Fixing Australia’s broken environment laws to speed up development approvals while safeguarding nature is more important than tax reform or any other measures when it came to boosting Australia’s ailing productivity, former Treasury secretary Ken Henry says.

Henry, whose white paper for Labor in 2010 remains the most recognised template for tax reform, will tell the National Press Club on Wednesday that the country’s productivity challenge faces no greater imperative than overhauling the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.