State governments could be given expanded powers to make decisions on some fossil fuel developments under Labor\u2019s proposed overhaul of environment law, prompting \u201cshock and anger\u201d from community-based conservation organisations that fear nature protection would be weakened.<\/p>\n
The Albanese government plans to introduce its planned changes to the national law \u2013 the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act \u2013 to parliament later this week, and has been briefing interest groups on its plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Extracts of legislation seen by Guardian Australia show it includes provisions for state and territory governments that receive federal accreditation to make decisions about large coalmining and unconventional gas projects that affect groundwater reserves or waterways.<\/p>\n The federal government has had explicit responsibility for decisions on fossil fuel developments that affect water resources since 2013, when the Gillard Labor government introduced what is known as the \u201cwater trigger\u201d at the behest of the independent MP Tony Windsor.<\/p>\n Thirteen environment organisations including groups based in Darwin, central Australia, the Kimberley and far north Queensland criticised the proposed change to the water trigger, and the government\u2019s plan to use the law to sign bilateral agreements with the states to \u201cstreamline\u201d environmental decision-making.<\/p>\n They said it could leave decisions in the hands of jurisdictions that have taken steps to reduce conservation laws, such as Queensland and the Northern Territory, or have weak lobbying rules.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n The Lock the Gate Alliance\u2019s national coordinator, Carmel Flint, said a \u201cwholesale handback of environmental decision-making to state governments\u201d could lead to rural communities, farmers and traditional owners being \u201crailroaded by corporate giants, whether it\u2019s for coalmining or renewables or critical minerals\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been sprung on the Australian people without public consultation, even as big corporations have been in close discussions with the federal government for months,\u201d Flint said. \u201cIt\u2019s a betrayal of Australians who depend on the government to protect our natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n The Queensland Conservation Council\u2019s director, Dave Copeman, said most major environmental campaigns that had \u201csecured wins for nature\u201d this century had relied on \u201csome form of federal accountability under the EPBC Act\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Queensland LNP government just jammed through laws exempting planning decisions on Olympic venues from all Queensland environmental and cultural heritage laws. There\u2019s no way they could be trusted with EPBC decision-making,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Labor\u2019s promise to overhaul the EPBC Act follows widespread criticism that the law was failing to protect nature and leading to long delays in approval decisions on industrial and other developments.<\/p>\n Watt has said both concerns could be addressed. He has promised an accreditation process for states and territories to make decisions, and the introduction of consistent national environment standards against which proposals would be measured.<\/p>\n Responding to the criticisms, Watt said the new legislation was \u201clong overdue\u201d and would improve federal environment law. He said changes to reduce duplication in development assessment between federal and state process had been recommended by the former consumer watchdog Graeme Samuel in his 2020 review of the EPBC Act, and backed by many environment organisations.<\/p>\n \u201cI would encourage those groups [critical of the legislation] to read the full bill when it is introduced into the parliament,\u201d Watt said.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The minister presented the legislation to Labor MPs on Tuesday. He told caucus he would prefer not to change the proposed legislation to get it through parliament, but the Coalition and Greens were being lobbied by business interests and environment groups.<\/p>\n The extracts of draft legislation show there would be exceptions to promised conservation zones, sometimes described as \u201cno go zones\u201d, in which development is not supposed to be allowed.<\/p>\n