Interview with Peter Stefanovic, Sky News Live First Edition

TRUDY MCINTOSH, REPORTER: Meanwhile, on the government side, all eyes are going to be on the Senate this week. The final week of the year, Environment Minister Murray Watt wants to get through the environmental overhaul. It's been long stalled. He's got two choices to go with; the Greens or with the Coalition. He's confident one way or another, Pete, this will happen by the end of the week.

PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Trudy, thank you. Well, here he is, the Environment Minister Murray Watt. Minister, it's good to see you this morning. So how likely is it that this thing will pass this week?

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Good to be with you, Pete. I'm very confident that we will pass these reforms this week. It's been five years now since Professor Graeme Samuel delivered his blueprint for reform of these laws to Sussan Ley when she was the Environment Minister. That's how long this has been going on. What he found was that our environment laws are failing the environment, they're failing business, they're failing the community, and it's time we got this done. So we've indicated that we are willing to compromise on some aspects of these laws. So I'm very confident we will be passing the laws this week. It's really a question about whether it's with the Coalition or the Greens. They’ve got to make a decision about whether they want to be involved and work with us to pass these reforms or whether they want to sit on the sidelines while their political opponent does a deal with us instead.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Have you got a preference as to who?

MURRAY WATT: No, I don't, Pete. I mean, what I've said all along is that what we want to make sure of is that we have a balanced set of reforms that deliver for both the environment and for business. We think that the laws that we've now passed through the House of Representatives do that; they achieve that balance. So what we'll be looking for is which of those two sides is prepared to come together with us with a package that does deliver both. It's not about doing something for the environment or for business. It's got to be both. And that's what we're trying to seek agreement on with both the Coalition and the Greens this week.

PETER STEFANOVIC: OK, well, I've had a few members of the Coalition on the program already this morning, Murray, and they have pointed to a couple of concerns that they have. Notably, how will the EPA work and what will it do?

MURRAY WATT: So Australia currently doesn't have a national environment protection agency, Pete. It's a bit unusual that, at the national level, we don't have something like that - a strong watchdog to make sure that business is doing the right thing by the environment. We've now gone to two federal elections committing to create a national EPA and we're absolutely determined to do that. The way we would see the EPA working is that they would not only be undertaking compliance with the law and enforcing the law, but also that they would have the role of assessing projects when they come through the system, and also having the ability to approve a project as well. I will say that we have retained in the law the current situation which gives the minister of the day the power to make any project approval decision that they want to. But in practical terms, now our department approves more than 90 percent of projects and we would see the EPA doing something similar just so that we can move these things through the system.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Right.

MURRAY WATT: But we do think that it's important that it's a strong independent body with a broad range of powers. But you've seen over the weekend that we have indicated that we are prepared to consider compromising a bit in terms of the sort of stop work orders that they can issue, putting some time limits around that and some greater evidence around that. We're willing to look at the sort of penalties that the EPA can impose and make a bit clearer that, you know, the maximum penalties would only apply to the most egregious kind of breaches rather than minor things. So there are some things that we can do there. But as I say, we've gone to two elections committing to create this body and we want to fulfil that commitment.

PETER STEFANOVIC: OK, just to back things up though, so there would be ministerial oversight because that was a concern this morning from members of the Coalition that there didn't seem to be any.

MURRAY WATT: No, and look, it may be that not every member of the Coalition is across the detail of this petition, Pete but we've said, and it's in the bill, that the minister of the day would still have the power to approve or reject any project.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Right.

MURRAY WATT: But just in practical terms, as I say, currently our department approves over 90 percent of projects. You don't want them all sitting in a minister's in-tray. Nothing would ever get through.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Yeah, it’d take too long.

MURRAY WATT: So you've got to have a way of moving the less serious projects. And that's what we would see the EPA doing. But with the minister still having that oversight and that power to make a decision for any project if they chose to.

PETER STEFANOVIC: So as was pointed out today, and you just suggested too, that this has been around for five-plus years, but you've had it for three and a half years. So is it now a rush to get this thing done by the end of the year? Why not hold for a little longer and deal with it next year?

MURRAY WATT: What I keep saying, Pete, is that not only has it been five years since we've had that review with its recommendations, but in that time, we've seen our natural environment go backwards and we've also seen really important projects like housing developments, renewables, other developments as well, held up by the red tape which currently exists under the current laws and we need to change that. So every day we delay, if we push this back by another few months or another couple of years, what will happen is that the environment will keep going backwards and we'll keep seeing those important projects held up. We've got to get on with it, Pete. And that's why we're so determined to make sure that happens this year

PETER STEFANOVIC: OK. Just a separate issue this morning, Murray. How has the BoM redesign cost blown out to almost $100 million?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, I'm as disappointed in that as anyone, Pete. You will have seen when the issues around the BOM's website first blew up a few weeks ago, I met with the then acting CEO and made very clear that I didn't think the website and the handling of it met public expectations. They've made some changes to that since, which is a good thing, but as I say, I'm very disappointed in the way this has been handled. We have had a new CEO of the BoM start only two weeks ago. I met with him on his first day on the job and I've met with him again since, so twice in the last fortnight. And again, I've reinforced to him that I don't think this has met public expectations, both the design of the website and the procurement and the management of the website. So I've asked him to get on top of that as quickly as possible and see how this ever occurred in the first place. And I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say about that.

PETER STEFANOVIC: I mean, that does seem to be a staggering sum of taxpayer money, though, for a website redesign, almost $100 million.

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, as I say, Pete, I’m as disappointed as anyone about this. The BoM is an independent agency and it manages its own affairs. We don’t want ministers sort of getting in there and predicting the weather and all the other activities of the BoM. But obviously, it’s important that they, like every other federal agency, take taxpayers’ money seriously. My understanding is that there were many dimensions to this project. It wasn’t just about designing what goes on screen. There was a lot of back-of-house work as well. But I accept that it’s a lot of money and it’s important that the BoM can justify to the Australian public that it’s using that money wisely.

PETER STEFANOVIC: OK. We’ll see where that ends up. Senate Estimates will be interesting next week on that. But Murray, thank you so much. We’ll talk to you again soon.