Interview with Kieran Gilbert, Sky News First

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST : Murray Watt, before we get to talk about the environmental reforms, this story it just breaks your heart, out of Alice Springs. Devastating news and the unrest continues. A very difficult situation for the authorities to navigate.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Yeah, it is clearly for the authorities and the entire community around Alice Springs, Kieran. This is obviously, as you say, a devastating event. It has captured the nation's attention over the last few days, which demonstrates the significance of what's gone on.

I think all of us, whether we're parents or just human beings, are appalled by what's occurred here. And, of course, it is a time, more than anything, that we do need to see calm. I've obviously seen, as you've just reported, the wishes of the family, that this is a time to show respect to the family, for people not to be making heroes of themselves on social media or anything like that.

But it's an appalling situation that this family and the wider community in Alice Springs have gone through. KIERAN GILBERT: Yes, well said. And I think you captured it perfectly there.

It just breaks your heart, no matter who you are, to see something of that nature unfold. We will be live to the Alice Springs in a moment. While I've got you, I need to ask you about, it's been a big week in terms of your focus on environmental law reform.

Can you bring our viewers up to speed on where this is at? There's a consultation period out there now, but tell us what's happening on this front. I know there's been a shift as well between federal and state approvals.

Can you explain to our viewers in simple terms what's going on on this front? MURRAY WATT: For sure. And I recognise there's been a really big week in the news, Kieran, but in the background, we've been making really good progress in implementing the reforms to our national environmental laws.

You might recall at the end of last year, we passed the most significant reforms to our national environmental laws that we've seen in 25 years in Australia. And what they were all about was delivering stronger protections for our environment, while also simplifying and speeding up the processes that we have in place for environmental assessments and approvals for projects.

We know that the nation desperately needs more housing, more energy projects, more minerals projects, and the processes in place at the moment under state and federal environmental laws are holding up that investment while doing nothing to help the environment. So this week, for example, what we've done is announced that we will be providing 45 million dollars in this year's federal budget to support the negotiation of what are known as bilateral agreements between our government and state and territory governments.

And the importance of that is that if and when we reach them, and we will reach those agreements, it essentially removes the duplication of the process that we have at the moment, which sees a state government have to assess and approve a project, only to then see the federal government also have to assess and approve that project. And that can add years to the process for getting housing, energy and other projects approved.

So what we do through these agreements is empower a state government to do the lot themselves, subject to national environmental standards and other assurances to ensure the environment is protected. But it's a really good way of simplifying the process and getting on with building these projects while we also protect the environment. KIERAN GILBERT: Central to the reform is the notion of unacceptable environmental impacts.

How is that decided and who decides that, particularly when you've got that breakdown- or not breakdown, the breakup of responsibility between state and federal? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, so this was something that we did resolve in the legislation last year, Kieran, by providing a much clearer definition of what would be considered to be an unacceptable environmental impact, which would mean that a project simply wouldn't be approved.

Now, that decision would be made by the relevant government who's making the assessment and approval of a project. Of course, those sorts of decisions can always be appealed if they need to be. But what it comes down to is making sure that if a project is going to basically send a species extinct, then that's just not acceptable.

And I think all Australians would agree that we don't want to see our precious native species go extinct. So it's about making sure that we can ensure the survival of those species. And very often a project proponent can design a wind farm, a solar farm, a mine, a housing development in a way that avoids those kinds of impacts, but still delivers the project in the way that we need to see done.

The other thing that we've done this week, Kieran, that's relevant to this yesterday is release the first draft National Environmental Standard. Now, these are essentially the rules of the road, the kind of expectations that we would have when we're assessing a project to make sure that it doesn't breach our environmental laws. And again, this is something that provides both the community generally, those who are concerned about the environment, and of course, project proponents with a lot more clarity about what kind of requirements there will be in order to get an environmental approval, rather than sort of choose-your-own-adventure approach that we have at the moment.

So it's all about, as I say, clearer rules, faster rules, getting projects up and running more quickly than we have in the past, while also making sure that we protect our precious environment. KIERAN GILBERT: Appreciate your time, Murray Watt. Thank you for being flexible too.

MURRAY WATT: No worries. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.