Nature Positive: Minerals Council tells miners to lobby Coalition to back stripped-back EPA

Miners are being urged to lobby the Coalition to back a stripped-back Environment Protection Agency before Labor rushes off to cut a deal with the Greens.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable credited the industry with forcing the Federal Government to gut its proposed nature watchdog — a concession revealed by The Nightly.

She now wants the Opposition to get on board and help pass the legislation, amid ongoing fears a Labor-Greens deal will result in a project-blocking “climate trigger”.

But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will give little comfort on this front, instead using a speech to mining executives to double down on his pledge to cut green tape if elected and limit the ability of third parties to challenge approvals.

In a speech to Minerals Week on Tuesday, Ms Constable urged miners walking the halls of Parliament House this week to get in the ear of the Coalition because “they hold the key to this legislation”.

“What had been an alarming rewriting of environmental approvals law is now reportedly being pared back, to the establishment of an EPA that governs compliance, and not approvals,” she said.

“This is a significant concession from the Government and the result of considerable pressure and negotiation from our industry and by other industry groups.

“The legislation must pass in this Parliament, albeit with significant amendments.

“Let us be under no illusion, any other scenario will lead to the imposition of a climate trigger on projects, across all industries.”

While the Coalition is yet to finalise a position it appears all but certain to oppose the federal EPA, after savaging Labor’s proposal in a Senate inquiry report published on Monday afternoon.

The Opposition is withholding support unless the Government agrees to far-reaching changes to its wider Nature Positive Plan.

Mr Dutton will tell the Minerals Week conference on Wednesday he wants to “turbocharge our mining sector” in contrast with the Government’s “perfect storm of economic self-harm”.

“The activist influence in the rank-and-file of the Labor Party is committed to waging environmental and social crusades – especially against certain industries,” he will say, according to speech excerpts seen by The West.

“Labor is worried about losing votes to Greens candidates in inner-city seats, so the party is looking to shore up that constituency ahead of an election.”

He warns that a minority Labor government after the next election – as predicted by most polls at the moment – would leave the nation at the mercy of a Greens and independent balance of power.

Ms Constable reiterated that environmental laws were not the appropriate tool to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, pointing out the Commonwealth already had the safeguard mechanism, renewable energy target and newly legislated climate reporting laws to help reach its net zero target.

The Greens and independents have offered an alternative route to get the legislation through, which would require Labor agreeing to make “climate considerations” a factor in the environmental assessments of projects.

While that represents a softening in the Greens’ demands for a firm “climate trigger”, the party’s environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young made clear its goal was still to block heavy polluting projects.

The crossbench is also pushing for restrictions on native forest logging and more input from First Nations experts in decision-making.

“The Greens and crossbench are urging Labor to salvage what’s left and halt the extinction and climate crisis: there is a pathway forward in the Senate,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“We must close the loopholes in our environment law that allow native forest logging and climate-damaging projects to get the green tick.

“The Government promised the Australian people they would fix Australia’s broken environment laws. If they don’t, it will be a complete betrayal.”

A coalition of environment groups – dubbed the Places You Love Alliance – have urged the Government to work with the crossbenchers.

Resources Minister Madeleine King will use her speech to Minerals Week to respond to earlier criticism from Ms Constable that the industry was “under siege” from mounting government interventions.

“I agree with you that we all need to work harder to unlock mining investment – and that is exactly what this Government is doing,” Ms King will say.

She accuses the Coalition of taking the sector for granted, drawing on its opposition to the production tax credits scheme, and says the structural challenges in the critical minerals markets are “no longer academic” but a sad reality.

“It remains baffling to me why the Coalition would choose to dismiss industry-driven policy for the sake of getting up a soundbite about ‘welfare for billionaires’. This is no way to run resources policy – even from opposition.”