Butler was on course to become environment minister until the Greens’ snatched her Griffith seat,promising to address aircraft noise.
Deputy leader Richard Marles says Labor is hopeful it will secure a majority government,while frontbenchers Kristina Keneally and Terri Butler are likely to lose their seats.
Greens leader Adam Bandt is upbeat about the party’s prospects of adding to its numbers in both the Senate and the lower house.
Labor has pledged to set up an independent national environmental watchdog if elected,holding back its most significant green commitment until the eve of the federal election.
Labor launched into the Coalition on climate policy after Angus Taylor claimed the opposition’s renewable energy plan would drive up power bills.
Greens leader Adam Bandt wants voters backing independents in the lower house to put the Greens first in the Senate as he bids to hold the balance of power in the upper house.
The ALP leader has been labelled an ‘honorary Queenslander’ as he fronted a rally of party faithful in the state’s most marginal seat,ahead of an election expected to be called within days.
Critics say the national standards created to help streamline environmental approvals of major developments fall short of what’s needed to save threatened species.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley has promised a shake-up of federal laws will maintain current protections for wildlife and World Heritage areas as Labor questioned her pledge to develop new national standards.
An environment approval system the Abbott government tried and failed to create is being resurrected under a bill introduced to Parliament on Thursday.