A deal between Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and the Greens to create a national environmental watchdog has been withdrawn following a last-minute decision from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Plibersek first introduced the legislation in May as part of an election commitment to prevent serious environmental damage and proactively audit businesses to ensure they’re doing the right thing.
At the time, Plibersek said, “We’re moving quickly to deliver Environment Protection Australia and Environment Information Australia”.
However, the Prime Minister’s backtracking on the deal last week brings up memories of the former Rudd government’s tussle with the Greens over the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
The Prime Minister has also been accused of underutilising Plibersek in response to the shocking 2016 election outcome. While naming Albanese leader of the party meant the inevitable selection of Richard Marles, a member of the party’s Right faction member, as Deputy was not unsurprising, the fracture between the Prime Minister and one of the party’s most senior women indicates a broader conflict.
During an interview with Insiders host David Speers on Sunday, Albanese said he didn’t “accept that an agreement was made with the Greens.”
“No one in the Greens can say I agreed to it,” the Prime Minister said.
According to Speers, a draft agreement between Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek and the Greens was drawn up and negotiated.
When corrected by the Prime Minister, Speers responded that he had “seen” the document.
The Guardian reported Plibersek had made the Prime Minister aware of the deal being struck before the official negotiation was documented.
Asked why minister Tanya Plibersek was excluded from discussions between the Prime Minister, Katy Gallagher, the Senate’s Manager for Government Business, and Greens Environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young, Albanese says he “spoke to [Tanya Plibersek] directly” to inform her there would be no deal between the government and the minor party.
Political Editor for News.com Samantha Maiden says she was told Plibersek and Albanese had a conversation on Tuesday night following an event with the ABC.
Maiden said that while the Western Australian Mines Minister David Michael announced that the deal was “completely scuffered”, “depending on who you talk to, this happened before the Prime Minister spoke to Tanya Plibersek.”
The Saturday Paper reported that “both sides” confirmed that the deal had already been brokered between the Greens and Plibersek but that the Prime Minister’s last-minute change of heart on Tuesday night signalled the collapse of the cross-party accord.
While Guardian Australia’s political editor Karen Middleton said, “Tanya Plibersek had the support of the Prime Minister,” the events indicate a much longer divide between the Prime Minister and former Deputy Leader.
Middleton said the Prime Minister wanted to avoid a financially charged stoush between the government and the Western Australian mining industry.
However, a phone call from Western Australian Premier Roger Cook was enough to convince the Prime Minister to throw Plibersek under the bus and deny the existence of any agreement.
During an interview with 2GB radio host Chris O’Keefe on 28 November, Plibersek attempted to gloss over the stoush.
Whilst Plibersek noted that she had “discussed it both with the Prime Minister and Senator Katy Gallagher”, she also claimed that the Premier had contacted her about the legislation.
Whether the Prime Minister and Western Australian Premier were actively trying to throw Plibersek under the bus is debatable; however, the response to the failed agreement has baffled both politicians and journalists.
‘A lack of respect for Tanya Plibersek’
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young attacked the move, arguing that, “Gina Reinhart and the logging industry have more of a say in [parliament] than the Environment Minister.”
The comment was criticised by The Sydney Morning Herald’s Chief Political Correspondent, David Crowe, who called it “laughable.”
“Tanya Plibersek had been negotiating for months, but the call needs to go to the Prime Minister”, Crowe said.
Maiden criticised the move, arguing that the Prime Minister had failed to work with his parliamentary colleague to achieve the cross-party agreement.
“There was a lack of respect for Tanya Plibersek,” Maidan said.
It is not the first time the exclusion of Plibersek from the government has been addressed.
In July, political commentator and former Senior Advisor to John Howard and Peter Costello, Niki Savva, said it was a “grave mistake putting Tanya Plibersek in the freezer.”
“You don’t win Grand Finals by having some of your best players on the bench for no reason,” Savva said.
The former Deputy Leader has held Ministries in housing, aged care, women, social services, social inclusion, health, and, more recently, environment and water.
However, suggestions have been made that the Prime Minister’s selection of Plibersek to take on the Environment portfolio indicates a broader conflict.
Maiden supported Savva’s assertion that “Tanya Plibersek languishing around koalas” was an ineffective use of the former Deputy Leader’s skills.
Maiden said that not including Plibersek in that conversation had a “whiff of Scott Morrison.”
She said, “The Prime Minister never stops talking about Scott Morrison’s separate ministries,” but Albanese’s actions indicated a broader problem within the parliamentary Labor Party.
Maiden said, “What is going on if he is meeting with The Greens and no one bothers to tell Tanya Plibersek?”
The exclusion of such a senior woman in the parliamentary Labor Party also indicates a broader issue within the Australian parliament.
In October 2013, following the Labor Party’s election defeat, a leadership ballot amongst parliamentary and rank-and-file members was conducted in which Plibersek was confirmed as an “unopposed” successor to Albanese’s then role as Deputy Leader.
Since the Labor Party’s shock election defeat in 2019, whilst Bill Shorten was placed into the National Disability Insurance Scheme portfolio (an unambiguous decision considering his role in implementing the scheme), Plibersek was removed from both the deputy leadership and role as Minister for Education and Women which she had held between 2019 and 2022.
If the party is to win the next election, it must prioritise experienced women like Plibersek. While I do not doubt Plibersek will support the Prime Minister, he would do well to remember to keep his friends close and rivals closer.