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Government in a “rush to fail” on environment laws, says shadow minister

Sitting in the RN Brekky hot seat following Murray Watt, is shadow environment minister, Angie Bell, who says she’s not “in a rush” to pass the EPBC bills.

We’re certainly not in a rush to fail, Sally, and we’ve heard three days of inquiry where all of the stakeholders have agreed that the bills are unworkable the way they are. What I will say is that that the ball is firmly in the minister’s court. I have put forward those red lines, if you like, or those substantive issues that the coalition has with this set of bills, and it’s up to him now to come back to us with the amendments.

I’ve been solely focused on the EPBC reforms. There’s a 1,500-page package that I’ve read and I’ve been working absolutely 100% in lockstep with the Leader of the Opposition’s office and others to make sure that we understand what the ramifications are here. I’ve been meeting with stakeholders. So, certainly, we are 100% focused on EPBC reform.

I recognise that’s a big ask from the Greens. But you will have seen over the weekend that we said that we are prepared to remove fossil fuel projects from the national interest approval mechanism that is included in the bill … that’s a bit of a nod towards the concerns around climate change and fossil fuels.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

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