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Morrison takes credit for conservation legislation that doesn’t seem to exist

by Elizabeth Minter | Jun 18, 2020 | Deceptive Conduct, QED

Case for Federal ICAC
Deceptive Conduct | QED
Liberal Party

Morrison takes credit for conservation legislation that doesn’t seem to exist

May 2019
The Prime Minister claimed he had already “been taking action” on a landmark UN report about the extinction of a million different species by introducing and passing legislation on animal conservation. But no such legislation was passed or even seemed to exist.
In a damning United Nations report released on May 6, 2019, scientists revealed that 1 million species were at risk of extinction. On Tuesday May 7, Scott Morrison responded to the report saying: “We already introduced and passed legislation through the Senate actually dealing with that very issue in the last week of the parliament. We’ve been taking action on that.”

But as The Guardian reported, no legislation regarding animal conservation or the environment passed in the final week of parliament. When asked what the legislation was, the prime minister’s office did not reply. The office of the environment minister, Melissa Price, also did not respond when asked what legislation Morrison was referring to.

The only legislation regarding animals that passed within the last few months is the industrial chemicals bill 2017, which set new regulations on testing cosmetics on animals. It was passed by both houses on 18 February – not in the last week of parliament, which was in April.

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Elizabeth Minter

A 30-year veteran of the mainstream media, Liz was the editor of MWMuntil June 2021. Liz began her career in journalism in 1990 and worked at The Age newspaper for two 10-year stints. She also worked at The Guardian newspaper in London for more than seven years. A former professional tennis player who represented Australia in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Liz has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Letters (Hons).

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

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