Opposition offers support to split contentious bill

The government shelved plans to set up a new environmental protection agency before the May election and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese replaced Tanya Plibersek with Watt to revive the reform process.

In a letter to Albanese on Sunday, Ley and opposition environment spokeswoman Angie Bell say the proposed reforms “risk adding further complexity and uncertainty, creating a handbrake on investment without delivering sufficient environmental gains”.

“In the interest of improving environmental laws and the urgent need for clearer and more consistent approvals, I propose that the government split the bill into two parts,” Ley and Bell wrote.

“The coalition is ready to deliver meaningful reform that protects the environment while eliminating unnecessary duplication and delays.”

Ley said the first tranche of the bill should focus on practical measures to streamline approvals, and that by separating this part of the bill from the “broader, more controversial environmental elements of the bill, it will allow parliament to make immediate progress on areas that can really help unlock investment and growth”.

Ley was environment minister when former competition watchdog Graeme Samuel published a review calling for an overhaul of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The coalition’s divisions on the environment are set to reignite when Nationals Senator Matt Canavan presented details of his and colleague Ross Cadell’s report on net zero to the party on Monday.

Canavan, a passionate supporter of coal mining, said it was clear Australians were “not getting a good deal from net zero” but he had not commissioned any economic modeling to inform his report.

“The lived reality of net zero is clear. It doesn’t work for the Australian people,” he told the ABC. insider program.

Resources Minister Madeleine King said failure to pass the bill could delay approval of rare earth mines and undermine the critical minerals deal signed by Albanese and US President Donald Trump last week.

The Business Council of Australia on Sunday called for changes to environmental laws to prevent a “damaging investment gap” caused by a decline in infrastructure investment.

“Whether it is housing, renewable energy, health and care services or technology infrastructure, [environmental protection] BCA CEO Bran Black said the system was delaying investment in projects we will need in the future.

Loading

Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said: “From what we have seen so far, these changes have been written by the minister to please big business, miners and logging companies.

“There is nothing in this package that protects native forests or our climate.”

Hanson-Young said the Greens were open to negotiations on the legislation, but said: “I’ve said this from the beginning: we need to protect our forests and our climate, and any legislation that doesn’t do those things isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

The government has also said it will begin consulting on possible updates to Australia’s copyright laws to ensure Australian writers and artists are fairly compensated if AI companies use their work to inform their models.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said any reforms would not include the so-called “text and data mining exception” proposed by the Productivity Commission and strongly opposed by Australia’s creative sector.

The proposal would allow local companies to use Australians’ copyrighted material to train AI models without their permission.

“This government has said repeatedly that it has no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to artificial intelligence,” Rowland said.

“The tech industry and the creative sector must now come together and find sensible and workable solutions that will support innovation while rewarding creators.”