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The architect of Australia’s new environmental laws says the Albanian government has acted with “extraordinary agility” to implement them.
Speaking on ABC Radio National, Monash University professor Graeme Samuel, who led the review of the country’s environmental laws, said it had been a “six-year roller coaster ride” since he began the review in October 2019.
Environment and Water Secretary Murray Watt and Senator David Pocock debated in the Senate yesterday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Samuel, the former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said he was disappointed that Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, then environment minister, had accepted the review and was straitjacketed about what she could do in response.
“So we didn’t see anything of any substance,” he said.
“Then we moved on to the election of the Albanian government, and Tanya Plibersek tried very hard, with great commitment, to ensure that the review was implemented, but it failed. It didn’t work.
“We now have Minister Murray Watt moving forward with remarkable agility to deliver the reforms that we saw approved by the Senate last evening.
“I was sitting in the Senate and lo and behold, this was truly remarkable.”
Samuel said Watt’s answers to questions about the law showed his “extraordinary knowledge.”
The environment minister confirmed the government had struck a deal with the Greens yesterday to pass the reforms, saying they had “faithfully carried out the recommendations of Professor Samuel’s report five long years ago”.
