Oz Environment Minister: Not Her Job To Inform States About National Climate Policy (Such As It Is)
The environment minister, Sussan Ley, has rebuffed a push by her state counterparts to be kept in the loop about the Morrison government’s plans for climate action ahead of international talks in Glasgow in November – telling them she is not responsible for mitigation efforts. Several sources have confirmed to Guardian Australia there was a stoush in Thursday’s meeting between Ley and a number of state ministers, both Liberal and Labor.
State environment ministers insisted their federal counterpart should assert responsibility for reducing the risks of runaway climate change, and commit to consultation and collaboration with the states, given managing climate risk was integral to effective environmental stewardship.
But Ley is understood to have said she could not commit to brief or coordinate with them on climate change mitigation efforts because that would go beyond the bounds of her portfolio responsibilities. Angus Taylor has responsibility for climate action in the Morrison government.
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Ahead of Thursday’s meeting of environment ministers, Ley had nominated waste policy, climate adaptation and reform of national conservation laws as the commonwealth’s environmental priorities for 2021. Ley articulated those priorities in a letter to her state counterparts in February, telling them those priorities had been suggested by Morrison. Federal and state environment ministers did not meet at all in 2020. The lack of coordination created concern for environmentalists given the damage inflicted by the bushfires at the beginning of 2020.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/17/environment-minister-sussan-ley-says-climate-action-not-her-portfolio-in-stoush-with-states