Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will challenge the government to split up its contentious environmental protection laws as she offers Coalition support for efforts to speed up the approval of rare earth mines and major infrastructure projects.
Ley’s attempt to turn the tables on the government after weeks of opposition infighting came as the government confirmed the environment minister would be able to overrule the new regulator, to be known as the National Environment Protection Agency, on major project approvals.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley called for the government to split its environmental reform package to gain Coalition support.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Flagging an intense period of negotiations during the remaining weeks of the parliamentary year, Environment Minister Murray Watt declared the nation’s environment laws were “broken”.
“Of course we’re open to amendments being put forward and I expect that we’ll see some in the coming weeks, but people should be under no illusions that we will be passing these laws through the parliament,” Watt told Sky News on Sunday.
“The only question is how quickly we do it and who we do it with. We’ve said all along that we are open to passing this legislation with either the Coalition or the Greens.”
Watt is expected to reveal more details on Monday and to introduce legislation to the House of Representatives on Thursday.
He quickly shot down the idea of carving up the bill, saying: “Splitting the bill would weaken environmental protections and would remove the certainty that business is looking for.
“It would mean more habitat destruction, more species threatened, no independent regulator and slower approval times.”
Environment Minister Murray Watt.Credit: Michael Quelch
The government shelved plans to create a new environmental protection agency before the May election, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese replaced Tanya Plibersek with Watt to revive the reform process.
In a letter sent to Albanese on Sunday, Ley and opposition environment spokeswoman Angie Bell say the proposed reforms “risk adding further complexity and uncertainty, creating a handbrake on investment without delivering commensurate environmental gains”.
“In the interests of delivering on improved environmental laws and the urgent need for clearer and more consistent approvals, I propose that the government split the bill into two parts,” Ley and Bell wrote.
“The Coalition stands ready to achieve meaningful reform that protects the environment while removing unnecessary duplication and delay.”
Ley said the first tranche of legislation should focus on practical measures to streamline approvals, separating this part of the bill “from the broader, more contentious environmental elements of the legislation would allow parliament to make immediate progress on areas that can genuinely help unlock investment and growth”.
Ley was environment minister when former competition watchdog Graeme Samuel issued a review calling for an overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Coalition divisions over the environment are set to flare up again when Nationals senator Matt Canavan presents details of his and colleague Ross Cadell’s report into net zero to the party on Monday.
Canavan, a passionate supporter of coal mining, said it was clear Australians were not “getting a good deal from net zero” but he said he had not commissioned any economic modelling to inform his report.
“The lived reality of net zero is clear. It is not working for the Australian people,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program.
Matt Canavan has said Australians are not “getting a good deal from net zero”.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Resources Minister Madeleine King has said a failure to pass the bill could delay the approval of rare earths mines, undermining a landmark critical minerals agreement signed by Albanese and US President Donald Trump last week.
On Sunday, the Business Council of Australia called for changes to environmental laws to prevent a “damaging investment cliff” caused by a downturn in infrastructure investment.
“Whether it’s housing, renewable energy, health and care services or technology infrastructure, the [environmental protection] system is delaying investment into projects we need for the future,” BCA chief executive Bran Black said.
Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said: “From what we have seen thus far, these changes have been written by the minister to satisfy big business, the miners and the logging companies.
“There’s nothing in this package that protects native forests or protects our climate.”
Hanson-Young said the Greens were open to negotiations on the legislation, but she said: “I’ve said right from the beginning: we need to protect our forests and to protect our climate and any piece of legislation that doesn’t do those things is not worth the paper it’s written on.”
The government also said it would begin consulting on possible updates to Australia’s copyright laws to ensure Australian writers and artists are fairly compensated if artificial intelligence companies use their work to inform their models.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said any reforms would not include a so-called “text and data mining exception” proposed by the Productivity Commission and fiercely opposed by the Australian creative sector.
The proposal would have allowed local companies to use Australians’ copyrighted material to train AI models without their permission.
“This government has repeatedly said that there are no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to AI,” Rowland said.
“The tech industry and the creative sector must now come together and find sensible and workable solutions to support innovation while ensuring creators are compensated.”
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