Editorial: EPA chaos will show WA who’s listening

Next week marks the second anniversary of the announcement by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek that the Labor Government would pursue a wide-ranging reform of Australia’s environmental and biodiversity laws. Since then, industry has been in limbo as they held their breath to find out just how bad it was going to be. Two years of anxiety for the most productive sectors of our economy. And two years of chaos and uncertainty inflicted on them by our leaders as they lurched from one poorly thought out idea to the next. The Government has been talked down from pursuing some of the most damaging aspects of the reform. But some remain in play. The creation of a Federal environmental protection agency is unfortunately in that second category of bad ideas which may one day become reality. And thanks to an apparent change of heart from the Greens, that day may come this week. After a months-long stalemate, Ms Plibersek appears close to a breakthrough in negotiations with the minor party which could see the Bill passed through the clogged Parliament this week. Under that deal, it’s believed the Greens would agree to support the creation of a new environmental regulator, in return for a national standard for forestry, having watered down their demands for a total ban on native logging. That means businesses are now once again facing an anxious wait to see just what new regulatory imposts will be placed upon them. It’s reflective of the disordered and disjointed way this Government has pursued this reform from the start. These were laws conceived in secrecy with the so-called “consultation process” conducted in closed-door meetings away from public scrutiny. Things didn’t get better when we did begin to hear details of what was on the agenda. While some of the worst aspects of Nature Positive have been stripped away, the news that the EPA is back as a live option will worry industry and send our already stagnating productivity tumbling even further. And it will be all for very little environmental gain. States and Territories already have their own EPAs. These are bodies which do the checks to make sure projects comply with environmental regulations and don’t do undue damage to our biodiversity. Now the Federal Government wants to impose yet another layer of bureaucracy on top of that, duplicating existing approval processes. It’s redundant, illogical and will serve only to put yet another handbrake on the economy, while making very little difference to environmental outcomes. The world is facing significant economic headwinds and Australia is not immune. Billions were wiped from the ASX on Tuesday as incoming US president Donald Trump announced his intention to impose tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. This global uncertainty means our Government should be doing everything it can to create an agile investment environment with speedy approval processes, not strangling industry with more green tape.