The environment minister would be able to approve projects at odds with nature laws if it was deemed in the \u201cnational interest\u201d under the Albanese government\u2019s planned overhaul of the environmental protection regime.<\/p>\n
The proposed new provision was revealed in extracts of the legislation that were circulated to stakeholders on Monday, before its introduction to federal parliament later this week.<\/p>\n
The Coalition and the Greens have resisted Labor\u2019s pressure to wave the proposal through, setting up a political fight over nature in the final sitting weeks of the year.<\/p>\n
Under new discretionary powers, the minister would be able to green-light a development that was potentially in breach of national environmental standards if it was considered to be a \u201cnational interest proposal\u201d.<\/p>\n
The provision was recommended in Graeme Samuel<\/a>\u2019s 2020 review of the EPBC Act, which called for it to be used as a \u201crare exception, demonstrably justified in the public interest and accompanied by a published statement of reasons which includes the environmental implications of the decision\u201d.<\/p>\n Extracts of the draft legislation, seen by Guardian Australia, show the provision would effectively exempt \u201cnational interest proposals\u201d from a series of tests designed to protect nature, including a requirement not to cause \u201cunacceptable impact\u201d on the environment.<\/p>\n The proposed carve-out has prompted immediate concern among environmentalists.<\/p>\n The Wilderness Society\u2019s Sam Szoke-Burke said the legislation needed \u201ciron-clad protections\u201d for nature based on science, not exemptions that give significant discretion over decisions to whoever is in power.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government should ensure greater certainty for the environment and the economy by replacing loopholes and carve-outs with stronger, clearer protections for koalas and forests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The campaign director of Humane World for Animals Australian, Nicola Beynon, said ministerial discretion over environmental decisions should be removed, not expanded.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are concerned if the reforms do not limit that exemption to genuine emergencies. In the hands of an irresponsible minister, loosely worded exemptions can be very dangerous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Other extracts of the legislation circulated on Monday outline the powers of the proposed environment protection agency \u2013 details of which were published on Sunday.<\/p>\n The minister will retain approval powers but would probably delegate most decisions to officials inside the nature watchdog.<\/p>\n The new laws would allow the minister to issue \u201cprotection statements\u201d to clarify what decision-makers must consider in order to protect threatened species or ecological communities.<\/p>\n \u201cThese measures will ensure decision-makers have a toolkit to respond rapidly to serious and urgent emerging events,\u201d Watt said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is all about delivering stronger environmental action in a streamlined, sensible way.<\/p>\n On Monday, Samuel urged the Coalition<\/a> and Greens to set aside grievances with Labor\u2019s nature laws and support them, avoiding further delays in fixing a system that his landmark review found was broken.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Clear Air Australia<\/p>\n Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis<\/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 Samuel reserved his strongest words for the Coalition after it tried \u2013 and failed \u2013 to convince Labor to split the bill in two, prioritising measures to fast-track projects while delaying environmental protections.<\/p>\n The former competition watchdog\u2019s review was originally commissioned by the former environment minister and now opposition leader Sussan Ley.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what is going on at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt frustrates me and it makes me a bit angry. What we are talking about here is the future of nature for our children, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n The Coalition\u2019s push to split the bill was immediately rejected by Watt and the Business Council of Australia, whose members include BHP, Woodside and Rio Tinto.<\/p>\n \u201cWe favour having everything on the table at the same time, and we think that that approach assures us the best basis for getting the right balanced outcome that ultimately secures benefits to the environment and for business,\u201d said the BCA\u2019s chief executive, Bran Black.<\/p>\n While the business council was critical of Ley\u2019s attempt to split the bill, Black said industry had several concerns with the legislation, including a new definition for \u201cunacceptable impact\u201d on the environment, the EPA\u2019s powers to issue \u201cstop-work\u201d orders to halt projects and new emissions reporting requirements.<\/p>\n Black confirmed industry wanted the Coalition to strike a deal with Labor to pass the laws, sidelining the Greens.<\/p>\n Watt has so far only ruled out a \u201cclimate trigger\u201d, leaving the door open to changes to address industry concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Coalition and the Greens need to decide whether they will support the reforms, or if they\u2019ll be the reason our environment, business and Australian communities suffer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The environment minister would be able to approve projects at odds with nature laws if it was deemed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-256291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}