Environment laws are biggest test of parliament since Albanese’s win

It is not often that a leading corporate figure and pro-business crusader breaks a lifelong commitment to being apolitical to stick the boot into the Coalition. But that’s exactly what former ACCC boss Professor Graeme Samuel did last week.

The opposition had been hardening its stance against new environment laws and Samuel had had enough of their resistance. The Coalition’s positioning on the laws is proving to be a watershed moment for Sussan Ley’s leadership and the party.

Samuel is hardly known as a lefty, so his intervention in the debate matters enormously.

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Environment laws a test for everyone

Samuel told me he was trying not to be political. He said it several times but confessed to being angry and accused the opposition of standing in the way of law reform that would make life easier for business and the environment.

His words carry weight because he is not a Labor partisan with an agenda to help the government. He is a man who has watched his hard work languish for five long years since he first delivered his review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to the then-Morrison government in 2020.

Since then, both sides of politics have dragged their feet, trying to appease vested interests with agendas and deep pockets.

The government plans to introduce reforms, influenced by Samuel’s review, to parliament this week, but both the Coalition and the Greens have said they wouldn’t support the laws in their current form.

The Coalition said the laws would put a handbrake on investment and job creation, while the Greens said the laws were stacked with get-out clauses that favoured the mining industry.

The next fortnight will be the most significant test of the new parliament since Albanese’s thumping win.

The splintering of the consensus on environment laws will tell a story about the dynamic of this new parliament.

Ley and Greens leader Larissa Waters both contrasted themselves to their predecessors at the start of their tenure, claiming to have constructive visions.

But now that the legislation is on the cusp of arriving, they are reverting to a block-by-default strategy.

The posturing towards blocking is a political image that the government does not mind. Their message at this year’s election was that they were the calm centrists — the narrative they want to embed in the public’s mind is that they get stuff done while everyone else is filibustering.

It is a useful contrast that Albanese wants to emphasise.

Political pain still lands with Labor

Waters will be under pressure not to ape the strategy Adam Bandt pursued in the last term.

Bandt was pilloried by Labor for being a blocker trying to appease his hard-left flank. The housing bill was one of the party’s darkest hours — reinforcing to the public that they were unconstructive until it was arguably too late.

The consequences for Bandt are clear; he is no longer in the parliament.

Ley has been desperate to shake off the ghost of Peter Dutton and the “Noalition” tag that was devastatingly painted on him and the opposition. But while Ley suggested her leadership would be constructive, it has already hit a significant snag on climate and environment policies — the party’s never-ending Achilles heel.

Ley is hamstrung by a party room at war on basic and fundamental questions over key policies from net zero to environment laws.

Samuel was keen last week to tell the story of Ley’s enthusiasm for his report when he first delivered it to her when she was the minister. Her changed position is a problem for her because it risks exposing an inconsistency and a lack of principle in her decision-making and shows that a desperation to appease her right flank is her overwhelming driver.

“What I am prepared to say is I am bitterly disappointed; this is beyond posturing,” Samuel said.

“It’s bitterly disappointing because it says to me that there are potentially political games being played or posturing, which we should be putting aside. Minister Ley, when she asked me to do the review, she did not play the political game.”

Samuel also criticised the Greens’ opposition to the reforms: “The Greens are going to get out of this a massive process forward in terms of protection of the environment, ceasing the degradation we have seen over the past two-and-a-half decades and potentially restoration of the environment in terms of threatened species.”

He argued the reforms told business that “this would be a more efficient way of dealing with applications”.

The conundrum for Labor is that while the Greens and the Coalition may look obstructionist, the political pain still lands with the government if they cannot pass their bills.

If Labor has a thumping majority but cannot negotiate its key agenda through the parliament, the reputation of the government will be tarnished.

Yesterday, Murray Watt said the government was open to considering amendments but ruled out adopting the Greens’ call for a “climate trigger” that could block or restrict fossil fuel projects.

“People should be under no illusions that we will be passing these laws through the parliament. The only question is how quickly we do it and who we do it with,” Watt said.

Among the Coalition’s concerns, which are shared by industry, is a proposed new definition of an “unacceptable impact” on the environment that would result in a project being immediately refused.

The Gillard government was rocked by internal divisions but extremely productive at legislating. The Albanese government is managing its internals with more discipline, but needs to prove that it can land big changes.

These laws never passed in the last term because the politics became too hard — the PM got spooked. 

A second failure would send a message that the government is unable to get its agenda through the new parliament. It is not an image the government wants.

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Barnaby Joyce’s net zero bill

This week, the coalition faces the will he won’t he dance of Barnaby Joyce, who is enjoying the media spotlight to play up his consideration of defecting to One Nation.

The Albanese government has been allowing the Coalition to debate Joyce’s private member’s bill on net zero emissions for as long as it wants, to help highlight the internal division it is causing.

Private members’ business is back for Monday. Labor will be carefully watching to see whether Coalition backbenchers are still willing to speak on the Joyce net zero bill after his flirtation with One Nation.

Ahead of parliament’s return, Joyce yesterday confirmed he remained a Nationals MP but would not attend partyroom meetings after a major relationship breakdown with the party he once led.

The Nationals senator and anti-net zero campaigner, Matt Canavan — who is co-chair of the internal review on net zero — said an update on the work would be presented to colleagues this week.

Labor believes that because of Joyce’s actions, anyone speaking in support of the bill now carries a different character, after he refused to rule out a defection.

The Coalition goes into the sitting fortnight managing grievance and division. Labor carries the weight of needing to prove it can manage the parliament. It is not hard to work out who you would prefer to be this week.

Patricia Karvelas is host of ABC News Afternoon Briefing at 4pm weekdays on ABC News Channel, co-host of the weekly Party Room podcast with Fran Kelly and host of politics and news podcast Politics Now.