Overview
- Environment Minister Murray Watt plans to introduce the EPBC overhaul on Thursday and has dismissed the Coalition’s push to split the package as the “maddest idea.”
- The reforms would establish a national environment regulator while leaving final approval powers with the minister, with most routine decisions delegated to officials.
- Extracts circulated to stakeholders show a ‘national interest’ designation that could allow approvals despite breaching standards, exempting projects from tests such as ‘unacceptable impact,’ as recommended by the Samuel review.
- The bill includes an ‘unacceptable impact’ test, emissions-disclosure and abatement-plan requirements, stiffer enforcement powers, and fines up to $825 million, alongside streamlining through state assessment accreditation.
- Neither the Coalition nor the Greens has committed support, business groups urge timely passage despite concerns, Coalition tensions over net zero persist, and Labor backbenchers caution against excessive concessions in negotiations.