Interview with Peter Stefanovic, Sky News First Edition

PETE STEFANOVIC, HOST: The Albanese Government will accelerate its timeline for environmental law reforms with plans to introduce legislation to Parliament by the end of the year. Joining us live from Canberra is the Environment Minister, Murray Watt. Minister, it's good to see you this morning. So, what is a fit for purpose environmental law?

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G'day, Pete. Good to be with you. Yeah, look, we do want to accelerate the passage of these reforms. We know that our current environmental laws are broken. They're not working for business and they're not working for the environment. So, what fit for purpose legislation comes down to is having a system that allows for faster approvals, more efficient approvals and assessments of projects, but also, of course, making sure that we have strong environmental protections. When Graeme Samuel handed down his review about five years ago, he put that package together. We see that as a package deal, you've got to have one with the other as well. And that's what we intend to pass as quickly as we possibly can.

PETE STEFANOVIC: So, how do you do that? Because that sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? On the one hand you want to protect the environment, while on the other hand, you approve projects that could be damaging to the environment. So, what's the weigh up?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I don't think they have to be contradictory, and certainly Graeme Samuel's review said that in fact, they could support each other. What we want to do is make sure that the processes that we apply for assessments and approvals are much simpler, reduce a lot of the duplication that exists at the moment, but at the same time, make sure that those projects do meet strong environmental standards. So, it's not about sacrificing the environment to get a quick approval. It's about how do you make sure the processes work much more effectively than they do at the moment.

PETE STEFANOVIC: Could you give me an example, a specific example of where you would draw that line?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, I mean, one of the things we have at the moment is that many projects, especially if they impact on major national environmental issues, they require an assessment and approval from both a Federal government and a state government. And that's one of the things that can lead to many years of delay with those assessments and approvals being done. We think that it is possible to reduce that kind of duplication in the system rather than having both levels of government double up. That would enable a much quicker approval, but at the same time, those assessments would be done against strong standards for the environment.

PETE STEFANOVIC: So, what's, what's one project that you've got in mind that should now get a pass if that duplication is taken out?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I mean, we see many housing approvals, for example, which do require that double-up of assessments and approvals between Federal and state governments. And I recently just approved a major development near the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne. Now, that had followed years of assessments processes by the state government, followed by a lengthy assessment by us. We think that it's possible to get those sorts of approvals and assessments done, still in a rigorous way and still making sure that environment and heritage matters are considered, but without that kind of duplication that slows things down.

PETE STEFANOVIC: So, the Nationals had an early concern about it this morning, though, moving forward about some sectors possibly getting a free pass while others, including the mining industry, wouldn't. Is that a reasonable concern?

MURRAY WATT: I'm not sure why they would think about that, but I think we all know that the word environment is allergic to National Party members. We're seeing them run around the Parliament constantly try to undermine Sussan Ley's leadership on Net Zero. So, I'm not really surprised that they take that view. The sort of system that we're looking at putting in place would treat different projects and different sectors in a very similar way. And what we're about is enabling, as I say, those faster approvals and assessments for different projects, but also maintaining environmental standards.

PETE STEFANOVIC: If cutting green tape allows you to hit your 2035 target, what will that target be, Murray?

MURRAY WATT: Well, as you know, Pete, we'll have a bit to say about that soon. Chris Bowen is doing a power of work on that at the moment, and he's already indicated that in September we'll be revealing a lot more about that.

PETE STEFANOVIC: All right, but what's the point of a target if you don't even hit them?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I mean, the record shows we are making good progress on achieving our existing targets. You may have seen what Chris had to say yesterday about the progress that we've made in reducing emissions even in the last 12 months. We do want to have ambitious targets to make sure that we can secure that energy transition that will deliver the cheaper and cleaner energy that our industry needs and that all Australians need. So, having those targets is a really key part of that.

PETE STEFANOVIC: We will leave it there. That's the Environment Minister, Murray Watt. Thanks for your time as always, Murray. We'll chat again soon.