Watt made clear in his address that project developers would still submit a single application which would be subject to a single assessment by the state in conjuction with the new federal body, rather than having to apply twice for environmental approvals.

Journalists grilled Watt on the proposed new National Environmental Standards, the definition of an unacceptable impact and why a project’s emissions would be reported but not taken into account when an approval decision is made.

What they said: “Based on what I’m seeing with the Coalition and the Greens, you would hardly expect them to be rolling over day one and saying we’re going back in the bill. They’d be pretty poor negotiators if they did that. Inevitably, they’re going to be seeking concessions, seeking changes,” Murray Watt said.

“No one is going to get 100% of what they want. If everyone wants 100% of what they want, we will get nothing and we’ll be stuck with a build that’s failing everyone. But if we get 80% of what people want, then we’ll have a pretty good set of laws to give us both the environment and for business. So that’s why we’re going to keep pushing on and we’re going to get it done.”