Interview with James Glenday, ABC News Breakfast

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: Let's get more reaction to the situation in the Middle East and the week in federal politics and the Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt joins us now from Brisbane. Murray, welcome back to News Breakfast.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G'day, James. Good to be with you.

JAMES GLENDAY: I just want to start in the Middle East. The government's been calling for de-escalation. Are you pleased now that the White House seems to be pressing pause and giving Iran a window for diplomatic negotiation?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah. Well, James, you would have seen Penny Wong and other members of our government have been repeatedly calling for more dialogue, more diplomacy, rather than an escalation of the situation in the Middle East. So, of course this is a positive development. You know, it's not in anyone's interest to have this conflict escalate further in terms of potential loss of life. So, the more that all of us can be doing internationally to encourage that dialogue, the better. One thing we have made clear, and we remain very clear on, is that it is vital that Iran stops its nuclear program. That is the key to the solution here and we need to see them do that over the next couple of weeks while these negotiations continue.

JAMES GLENDAY: This is outside your portfolio, of course, but we know that DFAT staff are being withdrawn from Iran. Can you give us an update on how many people are still in the country and trying to leave?

MURRAY WATT: I don't have those figures available, James, but yeah, you're right, we have overnight said that we will be removing Australian staff from our embassy. Of course, as an employer, we have a duty of care to the embassy staff and the situation in Tehran has got to a point where we believe it is the right move to remove our staff. What we will be doing, though, as I think you've reported, is that we will continue to provide consular services to those Australians who are in Iran from Azerbaijan, which is just to the north of Iran. So, we very much want to make sure that we can stay in touch with Australians who remain there and provide them whatever assistance we can, noting that it is a very difficult situation. You'd be aware that airspace remains closed in Iran, as it does in Israel. So, that does make it quite complicated to get people out. But we will do everything we possibly can to assist Australians who are in those countries now.

JAMES GLENDAY: Back home, there are lots of reports in newspapers and media outlets today, the Federal Government's social media age verification technology has been given the green light, an announcement scheduled in the coming hours. What can you tell us about this?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I obviously won't try to pre-empt any announcements from my colleagues, James, but this is pleasing news that the social media age assurance trials are progressing well. We do believe, as a government, and more importantly, we think the Australian people believe, that we do need to see some restrictions around social media use when it comes to young people. Unfortunately, it has become an insidious force, both for young people and more widely. I mean, I've only got to look at my social media to see some pretty out of control things being said and that's not helpful for young people in the kind of environment that they're growing up in. So, I'll leave it for my colleagues to say some more about that, but it is pleasing to see those trials progressing well.

JAMES GLENDAY: Never read the comments, Murray. Now, it's a truth pretty well acknowledged in Canberra that when things are getting tricky, Labor seems to turn to Murray Watt. You're trying to negotiate new environmental laws. Can you actually get a deal done in the next 18 months that really does please everyone?

MURRAY WATT: I believe we can, James. And you would have seen yesterday in Canberra, I brought together about 25 different stakeholders, covering everyone from environment groups to miners to business groups to farmers, First Nations groups as well, to really get people together and focus on this job of getting these reforms passed. There was a very broad range of agreement in the room that the current laws are broken. We know our current environment laws aren't working for the environment, they're not working for business, they're not working for the community. And it's high time that we got them changed. You know, there are obviously areas that are still in dispute between these different groups, but there was a lot of goodwill shown at that meeting yesterday. Everyone recognises this is an urgent task because, of course, it's important for our natural environment to protect it going forward. But it's also important that we reform these laws if we're going to achieve a range of our other national priorities to deliver more homes, to become a renewable energy superpower, to lift our productivity. These reforms are central to achieving those things and I'm confident that we can get a deal done.

JAMES GLENDAY: Just briefly, before I let you go, will the new laws include a climate trigger where the emissions impact of a new project is assessed and considered as part of an environmental approval?

MURRAY WATT: Well, as I say, James, this is one of the areas that is in dispute between different groups. There are some people who want that and some people who don't want that. What I've said is that at this early stage, I'm not ruling things in or out, but I would make the point that under existing Australian laws we do require heavy-emitting projects to be reducing their emissions every single year. So, our industrial plants, our smelters, our mines, things like that are required under the government's Safeguard Mechanism to reduce their on-site emissions by 5 per cent every year and become net zero by 2050. So, for those out there who are saying that there's no limitations on climate impacts, it's simply not true. And then, of course, at an international level we've got an agreement across the world that the way to manage what are known as scope 3 emissions, emissions that are created outside a source country, are best dealt with by those countries that import things. It's why for example Australia is required to reduce our emissions from cars that are made in Japan or Korea. And similarly, when we export products to other parts of the world they've got to have a plan for reducing their emissions. So, I think we just need to be a little bit cautious before agreeing to put different things in laws. But as I say, we'll keep working with the parties over the next few months to hammer out a deal.

JAMES GLENDAY: Alright. Murray Watt, we appreciate your time. Thanks for joining News Breakfast.

MURRAY WATT: Thanks, James.