New Environment Minister Murray Watt is headed to Western Australia to reopen consultations on the stalled overhaul of environmental laws and is expected to axe the contentious “nature positive” name.
The Federal minister — who has a reputation as one of Anthony Albanese’s go-to fixers — hopes heading west for his first interstate visit is seen as a move of good faith, after the previous iteration of the laws ended bogged down in opposition from the WA government and resources sector.
He is seeking a meeting with Premier Roger Cook as well as catching up with environmental groups and business stakeholders in the State early next week to restart the conversation about reforms to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
“The early calls that I’ve made to the stakeholders, whether it be mining industry, business, environmental organisations, there is a lot of goodwill and a lot of desire … to reform the legislation,” he told The West Australian.
“I think that the result in WA for us at the election demonstrates that Western Australians, by and large, were supportive of the government’s agenda.
“In politics, you can’t please everyone all the time but you have an obligation to listen to them, to work with them, but then to make decisions and implement them.”
His appointment to the portfolio last Monday was met with cautious optimism from industry and most environmental groups.
Senator Watt said that in reopening the EPBC consultation, everything was on the table.
One of the first things likely to be jettisoned is the name after “nature positive” gained a toxic reputation.
“In any policy area, we need to find language and ways of talking that Australians understand and can get behind,” he said.
“We need to be conscious that, for a variety of reasons, we weren’t able to get these reforms through. And that’s why I think we do need to reconsider the approach we take, the language we use, because ultimately, what we want is a set of laws that not only the Senate will pass, but that Australians feel proud of and are confident in.”
But he saw it as premature to say whether the new proposal for a federal environment watchdog would be compliance and enforcement only.
The model previous minister Tanya Plibersek put forward also included arm’s length approvals powers, going further than the proposal in the EPBC Act review by Graeme Samuel.
Senator Watt said that review “did lay out a blueprint for reform” and was “a very good starting point to help design and finalise the reforms that we want to pass”.
He is keen to progress the overhaul as a priority — as is Mr Albanese — and says it’s vital to seize the opportunity the election victory and new parliament present.
“I think the fact that we’re now through the other side of both the WA and Federal election, hopefully, will make the negotiating environment more level-headed for all players,” he said.
“Not only is the composition of the Senate, I think, more manageable than it was pre-election, but also I think the Australian people sent a really clear sign that they don’t want the extremes of politics obstructing progress.
“I would hope that both the Liberals and the Greens have heard that message and are prepared to work with us on these reforms and a range of other matters.”
New Greens leader Larissa Waters told the Government it should come to the minor party first rather than the Coalition, now it only needs one or the other for Senate support.
Senator Watt said he hoped to work with both, adding that he had a good relationship with Senator Waters helped by both being Queenslanders, and he was hopeful Opposition Leader Sussan Ley would back the reforms given she was the minister who commissioned the Samuel review.
“I wouldn’t want your readers to think that I’m going to suck up to the Greens. I’m prepared to take the Greens on… but my style is to build relationships across the chamber, across different stakeholder interests,” he said.
“I will be reaching out to the Opposition, just as I’ll be reaching out to the Greens — and in an ideal world, you’d have cross-party support for these reforms, because business wants them, environmental groups want them, the community wants them.”
Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson said she looked forward to meeting with Senator Watt to discuss a range of issues impacting the WA industry, including legislative reforms.
“CME supports environmental law reform that achieves the dual objective of delivering improved outcomes for Australia’s unique environment and improving the efficiency of assessment processes,” she said.
