Just a few days in and the Abbott government has announced plans to make green boycotts illegal.
Parliamentary secretary for agriculture Richard Colbeck says he wants to “prevent green groups from holding companies to ransom”
This means environmental groups and community organisations will be gagged if they ask consumers to boycott unethical companies.
Less than a week in Government and Abbott is already showing his true colours – Free speech is under attack.
See the response from The Wilderness Society below.
Read more about Abbotts plan here.
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Gagging free information will hurt business
The Federal Government’s proposal to silence non-government organisations from briefing consumers about environmental credentials of companies and products will be counterproductive, the Wilderness Society said today.
Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck announced moves yesterday to try to stop groups from being active in the market place.
“It’s an odd move by a pro-free market government to try to protect businesses from consumers receiving credible information about their products,” said Wilderness Society National Director Lyndon Schneiders.
“Companies should not be operating in a free market if they need government protection from credible information.
“Government can’t protect companies who don’t have a social licence as was witnessed with the spectacular collapse of one-time logging giant Gunns Limited in Tasmania.
“Markets for a whole host of products have wised up to unethical and unsustainable production practices and make their own decisions in relation to purchases and the preferences of consumers.
“Discerning markets care about their purchases and often rely on third-party assessment and commentary to make their decisions ‑ whether its demands are sweat-shop free, cruelty free, fair trade, non-genetically modified or environmentally sustainable.
“This is a wrong-headed action by the new government and will not benefit the private sector.
Instead it will make martyrs out of advocates and pariahs out of companies seeking to cover up the true environmental footprint of their products.
“Environment groups play an important role in informing markets and in some cases, such as with the Tasmanian Forest Agreement, have an explicit obligation to keep customers of Tasmanian forest products updated with information.
“Markets expect high environmental standards and free and fair flows of information and will be increasingly sceptical of governments that impose new laws that constrain communications.”
More info: http://www.wilderness.org.au/
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Comments
The worst show and tell ever
"The move, which could severely hamper market-based campaigns by groups such as Markets for Change and GetUp!, is to be pursued by the Abbott government." - The Australian, 23 September 2013
The Abbott Government is making aggressive moves to silence our voices and go after the places we cherish.
Headline news in The Australianclearly spells out the fight ahead of us:
In other words, the Government knows just how powerful our movement can be when we work together – and they want to put a stop to it. Let's show them we're not going anywhere.
How? We have to start by explaining what's at stake. Let's get this important message across the country:
www.getup.org.au/show-and-tell
Why is this bad?
Prime Minister Abbott has already expressed the Coalition's intent to overhaul Australia's most important environmental protection law, the EPBC Act. The legislation was actually introduced by the Howard Government. It's what gives the Federal Government power to approve or block developments that threaten our national environmental assets, and has protected our Great Barrier Reef, the Tarkine forest, protects our water tables from coal seam gas, and far more.
If they succeed, there will be no backstop for major environmental decisions. State governments often have less power to intervene against environmental damage – and, because they often receive royalties from mining and logging projects, state governments have vested interests.
We conducted exit polling of voters on election day. The results show a majority of Australians don't want to scrap environmental protections.
Our strategy is clear: we have to start by ringing the alarm bell.
The more Australians know about this unpopular plan, the greater incentive for the Abbott Government to leave these important laws in place. That's why this TV ad is a great place to start. If we can raise $150,000 together, we can buy huge ad spots over the coming weeks and ensure environmental protection is back on the national agenda.
www.getup.org.au/show-and-tell
With thanks,
GetUp
[1] Coalition bid to fix project paralysis, The Australian, 23 September 2013