Interview with Sally Sara, ABC Radio National Breakfast

SALLY SARA, HOST: The Federal Government is canvasing support this week for its environmental reforms, racing to get a bill passed this year. The Government will brief stakeholders on a draft overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act after failing to pass reforms in its previous term.

Murray Watt is the Minister for Environment and Water and joins me now. Minister, welcome back to Breakfast.

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

SALLY SARA: Given the difficulty the Government has had in trying to change these laws, are you giving environment groups and developers enough time to come to grips with the detail?

MURRAY WATT: I think we are, Sally. What you're referring to is that this week we will start consulting a range of stakeholders on parts of the draft bill. But that follows not just months, but years of consultation about the direction of these reforms. As you would know, Graeme Samuel delivered his review and recommendations to change these laws five years ago. There's been consultation ever since and I personally have now conducted about 80 meetings and roundtables since taking on the job just in the last few months. So we've got a pretty clear idea from stakeholders about the direction that they think the reforms should go in and we've been able to refine some of our positions. But now of course it's time to start talking about the detail of that legislation and that'll start this week.

SALLY SARA: So after you introduce this reform to Parliament, how quickly do you want see the draft- the legislation passed?

MURRAY WATT: Oh look, I'd like to see these laws passed as soon as possible. Obviously, it'll be a matter for the Parliament to decide exactly how quickly that happens. But as I think I've said to you before, Sally, every day we delay in passing these laws. We see the environment suffer and we see business and the community suffer. So I think we've all got an interest in passing these laws as quickly as we possibly can.

SALLY SARA: So you've got around three sitting weeks to go until the end of the year, is that right?

MURRAY WATT: That's right, yeah. So obviously there's a lot of work to be done. But as I say, we've taken a lot of time, not just since I've come into this role, but beforehand as well, to sit down and work through the issues with stakeholders. There's quite a degree of agreement between different stakeholders about some of the key aspects of this reform. I wouldn't want to pretend that every single detail has been resolved. And that's why we're talking with people about the draft bill. But I do think that there is a high degree of support for achieving what I've called the three pillars of these reforms; stronger environmental protections, quicker approvals for projects and more transparency when it comes to decision-making. So I'm very hopeful that we can get this moving as quickly as possible.

SALLY SARA: Last time you were on the program you said you were still consulting whether the minister or an independent authority should be the final decision maker on applications. Have you come closer to a decision there?

MURRAY WATT: That is one of the things that we're continuing to work with stakeholders on. There are obviously different views about that matter, Sally. But in the meantime, as I say, we've been able to make a lot of progress on other things such as, you know, how we can streamline approval processes and reduce duplication between the states and the Commonwealth processes. You may have seen reported today, we've also made a lot of progress around how we can reform the environmental offset system to make sure that it's actually delivering a better outcome for our environment. There's been a lot of media coverage of the aspects of these reforms to do with quicker approvals, and understandably so. But what you'll be seeing us talk a lot more about, particularly this week, is some of the big environmental gains that we want to see achieved through these reforms as well.

SALLY SARA: Will native forest logging be brought back into the national environment laws?

MURRAY WATT: Again, that's one of the matters that we're still working with stakeholders on, Sally, and there's obviously a lot of controversy about that, but we remain committed to the commitment we made last term, which was that the national environmental standards that I'll be creating through these reforms would apply to Regional Forest Agreements. That was actually a recommendation from Graeme Samuel in his review, and we remain committed to doing that, but we're just sort of working through how we would do that, in some more discussions stakeholders.

SALLY SARA: When will the public get to see the details of what you're proposing?

MURRAY WATT: Obviously, we will be looking to introduce the bill to the Parliament in the next sitting fortnight, Sally, so that'll be the point in time that everyone can see it and have their say. What we're trying to do, I guess, is to just make some last-minute refinements to that bill before it is introduced through these meetings that we're having this week. I've also met three times separately with each of the Opposition and the Greens to talk them through the directions that we're going, the policy positions that we're going, to try to narrow the number of disagreement- areas of disagreement with us and the Coalition and the Greens. I feel like those discussions are going well. But, yeah, when we introduce the bill, that will be the opportunity for people to see it in its totality.

SALLY SARA: On a separate issue, the Prime Minister is landing in Washington ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump. What's he going to put on the table?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I'm not going to be pre-empting exactly the matters that will be discussed in those meetings, Sally, but it's obviously a great opportunity to continue to further the relationship between Australia and the United States. You would be aware the Prime Minister and the President have spoken a number of times on the phone and obviously briefly met during the UN events recently, but this will be a really good opportunity to talk through a broad range of issues, and I'm sure the Prime Minister will have lots to say when that's done.

SALLY SARA: Just finally and briefly on another matter, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce - do you believe that Barnaby Joyce owes his voters a full term in the National Party room?

MURRAY WATT: Oh look, I don't know what to think of the latest developments, and we've seen the Liberals having their turn at eating each other alive, and now the Nationals seem to want to get on the act as well. I listened to Barnaby and Michael McCormack there. And we've got Barnaby saying, ‘it's not you, it's me’. We've got Michael McCormack wooing him back, you know, ‘please don't leave me’. I mean, really, the federal Coalition have become a low rent version of Days of Our Lives. We're going to leave it to them to argue amongst themselves. We're completely focused on the Australian people, their jobs, their healthcare, their security, their environment, their housing, and we'll let the soap opera in the Coalition continue as long as it takes.

SALLY SARA: Is Labor concerned about the rise in the polls for One Nation?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I mean, all indications are that that's coming at the expense of the Coalition. And, you know, as you know, polls move around from time to time. Seriously, our only focus is delivering our election commitments and how we can support Australians' jobs, housing, health and environment. That's what people elect us to do. They don't elect us to get onto the national radio and play out a soap opera, which seems to be the only thing the federal Coalition are capable of doing.

SALLY SARA: Murray Watt, thank you for your time.

MURRAY WATT: Thanks, Sally.

SALLY SARA: That's Murray Watt there, the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water.