Thread by @David_Ritter

1/12. The #Australianfires have been an absolute disaster for wildlife and nature. But there is an important background story: even before the fires, the Coalition government had declared War on Nature.

Here’s a thread:

2/12. The Coalition government’s #WarOnNature has been prosecuted through funding cuts, attempted law changes, support for disastrous projects and attacks on environmental defenders.

Here are 7 examples:

3/12. In December 2013, the newly elected federal Coalition government slashed $10 million in funding from the public-interest Environmental Defenders Offices.

@EDOLawyers

abc.net.au/news/2013-12-1…

4/12. In June 2014, the Coalition government became the first in the world to apply to remove World Heritage status for parts of Tasmania’s forests, so they could be available for logging. @UNESCO said no.

abc.net.au/7.30/australia…

5/12. The Coalition has made various attempts to slash Australia’s already-too-weak environmental protection laws.

#auspol

theconversation.com/turnbull-wants…

6/12. In December 2017, investigations revealed that spending on environment department programs, monitoring and staff had been slashed by nearly a third since the Coalition won the election in 2013, with deeper cuts still to come.

#auspol

theguardian.com/australia-news…

7/12. Repeated funding cuts at both state and federal levels have left Australia’s national parks in a state of crisis.

abc.net.au/news/2019-07-0…

8/12. In 2016 United Nations Rapporteur Michael Forst reported that he was ‘astonished’ at government measures against Australian civil society, including targeting the work of environmental defenders and unfairly vilifying environmentalists.

@UN

un.org.au/2016/10/18/aus…

9/12. And of course, all of this is in the context of Australia having no effective emissions reduction policies despite climate change being the greatest systemic threat to all wildlife and nature.

abc.net.au/triplej/progra…

10/12. Given all of this, it is unsurprising that Australia’s most recent five-yearly ‘state of the environment’ report was ‘dismal reading’ and showed crucial trends seriously worsening.

smh.com.au/environment/st…

11/12. The consequence is that Australia was in the midst of an extinction crisis, even before the fires: 'A national disgrace.'

theguardian.com/environment/20…

12/12. I hope that this summer’s fire crisis brings a paradigm shift in how we treat wildlife and nature in Australia. The Coalition must end its #WarOnNature.

We need to come together as a country with a new ethic of stewardship for our magnificent, wonderful continent.