Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 – Consideration of Senate Message

Frankenstein’s monster is the new creation of Labor and the Greens’ dirty deal in the dead of night on the EPBC Act. The Prime Minister and his Mr Fixer, the senator from the great resources state Queensland, Murray Watt, has appeased the left flank of Labor’s backbench and caved in to allow a new environmental protection agency with excessive powers and too little oversight. Their new Frankenstein CEO will have the power to mark its own homework and to create its own rules. Not even Graeme Samuel wanted this unnatural creation. He said nothing about an unholy alliance between the Labor Party and the new deputy prime minister sitting over there, the member for Ryan. He reconfirmed in the three-day Senate inquiry into this bill that he wanted a commissioner, not a CEO with unreserved powers. So I put on record that the coalition pushed for a fully accountable CEO who could be sacked for underperformance. This Labor-Greens deal will stifle growth, undermine industry and jeopardise our nation’s prosperity.

What else has job-creating business said about this bill? What else has everybody else said? The Minerals Council said:

The deal between the Federal Government and the Greens to pass the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and related bills is an inferior and disappointing outcome which fails to strike the right balance between protecting Australia’s unique environment while enabling responsible and efficient project development.

I want to be absolutely clear: the coalition has never blocked sensible environmental reform. We have engaged in good faith throughout this process with that minister. We have engaged in good faith, and we have done so because we believe that Australia needs certainty, not chaos under this Labor government. We need evidence based policy, not ideological experiments under this government.

What did Australian Energy Producers say? They said:

By conceding to the Greens, the Government has chosen more red tape and uncertainty instead of enabling new gas supply.

I’m sure the resources minister is a little bit worried at this point in time about what’s going on. What about the agriculture minister? Is she worried? The National Farmers’ Federation has said:

As stewards of more than half of Australia’s environment, farmers understand the importance of doing the right thing by the land.

They’ve also historically borne the brunt of complex federal environmental laws, often at odds with state obligations.

That’s why the NFF has supported genuine reform, but not this deal.

Let’s turn to Western Australia. There’s nothing that the Western Australian Premier can do to stop the sweeping powers of the left-wing Labor caucus in Canberra and their new unshackled, unrestrained job-ruining EPA. There’s nothing he can do for Western Australia. Roger Cook has betrayed Western Australia, and this government and the Prime Minister have betrayed the Australian economy, investment, productivity and jobs. Across the board in resources, energy, agriculture and business—remember the BCA—the message is the same: the deal makes approvals longer, more uncertain, more litigious and less workable. Australians are rightly disappointed in a government that’s chosen political headlines over the national interest.

What do they say in the other powerhouse resources state, the state where the minister is from, Queensland? Premier David Crisafulli said:

… to think that we could be held to the mercy of a radical Greens movement in Canberra—

he means the new deputy prime minister over there—

when we’re trying to build roads, deliver infrastructure, secure the future of the mining industry. That sends a shiver down my spine, and I just can’t believe we’ve reached the point where that could be the case.

What else did the Queensland Premier say? ‘It’s disastrous.’ That’s what he said.

Australians should be very aware that a vote for Labor is a vote for the Greens. Voting for Labor and voting for the Greens is a vote for fewer jobs, a higher cost of living and higher energy prices. The coalition will always fight for jobs, cheaper energy and the environment.