Pictured: Sophie George (Capricorn Conservation Council), Crystal Falknau (NQCC) and Imogen Lindenberg (Mackay Conservation Group) represent their regions at the August 2024 Ministerial Roundtable.

Twice a year, peak bodies from Queensland's conservation movement attend a roundtable meeting with the Environment Minister of the day. As the voice for the environment in North Queensland, this is an important opportunity for us to ensure that our decision-makers truly understand the threats facing nature and biodiversity in our region.

It's also an opportunity to hear from relevant government department heads about their current and planned works to enhance environmental outcomes throughout Queensland. 

In August 2024, we received briefings on:

• Climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Bioregional planning
• Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for Queensland - draft performance framework (consultation open now)
• Wildnet
• Cape York World Heritage (tentative listing)
• The role of Coexistence (formerly the Gasfields Commission) in the renewables rollout
•  EPOLA (Environmental Protection [Powers and Penalties] and Other Legislation Act)
• Queensland's Threatened Species Program

  
Pictured: Representatives from the regional conservation councils present Environment Minister Leanne Linard with a campaign document.

The nine regional conservation councils used the roundtable as an opportunity to share our Heat & Hazards campaign with Queensland's Environment Minister, the Hon. Leanne Linard. This collaborative, statewide campaign aims to better protect environmental values and communities from worsening heat and hazards.

This campaign has seen us engage with locals (through Story Circles), local government and state government to improve the design and implementation of policy frameworks like QCoast2100 and promote nature-based solutions. Minister Linard responded positively to our approach and policy asks. We were assured of her willingness to support this framework, but no firm commitments were made.

Pictured: Queensland Premier the Hon. Steven Miles addresses MERT attendees

While Minister for Energy and Clean Economy Jobs, the Hon. Mick de Brenni couldn't join the roundtable, we were joined by representatives of his department. We also received a surprise visit from Queensland Premier Steven Miles, who reflected on the environmental and climate achievements of Queensland Labor since his time as Environment Minister 19 years ago.

He reflected that such an ambitious emissions reduction target would never have been dreamed about in the midst of the climate wars. He also reiterated the importance of the Ministerial Environment Roundtable and First Nations leadership in conservation. In sombre tones, he conveyed a deep concern for what may lie ahead for Queensland following the upcoming October election. 

Pictured: Roundtable attendees stand alongside Minister Linard and Premier Miles

A prominent theme of this Ministerial Roundtable was the renewable energy transition. As passionate conservationists AND long-time climate campaigners, the number of renewable energy projects planned for areas of high biodiversity, threatened species habitat and important climate refugia has been gutting.

The climate crisis is already impacting species and entire ecosystems (look no further than the Reef), and is slowly but surely making some of our regions unsafe to live. We don't just want the renewable energy transition to succeed - we need it to.

Sadly, Queensland's planning and environmental frameworks - which have long failed our environment - are now being exploited by the renewable energy industry, just as they have by so many other industries in the past. With EPBC reforms delayed, we are also reliant on a broken system to provide the last line of defence for our threatened and endangered species. 

Even in cases where projects are planned for sites of lower risk to the environmental, we are seeing inadequate community consultation by developers threatening social license. This is giving rise to the popularity of nuclear energy, ultimately locking Queensland into continued reliance on fossil fuels long past the window of opportunity to reduce emissions and limit climate change has closed.

These are the messages we delivered loud and clear to representatives of the Department of Energy and Climate. We learned about a framework in the making that will help improve the renewable rollout and address some of these issues. State Code 23 for wind farms has yet to be released following its review (this release is imminent, we're told) and this will be further strengthened with a code of conduct for energy developers. We also received assurances that those "cowboy" projects that shouldn't go ahead, won't. We remain vigilant.

Pictured: NQCC Coordinator Crystal Falknau (far right) addresses representatives from the Dept of Energy and Climate.

We would like to congratulate Queensland Conservation Council and the dedicated staff within the Dept of Environment, Science and Innovation for delivering an insightful and productive Ministerial Environment Roundtable. We look forward to future roundtables to ensure regional voices are heard!