As Plibersek moves out, Mr ‘Fix It’ takes on plagued environment job

Senator Murray Watt has kicked off his stint as environment minister with backing from the warring mining and environment sectors to break the deadlock that dogged predecessor Tanya Plibersek and deliver the government’s long-promised environment reforms.

The government promised in 2022 to create a national environment watchdog and committed to pursuing broad reforms to nature protection laws, but failed to deliver either.

As Tanya Plibersek moves out, Mr ‘Fix It’ Murray Watt takes on the plagued environment minister job.Credit: Oscar Colman

Plibersek began in the portfolio with a promise to end native species extinctions. She ended it on the outer with the environment lobby, which has been disappointed at the lack of new nature protections, and after a deal with the Greens to pass the Environment Protection Act in the Senate was scuppered by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following vigorous lobbying against the bill from the mining industry and the Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook.

Albanese also weighed in on Plibersek’s portfolio for a second time, in December, when he assured Tasmania’s salmon farming industry its future was secure. This assurance appeared to preempt an ongoing review of commercial operations in Macquarie Harbour, on the state’s west coast, due to its impact on the endangered Maugean skate.

Plibersek has been moved to the social services ministry, an appointment she welcomes with a social media statement saying she was “delighted to be the minister for social services in the new Labor government”, as it was an area she had long been interested in. She takes on responsibility for the department that oversees welfare spending – the single largest expenditure in the federal budget – as well as issues close to her heart, such as domestic violence prevention and gender equality.

Watt, who earned a reputation as a fixer in the emergency services, agriculture and then industrial affairs portfolios in the first term of the Albanese government, said he was thrilled to be appointed Minister for the Environment.

“Our natural environment and water supply is the foundation of life on Earth and only a Labor government can advance its long-term conservation,” he said.

The former workplace and industrial relations minister is a key powerbroker from Queensland, riding high in the party for delivering a swathe of seats in the state.

He cemented his reputation when he shepherded tough laws through parliament to crack down on corrupt behaviour in the CFMEU, after this masthead reported infiltration of outlaw motorcycle gangs into the militant union, which has strong links to Labor.

He also delivered on the Albanese’s government’s decision to ban the WA industry of live sheep export with a funding package of $130 million for affected farmers, boosting the package from an initial $30 million.

Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt was sworn into office by Governor-General Sam Mostyn in Canberra on Tuesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Key industry groups have flagged their willingness to compromise on demands after Labor’s landslide victory dimmed the prospect of getting any reforms repealed in a change of government.

The mining lobby told this masthead it welcomed Watt’s appointment, was willing to compromise on the final design of reforms but would hold the government to account on its promise to deliver reforms that are “better for the environment” as well as “better for business”.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable said industry and the community wanted rapid progress on the reforms this year and urged the Coalition to support the government in the Senate, rather than force Labor into deals with the Greens.

“The Coalition needs to look very carefully at environmental reform and work with the different parties to make sure that there is a workable solution,” Constable said.

West Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson said the minister must retain veto powers over Labor’s proposed environment watchdog, in line with the model proposed by Plibersek.

“It is really important that the minister, the elected member of the day, retains the decision-making capability – full stop,” Tomkinson said.

Influential grassroots organisation the Labor Environment Action Network said it was optimistic about Watt’s appointment.

“He can bring the stakeholders together to build a reform that not only arrests the devastating decline in Australia’s environment, but delivers for business too. Let’s face it, lasting reform requires this balance,” said LEAN co-convener Felicity Wade.

The Australian Conservation Foundation also welcomed Watt’s appointment, saying it was keen to consult with the government to get bills passed.

“It’s unfinished business and we need to get a bunch of those bills into the parliament over the next 12 months to get it rocking and rolling,” said ACF campaign director Paul Sinclair.

“I think there is acceptance among some key industries that laws are busted and mistrusted. They don’t work.”

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