00:00Dozens of business groups have united in a call to ask Labor and the Coalition to work
00:07together to make changes to the government's proposed environment reforms.
00:11Now, Australia's environment laws are widely considered broken because on one hand they're
00:18considered too complex to navigate for businesses, meaning that projects are being delayed for
00:23months and sometimes even years as companies await important approvals decisions.
00:29And on the other, they're not seen to be protecting the environment properly, hurting Australia's
00:33native wildlife and also not adequately considering the impacts of climate change.
00:39And so the federal government has been on a mission to overhaul our environment laws so
00:43that they work better for everybody.
00:45But it does need to strike a deal with either the Coalition or the Greens to get these laws
00:51through the Senate.
00:52And it's shaping up to be a challenge.
00:54And now an alliance of 26 business groups has written a letter to Environment Minister
01:00Murray Watt and his Coalition counterpart, Angie Bell, outlining seven proposed changes that
01:06they would like to see to these reforms.
01:09Now, this group is made up of the Business Council of Australia, the Minerals Council, the National
01:14Farmers Federation and Master Builders.
01:17And they are calling for a couple of things.
01:19I'll just outline a few.
01:20So they say that they want clarification around the powers of a new proposed environment protection
01:25agency.
01:26They want the EPA's stop work orders opened to review and appeal.
01:31And they want to ensure that the agency is more focused on compliance and enforcement rather
01:36than primary decision making on project approvals.
01:40The businesses also want the government to ensure that a project's estimated carbon emissions
01:44are not considered as part of the project assessment process.
01:47The chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, Bran Black, spoke to the ABC earlier,
01:53where he said that businesses are really focused on the government developing a plan that allows
01:58certainty and streamlined approvals processes.
02:00Take a listen.
02:02The key change that business has always been pushing for is streamlined approvals.
02:07That doesn't mean cutting quarters.
02:09And I really do stress that point.
02:10It means making sure that we've got the right processes, but we progress them with reasonable
02:16speed such that Australia doesn't lag.
02:18We know, for instance, that in the calendar years 2023 and 2024, there were 76 renewable
02:25projects that were submitted for approval through the EPBC process.
02:29Not a single one has been approved.
02:32Sam, what are some of the political reaction to these proposed changes?
02:35Well, Gemma, the Greens are obviously not supportive of these proposed changes, given that they
02:40don't think that the current legislation before Parliament actually goes far enough to protect
02:44the environment as it currently stands.
02:48The Greens are frustrated that the proposed laws don't require decision makers to consider
02:52climate impacts when assessing projects.
02:54And they also don't approve of an exemption around native logging in the Act.
02:59Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young says that the government needs to pick a side when deciding
03:04who to negotiate with on these environment laws.
03:07And now, with the coalition formally abandoning a net zero target by 2050, as well as walking
03:12back some of Australia's other climate commitments, the Greens are really trying to use that
03:16as leverage to pressure the government to work with them on negotiating around these
03:20environment laws, rather than the coalition, who they say can't be trusted when it comes
03:24to the environment.
03:25But given that the government does want to push these laws through Parliament before the
03:29end of the year, the clock is ticking for them to strike a deal with either the
03:33coalition and some business groups or the Greens before the final sitting week next week.
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