Is your gate locked?

Finally our precious water resources are nationally protected.

But farmers still can't lock their gate.

SHAREIn good news, today the Senate agreed to protect water from coal seam gas and large coal mining!  This could not have happened without minority government, and community pressure across the country applying pressure to the old parties, supported by Greens MPs in the Parliament. 

The new laws give the federal Environment Minister to power to step in and stop a coal seam gas or large coal development that will have a significant impact on water.

Please, join me to share the good news.

But: under the law, farmers still can’t lock their gate.

I moved an amendment to these laws to ensure that landholders could lock the gate to coal and coal seam gas mining – but all the old parties voted against it, including the Nationals. The big parties would rather act in the interests of the big miners than communities and the environment.

Share this photo if you support the right to lock the gate.

Sadly, the old parties squandered the opportunity to Abbott-proof environment protection.

Conservative state premiers are wrecking our environment: Campbell Newman has ripped up Queensland’s coastal protection and Wild Rivers laws, Barry O’Farrell has invited shooters into NSW national parks, and Denis Napthine is letting logging threaten the habitat of Victoria’s faunal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum.

It is to Premiers like these that Tony Abbott has committed to give more environmental responsibilities.

I moved today to ensure that a future government couldn’t hand off its responsibilities to protect our national environment to the states.  The old parties voted it down.

I moved to ensure that our precious national parks have strong national protection.  The old parties voted it down.

I moved to include communities affected by shale, tight gas, and underground coal gasification included under this new water protection.  The old parties voted that down too.

The old parties have confirmed today that Greens are the only party standing up for farmers against the big mining companies and the only party that Australians can trust to protect the environment.

Share this image with your friends to spread the word that only a vote for the Greens is a vote for what matters.

Yours in protecting the farmland, water, places and species that are too precious to lose,

Larissa