EDITORIAL: Flawed green laws will keep productivity stagnant

Anthony Albanese says his new environmental laws are “win-win”, but a quick look at who is celebrating shows that is not the case.

The Greens are utterly thrilled with the outcome, which has seen them seal an eleventh hour deal with Labor to shepherd the reforms through the Senate before Parliament rises for the year.

In return for the Greens’ support, Mr Albanese and his Environment Minister Murray Watt have granted the minor party a series of concessions including strengthening protections for native forests and closing off fast tracked approvals to coal and gas projects.

The Greens are determined to get s..t done,” Greens leader Larissa Waters crowed.

“We are stopping big fossil fuel corporations from trashing the environment faster and easier than they already can — that is a significant win for the climate. But the fight is not over.”

The move by Labor to subject gas projects to more onerous assessment processes than other developments is entirely at odds with the Prime Minister’s previously stated strong support for the industry.

While courting votes in resource-rich WA earlier this year, Mr Albanese repeatedly said gas would continue to play a crucial role in shoring up Australia’s domestic energy supply throughout the renewables transition to 2050 and beyond.

With the election over, he has sacrificed that pragmatic position in order to sew up a rushed deal with the Greens that will keep productivity growth in the doldrums.

This outcome does little to address industry’s complaints that energy projects crucial to the national interest are getting caught in a convoluted approvals system’s development limbo as proponents are made to leap through time-consuming and often redundant hoops.

A prime example is the close to seven-year process to approve an extension of the North West Shelf gas project in the Pilbara until 2070.

Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch was scathing, saying barring coal and gas projects from streamlined approvals processes was “simply not in the national interest”.

“The deal will entrench slow approvals, which will drive up energy costs, deter investment and further delay the new gas supply Australia urgently needs,” she said.

“More than five million Australian households rely on natural gas, it is an essential input to manufacturing and is the reliable back-up that helps to keep the lights on as our electricity system transforms.

“By conceding to the Greens, the government has chosen more red tape and uncertainty instead of enabling new gas supply.”

WA’s Labor Premier Roger Cook, whose lobbying on behalf of his State last year helped sink an earlier iteration of the EPBC reform, was restrained, saying the outcome “could have been a lot worse”.

If could have been a lot better too, had the Coalition done as industry had been urging them and hashed out a deal which addressed industry concerns sooner.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.