New Environment Minister Murray Watt vows to make a call on contentious North West Shelf project by May 31

Murray Watt has vowed to make a call on the contentious North West Shelf project by the end of the the month ahead of a trip to Perth tonight to meet key parties.

The pending approval of Woodside Energy’s proposed 50-year extension of the gas venture off WA’s North West coast is his first big test in the portfolio.

But it’s one the newly minted Environment Minster has declared he’ll get done by the May 31 deadline.

It comes after several delays during predecessor Tanya Plibersek’s turbulent three-year tenure.

Shifted to the environment portfolio last week, Mr Watt, known in political circles as a “fixer”, wasted no time consulting. He is expected to fly to WA on Monday evening for a quick-fire round of talks.

He’ll meet with Premier Roger Cook and State Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn on Tuesday before meeting with resource and business groups on the sidelines of a mining summit on Wednesday.

Mr Watt claimed he has a “good relationship” with the Labor Premier from previous portfolios.

“I’ve worked with Roger Cook and a number of his ministers in previous roles, and I’ve got a good relationship. Roger’s no shrinking violet, let’s face it, in putting forward the views of his state,” he told ABC radio on Monday.

Mr Cook welcomed Mr Watt’s visit saying the North West Shelf decision was “urgent” after the previous delays.

“We would like to see the Government consider those as a matter of urgency — not to compromise the decision making process — but to ensure that we can step through it and have an outcome,” Mr Cook said on Monday.

“That will obviously be the first point of discussion when I meet with him.”

Despite plans for meetings with national environmental groups, some State bodies say they were still “frantically” trying to secure time with the Minister during his WA visit — just 12 days out from the deadline.

Environmental groups have strongly opposed the proposed extension, citing significant concerns over climate impact, cultural heritage, and marine biodiversity.

Mr Watt has declared he’ll prioritise a balance between the environment but also jobs and investment.

“I can guarantee you that whatever decision I make, there’ll be some people who’ll be unhappy,” he said.

“I think all parties want to see a resolution. Of course, there’s really strong views on either side of this debate.

“That’s the nature of the work that I’ll be doing in this portfolio. But it is my intention to stick to the current deadline of May 31.

“We can protect the environment and protect jobs.”

But it’s not the only big challenge the minister will face in the job, with questions around Labor’s contentious Nature Positive plan, set out to transform Australia’s environmental governance.

Under Ms Plibersek the plan to overhaul environmental laws faced significant challenges, leading to delays and criticism from various stakeholders.

In his first press conference back at Parliament after his May 3 election win, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a Federal Environmental Protection Authority was “very clearly” one of his priorities.

“I said very clearly. I want a federal EPA. That was something that was recommended by the review that the Coalition commissioned. I want a federal EPA that supports industry but also supports sustainability. I think that can be achieved. I think that can be achieved, and that’s my objective.

Mr Watt said he had taken the PM’s call at the May 4 press conference seriously: “He identified passing the reforms to our environmental laws as an immediate priority for the government So I guess when it comes to a brief, that’s my brief”.

“The mission really here is to reform our environment laws, and of course, come up with a package that’s achievable and can be passed by the Senate.”

The Minister will likely rely on the Coalition to get any amended nature positive laws passed with Mr Watt already name-dropping the new Liberal leader Sussan Ley as the then-environment minister who commissioned the Graeme Samuel’s review they’re informed by.

It comes as Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson on Monday said the Greens had doubts over whether Labor will get the balance right now they have the majority.

The Greens planned to demand an end to new coal and gas in a hung Parliament, but their near wipeout in the Lower House — including the loss of Adam Bandt — ended any chance of influence.

“We did see a rejection of the extremes of politics, left and right, who had blocked our efforts to pass environmental reforms, and who typically either oppose all development or all environmental protection,” Mr Watt said.

“I think what we found was that despite Tanya’s extremely hard working efforts, we weren’t able to come up with a package that could get the support from either the coalition or the greens.”

With the laws now considered a relic from 25 years ago, are now being raised over whether Ms Plibersek’s staged reform model will survive — or if the Government will opt for a broader package to push it through Parliament more effectively.

While Mr Watt told ABC on Monday he was open to changing the format, he would build on the foundation Ms Plibersek carved out before she was dumped to the social services portfolio.

“That’s something that I’m giving consideration to at the moment. I haven’t reached a concluded view on that. My job is to build on the work that Tanya did as the minister and get these laws passed,” he said.

“There would be some advantages in going along with a fairly similar Bill to what we had last time, but obviously it would require some adjustments to get through.

“But equally, I can see some advantages in trying to broaden out that reform and try to have a bigger reform package in one go.

“These are some of the issues that I want to test with different stakeholders. I’ve got an open mind about that.”

Mr Watt has already flagged changing the “nature positive” branding after it had taken on a politically toxic taint.

While he’s been in the job a mere week, Mr Watt said he’s been hitting the phones and board rooms to environment, mining, business groups with the unified sentiment: “They all agree that we need change”.