Just finished hearings with the Enviro Minister. @amymacsouthbris asked some great questions on coal, emissions and climate action. Unfortunately, the new Minister either didn't have the questions or didn't want to answer.

Remember this square? Qld Environment Minister wouldn't indicate whether these 18 new coal mines will still be operating in 2050, and whether that's consistent with the governments’ target for net zero emissions by 2050.

https://t.co/mLVKes4TDq
In response to an Opposition Question, the Environment Minister says Qld will need to cut about 40M tonnes of carbon or 40% below 2018 levels to reach Labor's 2030 target of a 30% emissions reduction. But she stumbles when asked about the plan to get there...
Before the 2017 election Gov't promised a green paper on how to cut pollution for these targets, but it never happened. They promised it again this yr - now called a “Climate Change Strategy”. But...
When asked what funding has been allocated to develop the Climate Change Strategy and when it will be released, @meaghan_scanlon says repeatedly "the plan is a document... it is a document"... and that it will be developed internally.

No budget, no timeline.
On national parks funding, the pre-election Enviro Minister announced $28M to buy new land for protected areas as an “initial” investment. Then in the Budget we learnt that amount will actually be spread over 4 years, meaning we won’t reach the 17% protected areas target.
So @amymacsouthbris asks when we can expect national park funding beyond the “initial investment”. Gov't simply says the 17% target isn't achievable within the 3 year target.

When I ask whether they've abandoned the 17% target, they insist no - but give no timeline to reach it.
Last week @_LisaMCox reported the Fed Gov't wrote to Qld suggesting collaboration to delist part of the Moreton Bay Ramsar wetland for the Toondah Harbour dev't.

My Q: will Govt rule out endorsing a change to the Moreton Bay Ramsar wetland boundary to facilitate Toondah?
Encouraging response fr the Minister: "We’ve already ruled out changes to the boundary".

Presumably refers to this response to my Question on Notice, where the previous Minister advised a DG review had concluded there is no justification for the change: https://t.co/rKMPVQj6gH
The question is now: will the Qld Government rule out approving the Toondah Harbour development?

We've already seen expert advise that it would breach our obligations under the Ramsar Convention, causing unacceptable & irreversible damage to the wetland. It cannot go ahead.

More from Government

Canada is failing to act on Climate Change. @wef @WorldBank @IMFNews @IPCC_CH @UNDPGAIN @AntiCorruptIntl @Pontifex @JustinWelby @OCCRP @StopCorpAbuse @TaxJusticeNet @FairTaxCanada @ecojustice_ca @WCELaw @CanEnvLawAssn @envirodefence @IBA_Canada #cdnpoli


Covid recovery money is going to the oligarchy.

Ottawa and the provinces have put very little on the table to help clean-tech companies directly during Covid 19 while targeting fossil-fuel producers with more than $16 billion in aid.

Coast to coast people have demanded treaties be honored. We demanded climate action, divestment and land back but Canada is not listening. This video shows 10 years of rallies in Waterloo Ontario. City & regional council declared a climate emergency. 🚨

The Bank of China (BOC), SNC-Lavalin and WE Charity were recipients of taxpayer-funded the Covid 19 Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

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@NBA @StephenKissler @yhgrad 1. From Day 1, SARS-COV-2 was very well adapted to humans .....and transgenic hACE2 Mice


@NBA @StephenKissler @yhgrad 2. High Probability of serial passaging in Transgenic Mice expressing hACE2 in genesis of SARS-COV-2


@NBA @StephenKissler @yhgrad B.1.1.7 has an unusually large number of genetic changes, ... found to date in mouse-adapted SARS-CoV2 and is also seen in ferret infections.
https://t.co/9Z4oJmkcKj


@NBA @StephenKissler @yhgrad We adapted a clinical isolate of SARS-CoV-2 by serial passaging in the ... Thus, this mouse-adapted strain and associated challenge model should be ... (B) SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA loads in mouse lung homogenates at P0 to P6.
https://t.co/I90OOCJg7o