With the Great Barrier Reef experiencing its worst mass coral bleaching event on record and mass fish kills (plus shellfish, cuttlefish and whales) occurring along the coast of Chile, these are hard times for those with their hearts in the ocean. While the finger of blame is being pointed at El Nino, little talk is being given to the gradual warming and acidification of the world’s oceans due to climate change. Australia’s Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, has gone so far as to attempt to decouple the export and combustion of coal from climate change and consequently, these tragic events. This is fallacious and disgraceful conduct, given his long-term portfolio responsibilities (which date back to 2007 shadow ministry)… but is it consistent with his track record?
Given that a Federal election is just months away, now would be a good time to consider Mr Hunt’s voting history on matters pertaining to the environment. Let’s take a look at some of the results aggregated by the website TheyVoteForYou since 2006.
Greg Hunt © Commonwealth of Australia 2013, CC BY 4.0
Greg Hunt voted very strongly for:
Greg Hunt voted strongly against:
- Increasing Aboriginal land rights
- Increasing transparency of big business by making information public
Greg hunt voted very strongly against:
- A carbon price
- A minerals resource rent tax
- Carbon farming
- Ending illegal logging
- Increasing access under Freedom of Information law
- Increasing accessibility of government data and documents
- Increasing fishing restrictions
- Increasing investment in renewable energy
- Increasing marine conservation
- Increasing protection of Australia’s fresh water
- Increasing the diversity of media ownership
- Letting environmental groups challenge the legality of certain government decisions
- Re-approving/ re-registering agvet chemicals
- Restricting donations to political parties
- Restricting foreign ownership
- Stopping tax avoidance or aggressive tax minimisation
- The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Greg Hunt has never voted on
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Dan Monceaux is a South Australian documentary filmmaker and the director of Cuttlefish Country.
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