Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (09:29): I thank the member for Wentworth for her comments. She, indeed, is from an electorate that has—perhaps she's competing with the member next to her—the most business leaders of any electorate in Australia. They also understand that the environment is an important part of social licence as well.
One of the things that we tried to balance with this legislation was to do just that. There have been comments about negotiations that took place, and the final message from the coalition included this after four pages of lists: 'There are other matters on the secondary list that require discussion with the minister.' That was on Wednesday afternoon. 'There are other things as well.
We've got a secondary list. We've got a primary list and then we've got another list.' What we did was negotiate in good faith with everyone across the parliament. We also engaged very directly with business—Seriously?
The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will pause, and the Manager of Opposition Business will make his point of order. Mr Hawke: In the House, it is in no way good faith to be telling— The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. Mr Hawke: a one-sided story about the negotiations.
We could tell stories about the negotiations as well. The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. The Prime Minister will continue.
Mr ALBANESE: The member was one of the few who wasn't—there were people in and people out. They all had different conditions, and that's the problem. The Leader of the Opposition stood before this despatch box and actually— Ms Bell interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Moncrieff will withdraw that.
We're going to follow the rules today like every other day. Ms Bell: I withdraw. The SPEAKER: We'll keep the House respectful.
The Prime Minister. Mr ALBANESE: The Leader of the Opposition stood here just before and spoke about how good a year 2025 had been for them and how bad it's been for us. Well, may that continue.
The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order. Ms Ley: On relevance—rhetoric aside, the Prime Minister has to be relevant to the amendments before the House. The SPEAKER: I've given a lot of leeway, including to discussions about preferences and negotiations with parties which were not part of the bill.
It does go both ways. The Prime Minister. Mr ALBANESE: These reforms have been endorsed by Graeme Samuel, who was handpicked to do the review, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, Australian Industry Group, Property Council Australia, the Housing Industry Association, and the Urban Development Institute of Australia.
Last time I looked at an ALP national conference, they weren't there as delegates. They all endorsed it. The fact is that this comes from a review going back to 2020.
We made it very clear, including when I went to the National Press Club for multiple press conferences, that it was no secret that we wanted to get this done this year because we want faster approvals to commence quicker and we want the protection of the environment to occur sooner. That is what we made very clear, and when I went to the National Press Club after the election in June I made it clear that this was going to be the year of delivery.
This has been the year in which we've delivered the commitments that we took to the election. One by one, we're ticking them off, and today we tick off a really important one that will not just resonate for a year or two but will make a real difference for our sons and daughters, our grandsons and granddaughters. This is generational change.
This is reform that has been a long time coming, and it is a proud day for me as Labor leader to, in the tradition of great Labor environmental reforms, be passing this bill. The SPEAKER: The question is that the Senate amendments be agreed to.