After five years of delays, laws to overhaul Australia’s broken environmental regulation system will pass parliament following a deal between the government and Greens.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced this morning that he had struck a deal with the minor party to ensure legislation rewriting the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act will pass the Senate today, the final sitting day of the year.
“This is a landmark day for the environment in this country,” Albanese said.
Anthony Albanese said the passage of environmental reforms is a “landmark day”. (Dominic Lorrimer)
“It is also a good day for business in this country by providing more certainty, reducing delays and making sure that we get better outcomes and improve productivity.”
The deal comes more than five years after a 2020 review by Professor Graeme Samuel found the EPBC Act required “fundamental reform”, because it was a “barrier to holistic environmental management which… is essential for success” and wasn’t trusted by the public.