Labor MPs warn Murray Watt not to gut environment laws in Senate talks

Labor backbenchers have warned Murray Watt against gutting the new environmental laws to get them through the Senate as the minister considers how to win over the Coalition or the Greens.

The caucus approved a package of seven bills to overhaul the 25-year-old Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act with unanimous applause when MPs met in Canberra on Tuesday morning.

But backbenchers had an unusually large number of questions for the Environment Minister too, including one who said they were wary of major changes being made during negotiations.

Senator Watt made it clear his preference was to pass something as close as possible to what he will introduce, which has tangible gains for both business and the environment.

The Coalition and Greens have both come out early against the overhaul, each saying it goes too far on the other side.

The Government needs the backing of one of them to get legislation through the Senate.

“Don’t gut them on the way through – these are good laws for the environment and for business and they don’t need to be transformed on the way through the Senate,” Labor MP Jerome Laxale told The West after the meeting.

The political assessment from multiple people within Labor is that both opposition parties are petrified the Government will do a deal with the other while they have to show their stakeholders they can deliver rather than cutting themselves out of relevance.

“We want to get on with delivering these reforms; it’s up to the Coalition and Greens if they want to continue to block them,” Senator Watt said.

He released the final details of the legislation to stakeholders and other parties on Monday evening and is expected to put it to Parliament on Thursday.

The final elements revealed include powers for the minister to approve projects for national interest or defence reasons, even if they don’t meet new environmental protection standards.

A National Environmental Protection Agency will assess proposals, as well as run independent compliance and enforcement, but the minister will retain the final decision-making power.

Figures released on Tuesday show the median time taken for major projects to be approved has more than doubled over the two decades Australia’s environmental laws have been in effect.

For the first four years to EPBC laws were in operation, from 2000 to 2004, the median approval time for major projects was 48 weeks.

It’s now taking 118 weeks, or well over two years.

Senator Watt said a key aim of the overhaul was cutting down on the time it takes to give proponents a yes or no on their applications.

“Every day of delay on these important reforms is costing businesses time and money and damaging our environment,” he said.

“It’s taking on average 70 weeks longer to get an approval now than at the turn of the century. Our reforms would cut that time down, while increasing environmental protections.”