Interview with Sally Sara - ABC Radio National Breakfast

SALLY SARA, HOST: The new Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, is heading west this week as much delayed environment law reforms are put back on the agenda. Opposition from the WA Labor Government and the State's mining sector played a role in scuttling the previous Minister Tanya Plibersek's efforts to get the laws passed during the previous term. But the Prime Minister says the reforms are a key early priority for this term of government. Murray Watt is the new Environment Minister and joins me now. Murray Watt, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G'day Sally, good to be with you.

SALLY SARA: What's the brief, the writing instructions that the Prime Minister gave you about these reforms when he told you that you would be Environment Minister?

MURRAY WATT: Well, you will have seen in the Prime Minister's first press conference after the election, Sally, he identified passing the reforms to our environmental laws as an immediate priority for the government, so I guess when it comes to a brief, that's my brief. There will be other decisions of course that I'll need to make along the way about particular project approvals, and we've obviously got a wide agenda when it comes to protecting the environment; circular economy, recycling, reef protection, a range of other things. But in the background, of course, the very biggest priority is to pass these reforms, because I think everyone has identified that the current environmental laws aren't working. If you go back to Graeme Samuel's review that he did for Sussan Ley when she was the Minister for the Environment, he identified that our current environmental laws weren't protecting the environment and they weren't working for business, and the early calls that I've made to environment groups, mining groups, business groups, they all agreed that we need change, so my job is to build on the work that Tanya did as the Minister and get these laws passed.

SALLY SARA: Minister, what's the message you're sending given the fact that you're heading to WA right at the start of your term?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I think as a starting point, Sally, what I'd say is that I think that the election result did see a strong endorsement of Labor's approach to environmental protection, which is that we can protect the environment and protect jobs, that's what we want to do, and we did see a rejection of the extremes of politics, left and right, who had blocked our efforts to pass environmental reforms and to typically either oppose all development or all environmental protection. That's not what Australians want. And when it comes to Western Australia, I don't think it's exactly a secret that the proposed laws were particularly contentious in Western Australia. I do think it's possible to come up with a set of laws that protect the environment well but also get the support of the Western Australian Government and industry groups. So I thought that was a pretty good place to start in week two in the job, to get over to Perth, to meet mining groups, the Western Australian Government, including Premier Cook, environmental organisations and business groups. My job, of course, at this point in time is to listen. I don't go into those discussions with any fixed views about exactly what these reforms should look like, but I'm very keen to hear from all the different groups about what they think we need to do, what some of the roadblocks were last time and how we can move forward together.

SALLY SARA: You were saying, Minister, that this election result was an endorsement of the government's views. If that's the case why was some of the work that Tanya Plibersek was putting forward to get laws passed last year, why was that scuttled, what happened?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I think what we found was that despite Tanya's extremely hard‑working efforts, we weren't able to come up with a package that could get the support from either the Coalition or the Greens, and really it's a matter for the Coalition and the Greens to explain why they weren't prepared to support reforms to our environment laws when we know they're not working. You know, I don't think that anyone disagrees with the concept of having an independent environmental protection agency at the Federal level. Clearly there were differences of views about what the model should be, and as I say, we weren't able to secure the support of either the Coalition or the Greens, and that's what we'll need to do now. I think again, I think one of the messages in the election campaign and the result is that Australians want to see politicians, governments, environment groups, business groups working together, they don't want to see that ongoing conflict where one group is pitted against each other, and I'll be working hard to try to bring all the different interest groups together, as I've done in previous roles.

SALLY SARA: Let's have a look at some of the specifics here. Will you continue Tanya Plibersek's approach of trying to reform the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in stages, or will you look to legislate the reforms altogether?

MURRAY WATT: Again, that's something that I'm giving consideration to at the moment, Sally, I haven't reached a concluded view on that. You know, there would be some advantages in going along with a fairly similar bill to what we had last time, but obviously it would require some adjustments to get through, but equally I can see some advantages in trying to broaden out that reform and try to have a bigger reform package in one go. These are some of the issues that I want to test with different stakeholders, I've got an open mind about that.  You know, I think, as I say, the mission really here is to reform our environment laws and of course come up with a package that's achievable and can be passed by the Senate. I think, again, one of the things that I'll be doing is reaching out to both Sussan Ley and the Coalition, and also to the Greens to seek their support. I think again both of those groups have made some positive comments since the election, Sussan Ley saying that she wants to bring the Liberal Party back to the Senate, the Greens have said that they want to be more constructive. You know, I think what I'll be doing is seeing if they can be true to their word and be prepared to work with us to get these reforms passed.

SALLY SARA: Minister, have you been briefed on an upcoming national ban on PFAS chemicals to start on 1 July?

MURRAY WATT: No, I haven't at this point, Sally. As you can imagine, I don't think I've even been in the job for one week yet, and there's been a couple of other more imminent decisions that I have started being briefed on. That one not yet, but I'm sure that we'll get to that soon.

SALLY SARA: Is Labor committed to introducing National Environmental Standards to assess development applications against?

MURRAY WATT: Again, this is something that I want to consult all the different interest groups on, Sally. You know, what I would say is that that was a key recommendation in Graeme Samuel's review under Sussan Ley, and the way I do want to approach these reforms is in the spirit of Graeme's recommendations. He and his team at the time put in a massive amount of work, did seem to get broad agreement across different interest groups about the sort of package of reforms that was needed. It seems to me to make sense to try to stick to the spirit of those reforms, but it's a little early for me to commit to any particular recommendations at this point.

SALLY SARA: Do you have a view yet on whether environmental approval should sit with the Environment Minister, or an independent body such as a Federal EPA?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, again, and sorry to sound like a broken record, Sally, but again this is something that I do want to discuss with different parties, you know, this is an area that has been particularly contentious, is what the powers of an independent EPA should be, whether they should be simply a compliance agency and an enforcement agency or whether they should have approval powers for projects. Again, it's a little early for me to commit to that, and that is exactly one of the key issues that I want to be talking with people about.

SALLY SARA: Staying with WA on a couple of quick issues. You say you want to meet the deadline of the end of this month for a decision on the extension of Woodside's North West Shelf project. Is that a guarantee there will be no more delays for this decision?

MURRAY WATT: That's certainly my intention, Sally. You know, I recognise that this project has been going through an approval process for quite some time, and I think all parties want to see a resolution. Of course, there's really strong views on either side of this debate, and I can guarantee you that whatever decision I make there will be some people who will be unhappy. That's the nature of the work that I'll be doing in this portfolio. But it is my intention to stick to the current deadline of May 31. I have had some preliminary briefings from my department about this last week, I'll be expecting some more formal briefings in the next few days, so that I've got plenty of time to work through them and make that decision.

SALLY SARA: Labor is committed to introducing stand‑alone cultural heritage legislation. While you're in WA, will you be speaking with the WA Premier Roger Cook about his experience with WA's short‑lived state equivalent?

MURRAY WATT: I'm sure that will come up in our discussions, Sally. I've worked with Roger Cook and a number of his Ministers in previous roles, and I've got a good relationship with them from those days. Roger's no shrinking violet, let's face it, in putting forward the views of his state, so I'm sure that he'll be raising those issues, along with his views about these reforms more generally. You know, I really respect the role that Roger has played in WA, he's a very electorally successful Premier. Clearly, he's very much in tune with the views of Western Australians, so I'll be looking forward to hearing what he's got to say.

SALLY SARA: Minister, thank you very much.

MURRAY WATT: Thanks, Sally.

SALLY SARA: Murray Watt is the new Environment Minister, heading to WA this week to talk about a number of issues.