3 months ago
28
The Greens do not support the legislation but have several amendments on notice to improve transparency and lessen the power it gifts to the Premier and State Development minister.
Pettitt said it had met with the Opposition’s lead MP on the Bill, Steve Thomas, earlier this week to discuss the amendments, but he had told them a deal had already been done to support his minor transparency amendments on the proviso the opposition did not support the Greens amendments.
“Despite the opposition highlighting some of the key concerns of this bill around concentration of power to the premier and a lack of checks and balances, it’s been deeply disappointing to see them, frankly, collude on this bill,” he said.
“No bit of legislation comes to the Parliament perfect. That’s their own words. That’s the opposition’s words. So our job is to make it better and when we have an opposition teaming up with the government not to improve legislation, not to attend to committee, not to accept amendments, then [Thomas] should say, is the parliament doing its job and is the opposition doing its job?”
The Greens are attempting to move the bill into a committee, which would see its passage delayed until later next year, but that does not have the support of either the opposition or Labor.
Both the opposition and Labor has accused the Greens of using debate around its committee motion to filibuster debate.
Petitt rubbished that claim.
WA Liberal Steve Thomas.Credit: Hamish Hastie
“So parliament will run next week and if need be we’ll extend hours next week as well,” he said.
“This is going to take several days, and I think it’s absolutely legitimate that we do our job.
“We’re not here to filibuster. We’re not going to waste time, but we are here to ask serious questions.”
Thomas said the Greens’ posturing on the bill had been an “embarrassment to watch”.
“Their proposal to send the Bill to a committee is simply an attempt to delay it so they can mount another anti-development campaign,” he said.
“I said in Parliamentary debate yesterday that no committee report would satisfy the Greens, so sending it to a committee would be a waste of time.
“The Greens in debate agreed with my statement but have still set about to filibuster the debate as some sort of childish protest.
“Our children’s future homes, jobs and industries deserve better than this unedifying spectacle.”
The State Development Bill has emphatic backing from industry, which hopes it will improve major project approvals timeframes, but has frightened conservation groups who decried it as anti-democratic and open to abuse by fossil-fuel proponents.
Loading
Premier Roger Cook needs the bill passed to hasten lengthy planning approvals for renewable projects, which are needed to ensure his government can exit coal-fired power generation by 2030.
At the heart of the controversy around the bill is the power for the State Development Minister of the day to seek modification orders allowing alterations to existing environmental and planning law processes that may apply to a major project approval.
This power raised the eyebrows of the Law Society of WA, which said it would allow ministers to “override conventional environmental protection safeguards and the related statutory approval processes”.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
