Thorpe says reporting emissions is not the same as stopping climate destruction, and warned the bill risks becoming a fast-track approvals regime for destructive industries unless strengthened.

Summary of Senator Thorpe’s position

• The laws must be accompanied by a National Standard for First Nations Engagement and Participation, guaranteeing adherence to the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

• Climate impacts must be part of every approval decision – not just reported.

• Loopholes for land clearing, logging of bush, and fossil fuel expansion must be closed.

• The ‘national interest’ exemption loophole needs to be scrapped or clearly limited and defined.

• Laws must ensure that mining companies and developers can’t simply “pay to destroy’, and critical habitat and ecosystems are protected.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

“These laws will decide what happens to Country for generations. But right now, Labor is promising faster approvals for corporations, while First Peoples are still being locked out of decision-making. 

"Corporations have had free rein to poison water, decimate our bush, destroy sacred sites and threaten entire ecosystems. Environmental laws that ignore climate impacts and First Peoples rights isn’t protection.

"First Peoples have Sovereign rights and obligations to maintain and care for Country, but these continue to be violated and undermined by colonial governments.

"Country is in crisis. Our rivers are dying, totems are disappearing, our bushland is being destroyed and ecosystems are collapsing. And yet fossil fuel and mining approvals continue. It’s ecocide before our eyes.

"If this government is serious about protecting Country, then it must guarantee Free, Prior and Informed Consent for First Peoples. Anything less is just another colonial rubber stamp for destruction.

"Reporting a project’s emissions is meaningless if the government then approves the project anyway. We need real limits on fossil fuel projects to stop the destruction of Country.

"Successive governments – Coalition and Labor – have designed environmental laws that enable the desecration of Country. These bills are a rare chance to fix that. The government should work with the crossbench to strengthen the laws rather than the Coalition who will guarantee weaker protections.

"I am calling on Minister Watt to respect First Peoples, honour our right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, expand the climate and water triggers, and close the loopholes that allow corporations to destroy land, water and sacred sites.

"First Peoples have protected this land since time immemorial. When we care for Country, Country cares for us. That’s what this colony still needs to learn.”