A JEDI Council fitting of the Galactic Empire; De-aridification bill fails to pass in parliament
| Alys Appleford | 13 August 2024
It was to the great dismay of the opposition when, in the 29th sitting week of the YMCA SA’s Youth Parliament program, a proposed bill that aimed to target growing arid areas failed to pass. The bill, titled the Greater Regional Environmental Engineering and Nurturing (GREEN) Bill, suggested the implementation of a Joint Ecosystem De-Aridification Investigation (JEDI) Council. The Council would investigate the ability of methods such as ecosystem engineering and desalination to combat the impacts of climate change and would be responsible to the Minister. The bill passed in the Legislative Council with a final vote of 22 ayes and 19 noes. However, it was in the House of Assembly where the bill faced its greatest resistance.
The bill comes in response to growing aridification and drought across South Australia as outlined in the Bureau of Meteorology’s State of the Climate report 2022. The report shows a decrease of 10 percent of rainfall in Australia’s southeast since the 1990s.
“The opposition has stated that they intend to form a JEDI council, but the proposed bill is much more fitting of the Galactic Empire,” said the Honourable Ming Deng, member of the government, during the debate in the House of Assembly. Further claims from the government during the debate in the Legislative Council saw the Honourable Kevin Kim, Assistant Minister for Science, Energy, and Technology claim that the JEDI Council would be incredibly subject to corruption as it would be responsible to the Minister, not the people. When asked about whether the proposed JEDI council would impact current agricultural governmental groups, the Honourable Lachlan Duggan (member of the Science, Energy and Technology committee for the opposition) responded:
“…the JEDI Council is specifically designed to be a scientific research council, with Ministerial oversight and common reports as an interface for additional policy advice. It would be the discretion of the Minister as to what level of cooperation is necessary based on the approach of the Council that the Minister appoints. The JEDI Council has a very specific research focus which is why it is appropriate for it to operate parallel to existing groups which have a broader scope.”
As the Bill failed to pass in the House of Assembly, it will not become an act and will therefore not be signed into law.
Alys Appleford
Member of the YMCA SA Youth Press Gallery
Published 13 August 2024.