The Greens have demanded that Labor withdraw a controversial proposal to water down consultation requirements for offshore gas development, promising that in return they will help pass vehicle emissions standards.
The Albanese government is locked in two sensitive climate-related negotiations: courting Coalition support for changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT), but needing the Greens to pass emissions standards that the opposition has branded a new car and ute tax.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has written to the government accusing it of a “clear broken promise” for proposing legislation to benefit the gas industry despite its claims to want to “strengthen Australia’s environment laws”.
In February the resources minister, Madeleine King, used a bill largely about worker safety to propose a new provision preserving approvals for offshore gas projects against reconsideration if rules are tightened in future.
Although the government denies that this will change environmental assessments, Bandt labelled the law “a massive power grab by the resources minister to allow big gas corporations to bypass environmental protections and First Nations voices”.
Bandt said the law would “financially benefit” Santos, which lobbied for the changes, “by seeking to clear away whatever is getting in the way of constructing their massive Barossa gas project”.
“If Labor is willing to withdraw this section of the bill, the Greens will accept the government’s fuel efficiency standards and support speedy passage of the forthcoming national vehicle emissions standards (NVES) legislation, even though the standards should go much further.”
Bandt does not say how the Greens will treat the NVES bill if the government refuses.
In November the Coalition revealed four demands in return for helping Labor pass PRRT tax changes, which are struggling to win crossbench support due to the fact they don’t raise extra revenue or tackle deductions.
The demands included reforming the offshore environment regulations to provide clarity on consultation requirements and restart offshore gas investment.
On Monday the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said he had written to the Coalition “to assure them that some of the changes to environmental approval processes they are seeking to negotiate are already happening”.
These were being progressed “for their own good reasons, not as a bargaining chip”, he told the Australian Financial Review business summit.
“We agree there is a need to update Australia’s offshore regulatory gas arrangements and broader environmental approval processes.”
Chalmers promised more investment in data to identify environmental risks upfront, which he said would result in “faster yeses and faster nos … without cutting corners on environmental protection”.
“We will clarify consultation requirements for offshore oil and gas storage regulatory approvals, making consultation more targeted and effective,” he said.
Chalmers noted the government had “already committed that all changes will be grandfathered so existing projects are assessed under a stable set of rules”, an apparent reference to the section of the bill the Greens have demand be withdrawn.
Bandt said the two bills were “intrinsically linked because the emissions from Santos’ Barossa project will release another 380m tonnes of pollution by 2050, and this one gas project alone … will more than wipe out the entire 369m tonne gain of the proposed NVES”.
Bandt warned that Australia is “nowhere near on track” for the government’s “weak” 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 “and this latest bill to fast-track more gas will make things even worse”.
“Instead of doing dirty deals with the Liberals, you have an opportunity to work with the Greens to act on climate,” he said.
The offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage amendment has also prompted warnings from the Environmental Defenders Office and Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and founder of the organisation Save Our Songlines, the latter of who will campaign against the change at a Senate inquiry on Thursday.
