Labor will force developers to protect wildlife – but it needs the Coalition’s help

3 hours ago 4

Developers must counteract any harm to nature their projects will cause under reforms to be brought to parliament as soon as next week as Environment Minister Murray Watt reveals crucial details of his plan that will challenge his strategy of seeking support from the Liberals.

The federal government is attempting to deliver on its election promise to create a national environment watchdog, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared a top priority in this term of parliament, and a pledge to reform the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act.

It must rely on the support of either the Greens or the Coalition in the Senate, given Labor does not command a majority in the upper house. Watt has targeted the Liberals, saying Opposition Leader Sussan Ley tried to bring nature reforms to parliament in 2022, when she was environment minister for the Morrison government.

Watt said his reforms included a requirement for project proponents that went beyond any of the tests set for developers under Ley’s aborted changes – to not only offset the damage they cause to the environment, but to deliver a net gain.

“It’s vital that these reforms restore our precious natural environment,” Watt said.

Watt’s commitment would address a major concern of conservationists about requirements for major projects.

Offsets are intended to counterbalance unavoidable impacts, such as a tourism resort that knocks down koala habitat in one area but restores a bigger and better home for the marsupials elsewhere.

Watt also listed another significant hurdle for industry, saying offsets must become a last resort and that project proponents should be required to seek to avoid environmental damage before they can be used.

“By legislating to ensure that environmental offsets deliver a net gain, we will see a measurable improvement to the local environment rather than just ongoing decline,” he said.

Watt’s courting of the Liberals has included a strong pitch to speed the slow assessment process for project proponents. But his fresh commitment to enforce strict conditions to ensure net environmental gains could drive a wedge through the Coalition, which is in turmoil following its landslide loss at the May election.

His stricter offsets regime would create extra hurdles for industries whose representatives have to date supported Watt’s reforms. It could also tempt some Liberals to reject Watt’s reform.

Ley has declared the Coalition must return to the middle ground of the political landscape, but Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa has switched from the Nationals to the Liberals, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has quit the frontbench and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has ditched the Nationals over climate policy.

The EPBC Act was created by the Howard government in 1999 and successive governments since then have tried to reform it, but each has failed due in part to opposition from industry.

Reforms are urgently needed, since Australia has one of the worst records for wildlife loss.

The Albanese government is also facing pressure from the mining, property development and renewable energy industry, which needs to deliver a vast rollout of wind and solar farms to help meet Australia’s climate goals but is complaining of project delays running up to several years under the EPBC Act.

Watt acknowledged the policy challenge, saying his reforms would “provide faster approvals to deliver more homes and renewable energy”.

“These changes were key recommendations of Graeme Samuel’s review handed down nearly five years ago.

Ley commissioned the 2020 Samuel review of the EPBC Act, which said a major overhaul of environment law was urgently needed to prevent ongoing destruction of native wildlife.

However, MPs from Ley’s junior Coalition partner the Nationals are not expected to countenance any moves to bolster environmental laws, having said the mining sector would be restricted and that farmers would be unfairly targeted for land management such as tree-clearing.

The government promised in 2022 to create a national environment watchdog to assess projects and enforce regulations, and it committed to pursuing broad reforms to nature protection laws but it failed to deliver either.

Former environment minister Tanya Plibersek cut a deal with the Greens in 2024 to pass the Environment Protection Act in the Senate, which was scuppered by Albanese following vigorous lobbying against the bill from the mining industry and West Australian Premier Roger Cook.

Watt would need the Greens’ support to enact his reforms if the Liberals do not back him. He faces a challenge in winning over their constituents following his approval for gas giant Woodside to extend its North West Shelf project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions.