Today has been deliberately chosen for the introduction of Labor’s environmental protection ‘reforms’ into the parliament – it is five years today that Graeme Samuel handed his review into then-environment minister Sussan Ley.

Watt is using the anniversary to start his merry-go-round of media talking about the need for the laws. At a doorstop today he was asked how negotiations to pass the legislation was going and said:

What I’ve heard since Sussan Ley sent that silly letter to the Prime Minister saying that we should split the bill, is that even business groups don’t support doing so.

She put forward this idea that we should only proceed at this point in time with the matters that business groups want to see delivered, such as streamlining our approvals.

But even business groups have been out there saying it was a silly idea, and they recognise that we’ve got to pass a balanced package that delivers for both the environment and for business because that’s the way that we will have enduring, lasting reform that delivers for the environment and for business.
Since that time, I have met again with Angie Bell, the Shadow Minister for Environment, I think that’s the fifth or sixth time that I’ve met her and I’ve met a similar number of times with the Greens Spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young.

So, we’re at a stage where both the Coalition and the Greens are flagging issues that they would want to see dealt with in order to pass the legislation. We haven’t seen any draft amendments yet, that’s understandable, people will be still working on that at the moment.

But we’ll work our way through this and I’ve always said that we’re open to passing this bill with the support of either the Coalition or the Greens.

If either side sets ridiculous demands for us, then we’ve got another option to pass these laws. My purpose in this is to pass these laws as quickly as we can and deliver a balanced package that delivers for both the environment and for business.