That’s what makes the government’s latest misstep on environmental protections so baffling. An unpopular government picking fights with something the public overwhelmingly loves is a dead end. Ministers initially pitched what amounted to a developers’ charter – ripping up environmental protections and handing developers a licence to pay cash to trash nature. The answer to that failure is not to rip up environmental protections that exist to prevent ecological disaster. The developer lobby is well-organised, deep-pocketed, and wants environmental protections, along with democratic rights in the planning system, filleted for the sake of easier profits.