The government's actions on climate and the environment are just not good enough. Science tells us that more ambitious and targeted efforts to protect our natural resources is not only the right thing to do, but the wider community expects it of their representatives.

If elected as the Independent MP for Casey I pledge to take these policies to Parliament:

• I support a strengthening (not weakening) of national environment protection laws
• I support the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024 to establish a new National Environment Protection Australia statutory agency. 
• I will be a champion of nature-positive legislation and programs, supporting a meaningful increase in funding into nature.

As I look for leadership, I am gutted that the two major parties do not support this legislation. Labor shelves contentious 'nature positive' laws after West Australian backlash - ABC News

I was appalled when in the last week of the 2025 Parliament the Labor Government decided to WIND BACK environment laws. The legislation, which the Liberal Party supported, and our current Casey MP voted to support:

• removes the Environment Minister's ability to reconsider previous decisions. (reducing the powers of the Minister and there are fears this change could apply to other current or future approvals under review.)
• reduces the rights of the public and environmental groups to review and challenge prior Commonwealth environmental approvals.
• guarantees the continuation of intensive salmon farming in the world-heritage-listed Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast.

Numbers of the endangered Maugean skate, a rare and stingray-like fish found only in Macquarie Harbour has declined by 47 per cent between 2014 and 2021. The skate relies on high levels of dissolved oxygen to survive. Science tells us this decision will likely lead to its extinction.

I have received over 200 emails from people in Casey passionate about nature positive policy – with more emails arriving each day. The scale and speed of destruction of our natural environments is shameful with unchecked habitat destruction. It is clear our environment laws and regulations don't meet community expectations. 

Options exist to adopt nature positive policies that conserve our beautiful natural landscapes, adopt a balanced approach to conservation and access for walking, biking, camping and recreation, and provide local economic opportunity. The Australian Conservation Foundation's 2024 report 'Extinction Wrapped' is a salient read:

• Australia has one of the worst extinction rates and it’s getting worse. We have 2,245 Australian ecosystems, plants and animals recognised nationally as being threatened with extinction. Thank you for letting me know that we have 55 threatened species in Casey.
• In 2024, despite a commitment to zero new extinctions, the amount of threatened species habitat approved to be cleared more than doubled compared to the previous year. The koala had more habitat removed than any other species.

In the Casey electorate there has been logging in the Upper Yarra and Warburton valley for decades. From 1 January 2024 commercial logging in Victorian State forests was banned with the Victorian Government committing $875 million in transition money. Victoria's beautiful Mountain Ash forests store more carbon per hectare than the Amazonian Rainforest and must be protected.