Australian environment groups under attack on World Environment Day

David Ritter: Under attack in Australia on World Environment Day “… In a coordinated campaign with the mining industry, the LNP has announced an inquiry into the tax status of environment groups.

This is an attempt to stifle dissent from the environment groups. It fails to acknowledge that the LNP take considerable donations from companies who benefit from their damaging and destructive policies.

Because we have taken a stand defending the rights of farmers to access healthy drinking water, the rights of the tourism industry to have a healthy Reef and the renewable energy industry to exist — we are being threatened.

The most hypocritical aspect of this debate is that the donations the LNP receive from mining companies are tax deductible. That’s right.

We even have the situation where the extreme members of the LNP who are running this inquiry, people like George Christensen, are the leading advocates for dredging and dumping in the Great Barrier Reef’s waters. We also have Andrew Nikolic, an advocate for delisting Tasmania’s native forests from the World Heritage Committee.

So this Environment Day, we have a simple message. The environment is under attack like never before. The people who fight for it are also under attack. If you want to protect the Reef, the forests or just the planet, help out an environment group while you still can http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2015/06/05/4248838.htm