In his address to the Smart Energy Queensland Conference in Brisbane, Federal environment minister Murray Watt announced his intention to reform Australia’s environmental laws to expedite the rollout out more renewables and storage.
Watt pointed to the recent approval of the Robbins Island wind farm off the coast of north-west Tasmania—a complex project that took seven years to secure local, state and federal approvals.
“The approval of this project is an example of what we need to do as a Federal Government to ensure we reach our ambitious climate and renewable energy targets, while avoiding and mitigating environmental impacts,” Watt said.
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“Too often, the debate over renewables is dominated by naysayers, who say the choice we have is binary. You can either have the project and the jobs and clean energy that come with it, or you can protect nature. While others say you can have renewables or community support, but not both.
“But I believe there is a middle ground, one that has been the hallmark of all my decisions to date.”
Watt said the blueprint for his environmental reforms was the review and recommendations provided by Professor Graeme Samuel.
“What Graeme found in his report was that our current national environmental laws are fundamentally broken. They’re not working for the environment, which experiences ongoing decline and they’re not working for business through cumbersome processes to get projects assessed and approved.
“And so, what we want to do is put in place environmental laws that are contemporary, that are better for the environment and better for business.”
Watt said the reforms, which will be introduced before the end of the year, would include stronger environmental protections, faster and more efficient approvals processes, and more transparency with environmental decisions.
“For the renewable energy sector that means faster yes’s and faster no’s, while still ensuring that community and environmental concerns about potential projects are being managed carefully,” he said.
“In order to do that we are looking at specific measures to build more homes and speed up the rollout of renewables projects. One such measure is the increased use of regional planning.”
Watt said regional planning would improve environmental outcomes by better managing threats to nature, identifying areas of high environmental sensitivity that should not be developed, and guiding restoration activities in areas that have been degraded.
“This approach—identifying ‘go’ and ‘no go’ zones in various regions upfront—would shift the focus from project-by-project development, to effective planning for our environment and for sustainable development.”
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The government has been trialling regional planning through pilot programs in partnership with the Queensland, South Australian, New South Wales and Victorian governments.
“Today I am pleased to announce that as part of the reforms to the EPBC Act, the Albanese Government will include legislative changes to allow for greater use of regional planning, in partnership with states and territories,” Watt said.
“We know that the current regional planning framework does not give us the tools we need to deliver proper regulatory regional plans.”
