Murray Watt to meet Shadow Minister counterpart in new push to rewrite environment laws

The federal environment minister will meet his Liberal counterpart today as they near a deal to rewrite Australia's environment laws.

Transcript

00:00Both sides of politics will be hoping for some progress today as negotiations to overhaul

00:09the laws which govern approvals for energy, housing and other projects are set to continue

00:16until the legislation is introduced to parliament in November.

00:19Now, just for some context here, the EPBC Act has largely remained unchanged since it

00:26was introduced 20 years ago, despite attempts by several previous governments to reform it.

00:34That includes former Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek during the last term.

00:40Now, Environment Minister Murray Watt has been engaging with stakeholders since he took

00:46over the portfolio.

00:48And as part of that, the ABC has been told that there is optimism that a deal can finally

00:55be reached here with the coalition, the preferred partner to see these laws passed through.

01:02So Murray Watt will meet with Shadow Environment Minister Angie Bell today, where one of the

01:08key negotiating points that is expected is to determine what powers a new federal environment

01:16watchdog could be given under these laws.

01:20Murray Watt has flagged earlier this week that the government is unlikely to support a demand

01:27from the Greens for a climate trigger to be embedded within these laws.

01:31And that could see polluting projects blocked if that were to be put in place.

01:37But Murray Watt has also previously maintained that he would like to see broad support for these

01:44laws, but he has indicated that the government is unlikely to side with the Greens here.

01:50So, these laws have been described as outdated and broken, so seeing them pass through parliament

01:58would be a big step for the government as well as the country.

02:01One of the main things the government is hoping to achieve here is the speeding up of development

02:08approvals so that projects can be fast-tracked, particularly when it comes to the housing and the renewable

02:16energy sector.

02:17So Murray Watt has already flagged that there will be go and no-go zones established under

02:25these laws.

02:26So, that's habitats where there might not be developments, might not be able to go ahead

02:33or will be ruled out.

02:35And then also other areas where projects could proceed without individual approvals.

02:42So, Murray Watt did step through some of those early details of the reworked laws last month.

02:48As part of that, he also announced a regional planning model, which would see projects assessed

02:55based on, or no longer assessed based on their individual impact, but instead considered based

03:01on their cumulative impact.

03:03Now, he's hopeful that this will be particularly beneficial for the renewable energy sector with

03:10current planning laws in some cases, meaning that projects can be delayed for years.

03:17So, that's a space where he's hopeful that by tweaking these laws and making sure that projects

03:23can go ahead quicker, he says that that's needed in order for the government to reach its climate goals.

03:30So, there will be a lot riding on this meeting today between Murray Watt and Angie Bell,

03:37and we'll keep across it as the day goes on.