By Abbas Nazil
Australia’s Greens have accused the Labour government of weakening environmental protections in its proposed revamp of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, describing the plan as “worse than the status quo.”
The criticism follows private briefings revealing that the climate impact of fossil fuel projects will not be directly considered before approval under the new laws.
Environment Minister Murray Watt confirmed that while the reforms would require developers of major projects to disclose projected greenhouse gas emissions and outline mitigation plans, decision-makers would still not be mandated to factor climate impact into approval decisions.
The disclosure rule, which applies to projects emitting over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, was one of the key recommendations from Graeme Samuel’s review of the existing law.
Watt argued that this new level of transparency would allow the public to better understand how major projects align with national climate policies such as the safeguard mechanism.
However, environmental groups including Greenpeace and the Greens maintain that transparency alone is not enough.
They insist the environment minister or the proposed Environment Protection Agency should have the authority to reject projects that threaten biodiversity, endangered species, or ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef.
The Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said the bill prioritises mining interests and fails to strengthen environmental protection, adding that it could take Australia “backwards.”
Industry groups, meanwhile, expressed concern that a new definition of “unacceptable impact” in the bill is too broad and could create uncertainty for developers.
Disagreements also persist over the scope of powers for the proposed Environment Protection Agency, a key sticking point for the Coalition, which wants its role limited to compliance and enforcement, leaving final approval powers with the minister.
Watt stated that no stakeholder would get everything they wanted but emphasised the urgency of passing the reforms to fix laws that he said were failing both the environment and business.
He urged stakeholders to compromise to ensure the bill passes parliament this year, though both the Coalition and the Greens remain unconvinced.
