Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

That, Senator Ghosh, is because in my experience you're a very balanced human being who likes balanced reforms that deliver for both business and the environment. Just to expand a little bit on the answer I gave to your previous question, talking about regional plans, more broadly the regional planning is a really good example of that kind of balanced approach that we've sought to take in these reforms more generally and which Professor Samuel sought in his reform package as a whole.

The regional plans, as I was saying before, allow the federal government to work with the state government, local governments, industry, conservation groups and scientists to identify, within a particular region, the areas that should be, if you like, earmarked for development—they're go zones or development zones; call them what you will—and the areas that should be earmarked for protection because of the high environmental values that apply. That will both enable better protection for the environment, by identifying areas in a particular region where development shouldn't occur, and help business, because we not only would be identifying development zones, or go zones, within a particular region but would provide a much faster approval process for projects that occur there.

I can think of a situation in the future, once we have these regional plans up and running, where, for example, a particular proponent for a particular project has multiple choices about where in a particular region they site a project. Obviously, there are some types of development that can only go in a certain place. If we're talking about a mine, it can only happen where the mineral resource is. If we're talking about a wind farm, it's got to be windy. But there are some projects where there's a level of flexibility around where development occurs. Housing would be a good example. A developer might like to build a housing development in a certain location, but, if there are very high environmental values, they might reconsider and decide to proceed with the housing development in an area that's been earmarked as one of those development zones, or go zones. If they're prepared to do it there and avoid the environmental impacts, they will get the benefit of a much faster approval than they will get if they try to site it somewhere that has serious environmental complications. So that would be an example of where you would get that dual benefit: it is better for business, you might get housing online more quickly, and you might avoid doing something terrible for the environment as well.

I think you're aware, Senator Ghosh—but I'll say it in case you're not—that we are already undertaking a number of pilots of these regional plans in different parts of the country. I'm certainly aware of a couple in my home state of Queensland. There is one in South-East Queensland that's focusing on housing development, working with the Queensland government and other parties on that. Similarly, there's a regional plan pilot occurring in North Queensland, focusing on wind farm development and where to properly site those kinds of developments. There's also a pilot occurring in north-west Queensland, which is focusing on mining activities. Similarly, there are other pilots occurring in other parts of the country.

I think that over time this will become a really exciting way for us to facilitate the kind of business development that is needed but do it in an environmentally sensitive way and protect the most environmentally sensitive areas within those particular regions.