Rex Patrick lays out environmental demands to Morrison government
Independent senator Rex Patrick has revealed his list of demands to support the Morrison government’s amended environmental approval laws.
Independent senator Rex Patrick has revealed his list of demands to support the Morrison government’s amended environmental approval laws, including greater enforcement of Freedom of Information laws in the states and a stronger environmental watchdog.
With Labor and the Greens opposing the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Streamlining Environmental Approvals) Bill 2021, the Coalition requires one of three crossbenchers – Jacqui Lambie, Stirling Griff or Senator Patrick – to get the legislation through the upper house.
After a protracted battle with the South Australian government regarding two separate FOI requests, Senator Patrick said the tendency of states to knock-back “simple FOI” applications meant there was “no way” he could support the government’s EPBC bill in its current form.
“They want to devolve the responsibility for environmental approvals from the commonwealth to the states,” he said.
“Now, there’s a huge problem. If in doing so you’ve got a situation where the NSW government adopts the secrecy mode in relation to these sorts of approvals, then it would be irresponsible for the federal parliament to hand responsibility to the states.”
The EPBC reforms will try to create a “one touch” system, with the Morrison government handing legal responsibilities to states and territories and allowing them to make environmental assessments.
The proposed changes have hit a roadblock, with opponents saying they don’t reflect recommendations from Graeme Samuel’s review of the EPBC Act.
Senator Patrick said he had been working with his upper house colleagues on the concessions he was seeking from the government, and the amendments were “certainly at the forefront of my mind”.
“I’ve already indicated to (Environment Minister) Sussan Ley that I wouldn’t vote for such legislation unless there are proper mechanisms for transparency because I see the same problem in South Australia,” he said.
After legal fights at the state and federal level to access documents that could be available under FOI laws, the South Australian senator said he was concerned that governments’ “default position” had become “claiming secrecy”, as opposed to transparency.
An attempt to obtain correspondence between SA Energy and Mining Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan and the federal government relating to the establishment of a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility in the state ended in the state’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal, with Senator Patrick threatened with costs.
Mr van Holst Pellekaan refused to turn over the documents, despite losing the case.
Correspondence obtained by The Weekend Australian also shows Senator Patrick turning down a written request from SA Premier Steven Marshall to support the EPBC reform, instead saying there were a “number of barriers that need to be overcome”. The senator says he would be pushing for the “exact changes” to the national standards as recommended by Professor Samuel.
A spokesman for Ms Ley said the government would continue to work with the crossbench.
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