New federal Environment Minister Murray Watt is in Western Australia this week to reboot nature law reform. Reform stalled in the Senate last term, following stiff opposition from the state’s Labor government and mining sector.
Watt has a big task ahead of him. Labor came into power in 2022 promising large-scale law reform to reverse Australia’s alarming rate of biodiversity loss.
But former environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s tenure ended with Australia’s nature laws in even worse shape than when she started. A last-minute amendment intended to protect salmon farming in Tasmania now limits the government’s power to reconsider certain environment approvals, even when an activity is harming the environment.
