Labor would prevent a contentious \u201cnational interest\u201d exemption being used to approve coal and gas projects if the Greens agreed to support its nature laws, Guardian Australia can reveal.<\/p>\n
The offer follows a groundswell of criticism about the discretionary power, including from the author of the review that inspired the new laws, Graeme Samuel<\/a>, and the former treasury secretary Ken Henry<\/a>.<\/p>\n The concession alone may not be enough to win over the Greens, who demand protections for native forests and consideration of the climate impacts of projects in exchange for backing the proposed overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.<\/p>\n With the government desperate to pass the laws in parliament\u2019s final sitting of the year, the environment minister, Murray Watt, is locked in negotiations with the Greens and Coalition<\/a> in the hope of landing a deal next week.<\/p>\n Neither side supports the bill in its current form, putting the onus on Labor to cough up concessions if it wants to avoid the long-awaited reform collapsing<\/a> for the second time in 12 months.<\/p>\n The opposition leader, Sussan Ley,<\/a> is willing to support the laws if Labor agrees to gut environment protections and strip back the powers of its proposed environment protection agency (EPA).<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n A senior government source confirmed to Guardian Australia that, under a potential deal with the Greens, it would rewrite the proposed \u201cnational interest\u201d test to prevent it being used to approve fossil fuel projects.<\/p>\n Critical minerals projects could still be approved.<\/p>\n Under the provision<\/a>, which Samuel initially supported in his 2020 review of the EPBC Act as a \u201crare exception\u201d, the minister would be able to ignore environmental standards and greenlight a project if it was deemed in the \u201cnational interest\u201d.<\/p>\n While Watt has stressed the provision was intended for projects related to defence, national security and emergencies, the level of discretion written into the legislation has left him unable to rule out the possibility of exemptions for coal and gas.<\/p>\n The Labor MP Ed Husic previously warned a future Coalition minister could misuse the power while Henry and Samuel both predicted a \u201cconga line\u201d of developers would lobby for special carveouts.<\/p>\n Labor\u2019s grassroots environmental action group also called for<\/a> the power to be axed or at least subject to parliamentary oversight.<\/p>\n As of Friday afternoon, the Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, and the shadow environment minister, Angie Bell, were still waiting for Labor\u2019s options for a potential deal.<\/p>\n The amendments would need to put forward in coming days to give both sides time to get a deal through their respective party-rooms early next week.<\/p>\n