Thornlie MP Chris Tallentire accuses The Nightly of running campaign to undermine Nature Positive laws

A State Labor MP has accused Seven West Media and its national flagship The Nightly of running a campaign to undermine the Albanese Government’s stalled “nature positive” environment laws.

Just hours before Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek pulled the proposed laws from the Senate unable to secure support from the Coalition or the Greens, Thornlie MP Chris Tallentire lashed out at Seven West Media and The Nightly.

In a speech over State changes to the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Tallentire claimed Seven West Media had been fighting for changes in the laws, to protect the WA industry.

Seven West Media owns West Australian Newspapers, the publisher of The Nightly and The West Australian.

“It is just so important that we, as members of this place, realise that there is a concerted effort by interest groups to counter the environmental protection laws that exist at a state and federal level,” Mr Tallentire said.

“This concerted effort is most clearly seen in the writings of the Seven West Media group, with the number of headlines and stories on at least a weekly basis attacking nature positive evidence of this.”

The outburst came as Federal Labor delayed debate on the proposed laws after a backlash from big business over the prospect of a deal with the Greens.

Mr Tallentire referenced a Canberra conference in July attended by Professor Graeme Samuel — the architect of the nature positive laws — where he spoke of a Seven West Media campaign.

“These laws have been subject to so much ridicule, especially by Seven West Media,” he told parliament.

“I had never actually heard anyone mention The Nightly before, but I was at a conference in Canberra (shortly after the online newspaper launched) in July.

“The keynote speaker was Professor Graeme Samuel who in many ways the architect of the nature positive laws.

“He actually referred to The Nightly and its campaign against nature positive, and now we see headlines on the front page of The West Australian that these laws are nature negative,” Mr Tallentire said.

“Actually nature negative is the situation that we have got into. This is why we must have the strongest possible environmental protection laws at a state and federal level.”

Mr Tallentire, who prior to his election in 2008 was the chief executive of the Conservation Council of WA, announced earlier this year he would be retiring from Parliament in March 2025.

In his speech, he criticised the State Government’s report into the EPA, and claimed companies were not being held back by “so-called green tape”.

Prior to The Nightly’s coverage, the nature positive issue had been ignored by most Australians, failing to recognise the impact on Western Australia.

State Environment Minister Reece Whitby said people were entitled to their views, pointing to Mr Tallentire’s decision to support the EPA reforms in Parliament on Wednesday.

“We have a robust democracy,” he said.

“We have industry making their views known. Chris is making his view known. Conservationists making their view,”

“My job is to strike the balance that gets it right, that protects the environment and improves their environmental assessment process.”

The Senate was scheduled to debate legislation to establish a new federal Environment Protection Agency on Thursday before it was pulled from the notice paper at the last minute.

The move came as Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek again refused to rule out agreeing to a “climate trigger” to win the Greens’ support.

“They (the laws) don’t include a climate trigger now but we work with the Senate that the Australian people elected,” Ms Plibersek told Sky News.

Ms Plibersek sent alarm bells ringing around the business and mining sector on Wednesday after confirming she was in negotiations with the Greens, including over its push for “climate considerations” to be factored into the environmental assessment of projects.

The Business Council of Australia — which represents BHP and Rio Tinto — demanded Labor rule out a “reckless” deal with the Greens that would imperil critical minerals and green energy projects in Western Australia.

Labor is also in talks with the Coalition and has offered to water down the powers of the proposed EPA to secure its support.