Peter Garrett’s responsibilities are diminishing by the day. First climate change was split from his portfolio and given to new climate change minister Penny Wong. Nor will Mr Garrett be answering questions in parliament on climate change, with that responsibility handed to Treasurer Wayne Swan.

But claims that Mr Garrett’s job has been broken down into bite size pieces, perhaps as a punishment for his gaffes during the election campaign, undersells the workload in his remaining areas of responsibility. Here are just a few of the difficult questions Mr Garrett will need to answer during his time as Minister for the Environment.

On the pulp mill:

  • Now that the pulp mill is your responsibility, who will you appoint to the Independent Expert Group? How stringently will they be expected to interpret the conditions placed on the mill?
  • Will the government insist on longer-term and more comprehensive studies relating to hydrodynamics of the 30 billion litres of effluent released by the mill each year? Given that the $2 billion will mill be under construction when those studies are finished, are you prepared to deny approval for the mill to operate if they don’t meet expectations?
  • The wood supply agreement has been finalised and there is scant protection for high conservation value forests. How will you honour your election promise to ensure as little high conservation value forest as possible is fed to the mill?

On wetlands:

  • What action will your government take to remedy the critical situations faced by wetlands such as the Coorong and the Macquarie Marshes? Will you fast-track the return of water to these wetlands, and if so, how?
  • Australia has obligations under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to protect those sites. What are you going to say at the Ramsar COP (conference of the parties) in Oct-Nov 2008 to explain why many of our Ramsar wetlands are in such a dire state?
  • There is evidence of the theft of environmental water to Ramsar sites like the Macquarie Marshes. What steps will your government take to protect the water supplies of those sites?

On environmental law:

  • Will you follow the bipartisan advice of the parliamentary sustainability committee and establish a sustainability charter? Further, will you introduce a bill for an Act to establish a statutory national Sustainability Commission, headed by a Sustainability Commissioner?
  • The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act does not achieve its stated aims, especially after the Howard Government passed the Environment and Heritage Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2006, which further weakened it. Will you repeal that amendment and legislate to strengthen the Act so it may achieve its aim of minimising the degradation of Australia’s ecosystems and, indeed, conserving biodiversity? Put simply, will you make the EPBC world class legislation?