Anthony Albanese has confirmed that the federal environmental protection agency (EPA) he promises to establish if re-elected will not be the same model as the one he failed to legislate during this term. In his first public comments on reviving the nature watchdog plan, the prime minister said Labor would pursue a different model in consultation with states, industry and environmental groups.
“Well, we won’t be legislating the same model,” Albanese said. “There is industry and environmental groups who both recognise that [federal environment laws] are not-fit-for-purpose. What we’ll do is work it through. We’ll consult widely [to] make sure that we get it right.”
Labor last week recommitted to resurrecting plans for an EPA if it wins the 3 May election, a pledge made in part to placate MPs uneasy about laws to protect Tasmania’s salmon industry. Western Australia’s importance to Labor’s electoral hopes was the backdrop to the failed attempt to implement a 2022 election promise to create a federal EPA, as part of a wider overhaul of national environmental protection laws.
The prime minister intervened twice to push legislation to create the watchdog off the agenda amid a major backlash from WA. While Albanese insisted Labor simply didn’t have the numbers in the Senate, the Greens and environmentalists said the government had capitulated to “vested interests”. Details about the proposed new model have not yet been made clear.
Albanese revealed the intention to create a new model as he lashed Peter Dutton for vowing to swiftly approve Woodside’s North-West Shelf gas extension, accusing him of pre-empting a decision on a project still under federal environmental assessment. “If you go out there and you pre-empt the law, which says that consideration must be given objectively by the minister, then you by definition put yourself in a position of legal challenge,” Albanese said.
The shadow environment minister, Jonno Duniam, claimed resurrecting the EPA meant “real danger for businesses and jobs”. “This proposed federal bureaucracy does not guarantee any further protection to the environment but does guarantee much more green lawfare and regulation,” Duniam said.
