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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Dan Jervis-Bardy and Lisa Cox

Labor to rule out controversial ‘national interest’ exemption for coal and gas if Greens back nature laws

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the party won’t support Labor’s environment laws without extra protections for forests and the climate. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Labor would prevent a contentious “national interest” exemption being used to approve coal and gas projects if the Greens agreed to support its nature laws, Guardian Australia can reveal.

The offer follows a groundswell of criticism about the discretionary power, including from the author of the review that inspired the new laws, Graeme Samuel, and the former treasury secretary Ken Henry.

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