
The COAG Business Advisory Forum, chaired by Prime Minister
Gillard and attended by government and business leaders from across Australia,
met in Canberra today to discuss possible business reforms and their impact on
economic growth. As such, this put the ever-controversial mining tax squarely
on the grid, with Campbell Newman slogging headlong into the debate in his
first weeks in office.
While no decision is likely to be reached this week in
Canberra, Mr Newman’s office has announced his intention to dispute the carbon
tax initiative as “unconstitutional”, and is seeking allies for a challenge in
the High Court. Mr Newman already claims to have spoken to another unnamed
state premier about joining together for a High Court challenge, although this
punter’s best guess would be that the unnamed premier is Western Australian
Premier Colin Barnett, who has been an outspoken critic of the carbon tax and
continues to fight it in the WA parliament.
Also up for discussion this week is the federal mining tax,
due to come into effect in July this year. Mr Newman has invited Prime Minister
Gillard to discuss the matter with him during the COAG meeting. Mr Newman has
criticised the proposed super profits scheme related to the tax, saying that
profits made by taxing mining industry in the state should stay within the
state.
“If there’s a mining project in Queensland that’s paying
this tax and a dollar of tax is paid, a dollar has got to come back to
Queensland,” said Premier Newman today.
The Council of Australian Governments meeting is due to
begin tomorrow, and findings of the meeting will begin to emerge as the meeting
progresses, so more developments are sure to come. So far, what is interesting,
is the unconventional narrative surrounding the new Queensland premier’s first
weeks in office, which paint a picture of a man with economics and
infrastructure squarely in his sights, and a refreshing lack of regard for
old-world protocols that has the potential to create a sleek new paradigm for
new government heads, or to create a level of engrained corruption the likes of
which our state has never seen. And we’ve seen some shit already.
Unfortunately, we are yet to see the endgame; to see where
these reforms will actually lead us as a state. Deregulation of environmental
impact procedures, along with cutting financial disincentives for polluting,
will make mining and exploration easier and more lucrative, but there is
obvious and tangible environmental risk. Accordingly, there is growing concern
about the LNP state government’s environmental agenda in favour of business
reform, despite claims that the government will create a department dedicated
to environmental protection (further reading here).
The opposing argument that deregulation will aid business growth and cut
unemployment, thereby leading the state into an economic golden-age, has also
been met with derision in some quarters. The immediate question becomes: Who
will these reforms actually benefit?
Karl Anderson
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