TRANSCRIPT – ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST

Angie Bell MP

Shadow Minister for the Environment

Shadow Minister for Youth

Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT

ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST

24 November 2025

Subjects: The Government rushing through untested and unworkable legislation with no amendments yet on the table; Social media ban.

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………

SALLY SARA:

Well, staying with the government’s push to overhaul federal environment laws this week, Angie Bell is the Shadow Minister for the Environment and joins me now in our Parliament House studio. Angie Bell, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

ANGIE BELL:

What a pleasure it is to be in the hot seat.

SALLY SARA:

It is. Musical chairs this morning. Do you feel the same urgency to reform Australia’s environment laws as the Environment Minister Murray Watt?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, 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 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.

SALLY SARA:

Does it seem more likely, as some of the commentary is suggesting, that it’s the Greens now who are going to get this deal done with the government?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I’ve heard the commentary around that and I’ve heard Sarah Hanson-Young say she’s going to kick the tyres on the three years for forestry to come up to the national standard. I don’t really see that’s much of a change of what’s been presented in terms of the forestry amendments or the national standard that the RFAs are now going to have to come up to. So, I’ll leave that with Sarah Hanson-Young to determine what she’ll do with that concession.

SALLY SARA:

Is it important to the Coalition to be the dealmaker here?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I think it’s important that we deliver a constructive way forward on environmental reforms because they’re too important to get wrong. We have to make sure that we deliver for industry, for jobs, for productivity, for investment, but also, of course, for the environment. These laws are well overdue for reform and I will acknowledge the Minister’s done a lot of work and a lot of it has been based on the Samuel review recommendations. But Graeme Samuel himself on day one of the Inquiry, as the first witness before the Senate inquiry, said that he didn’t quite understand everything that the Minister had put forward and he could see that not everything that he had recommended had been put on the table.

SALLY SARA:

But Graeme Samuel’s message also has been to get on with it?

ANGIE BELL:

Certainly. I will say that it’s been five years since Graeme Samuel’s review. However, during that period of time, Labor has blocked Sussan Ley’s amendments that she put forward or bills that she put forward in the Senate, and then, of course, Tanya Plibersek failed in the last term of government to reform the laws. And so here we are five years later, and the government seems to be in a rush to fail.

SALLY SARA:

What would get it across the line for the Coalition? What do you need?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, the ball is in the Minister’s court. I would need to see the amendments in terms of those substantive issues. And there’s a list of seven, but there are more than that, I presented to the Minister. And so, we’d need to see those amendments so that we can see if they are credible.

SALLY SARA:

Yesterday, Senator Watt said it had been difficult to conduct negotiations with the Coalition over the past few months, as, quote, the Coalition has been completely distracted by the sorts of issues, by leadership struggles. Is that a fair assessment?

ANGIE BELL:

I think that’s a rhetoric. I’ve been solely focused on the EPBC reforms. There’s a 1,500-page package that I’ve read. I’ve been working absolutely 100 per cent 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 per cent focused on EPBC reform, but we are not in a rush to fail on this. We want to deliver a constructive way forward with the government to get good outcomes for jobs, industry, productivity, investment and of course the environment.

SALLY SARA:

You’re listening to Radio National Breakfast. 12 minutes to 8. My guest is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Angie Bell. Of the suggested changes that you’re putting forward, what do you believe are the most important?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I think there is some problem around definitions and certainly unacceptable impacts and the window of definition, if you like, and also net gain. It is not clear what they actually are in the bills and they are very, very important. Another substantial important area is the EPA, its powers. We want to make sure that the CEO is accountable to the Minister and that there is a statement of expectation around that with KPIs attached and so that the CEO of the new EPA, it’s a lot of acronyms there for your listeners, is accountable and can be sacked by the Minister and at this point in time that is not the case.

SALLY SARA:

Just finally on another issue, you’re also Shadow Minister for Youth. We’re now only a few weeks away from the start of the government’s social media ban for under-16s. In your view, has the government given teenagers, parents, schools and others the information they need ahead of this ban now?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, we still don’t know exactly how it’s going to work when it comes to age verification and we’re a month out. And so, the government is lost in the woods on that. We are a year beyond since the legislation was passed and the government doesn’t know what it’s doing. But what I will say is that it was the Coalition that pushed the government to make sure that we protect our under-16s and to give parents guardrails around that is so very important.

As even the Minister just outlined just before me, that he has a 15-year-old. Certainly, young people are being harmed by social media and we need to put a stop to it. But I would say that the government is lost in the wilderness. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what it’s going to look like. And so therefore, so are Australians.

SALLY SARA:

Angie Bell, thank you for joining me again.

ANGIE BELL:

Thanks, Sally.

ENDS.