Arabic version: ثلاثة أعضاء في مجلس الشيوخ من حزب الخضر يعارضون اتفاق حديقة الكوالا
According to The Guardian, three Greens senators will cross the floor to oppose a deal that is expected to allow a contentious New South Wales koala national park plan to proceed.
Tasmanian senators Nick McKim and Vanessa Bleyer, along with Western Australian senator Jordon Steele-John, said they would vote against the agreement on Thursday afternoon. The Greens have reached a deal with Labor and decided not to join the Coalition in blocking a regulation allowing states to earn carbon credits for protecting native forests previously earmarked for logging.
The Nationals have moved to disallow the carbon credit method, arguing it would harm the forestry industry. The Greens hold the casting votes in the Senate. Labor said its agreement with the Greens confirmed a Senate majority would oppose the Coalition motion, allowing the regulation to remain.
The proposed park is a 476,000-hectare reserve, including 176,000 hectares of newly protected areas. The Greens said their agreement would prevent credits from public-forest protection being sold to coal and gas companies if that was the NSW government’s intention. It would also require a 30% total reduction in logging by 2030 for states seeking credits, and close a loophole involving regrowing native forests.
McKim, Bleyer and Steele-John said they did not support “the relentless commodification of nature” and would vote according to their consciences. Greens leader Larissa Waters said the party had improved the method while pledging to oppose other upcoming carbon credit legislation that would generate a larger number of credits.
