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

I thank Senator Darmanin, who I know is a strong supporter of those environmental laws that we passed last year despite the opposition of those opposite. For the past 25 years, Australia's environmental laws were broken. For the whole 10 years of the former coalition government, those laws were stifling approvals for key projects in areas of national priority. Importantly, they also weren't protecting the environment. We knew that major legislative change was required to deal with the substance of this issue. In November, last year we did just that. We did what the coalition couldn't do and passed a set of laws that got the balance right.

Our laws are designed to better protect the environment and unlock investment by speeding up approvals. Yesterday, we announced that new funding will be included in tonight's budget to put these laws to work. We will invest more than $500 million to streamline environmental approvals, unlocking more housing, more renewables and more minerals projects and helping proponents get a faster yes or a faster no. That's a win-win for our economy and our precious natural environment. It includes more than $250 million over two years, plus ongoing funding, to stand up and support the operation of Australia's first-ever national EPA and independent environmental regulator from 1 July. (Time expired)