Peter Garrett, that wrinkled rock star from the 1980s, is the man in charge of Australia’s national environment policy.

Or, to be more precise, he is the man in charge of half of Australia’s national environment policy – and that’s the problem.

Garrett got environment in the distribution of portfolios in Kevin Rudd’s new Government, but he didn’t get climate change or water. That went to Penny Wong.

The Slug might be a simple sausage, but how on earth can you separate climate change and water from environment?

The correct answer is you can’t, and to try and do so is either absolute nonsense, or it represents the seeds of a tough time ahead for any industry left to the tender mercies of a man who made part of his considerable fortune singing about “blue sky mines”.

Perhaps Garrett has forgotten what he wrote, and sang with gusto 20 years ago, or perhaps he meant it then, and not now.

Whatever the answers to that flood of questions there’s no escaping the lyrics in Garrett’s song, such as: “The candy store paupers lie to the shareholders” and “The balance sheet is breaking up the sky.”

Analysing lyrics in a rock song is probably a pointless exercise. Let’s face, it was a catchy tune, and served its purpose – made Midnight Oil popular, made them money and helped keep them singing for a decade, or so.

But the man who said it then, and has repeated his views since, is now Australia’s half-time environment minister.

Let’s imagine Garrett’s first week in office. He calls out to his chief of staff, “what’s to do today, can we do something to save the Murray River?” No, is the stern reply, that’s Ms Wong’s job. “Can we save the planet from global warming?” No, minister, that’s also Ms Wong’s job.

“Okay, how about doing something about fossil fuels?” Yes, minister, that is in your hands.

Where to start? Well, Garrett could start with coal in Queensland, that’s always a good place for an old greenie.

And then we can move across to the oil industry and perhaps look at one of the most contentious environmental project in Australia today – burying carbon dioxide from the Gorgon gas fields under Barrow Island.

The Slug might be a little paranoid but he fears the long-delayed Gorgon project is about to become a centre of attention for an Environment Minister with idle time, especially one with oil on his mind (Midnight, or otherwise).

For Gorgon, that’s about the last thing the project needs as it struggles to get its three shareholders to line up with a common approach to investment, and struggles to convince everyone that geosequestration is a long-term solution to the carbon dioxide issue, and that cost blow-outs haven’t killed the project altogether.

On top of those issues, and despite speculation that India is lining up to buy more gas from Gorgon, there is the arrival on the scene of a half-time national environment minister who appears to have strong views on mining, and other extractive industries.

The Slug, always willing to express a controversial opinion, reckons Garrett will have a tough time as a half-time minister. His history (in song) will haunt him. His fellow (full-time) ministerial colleagues will talk him down – especially those who see assisting business in job and wealth creation as an important function of government.

It’s a big, and early prediction from The Slug, but he reckons Garrett will be gone from the environment portfolio by this time next year; not out of the ministry, just shifted, because he should never have been there in the first place – too much baggage.