Change of national enviro law put off, as Dutton warns of 'death of mining'

Labor's "Nature Positive Plan", a balance of environment and business concerns, is a long-awaited response to the Samuel Review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) Act. It is a legal regime the report author Professor Graeme Samuel blasted in 2020 as "ineffective", "outdated" and not fit for purpose.

But the overhaul of the EPBC Act has been delayed, as Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on Tuesday unveiled the government's second stage in the fix. She announced moves towards two statutory bodies - the Environment Protection Agency and the Environment Information Agency - as well as $100 million from the last budget update to speed up approval decisions on major projects.

Fines of up to $780 million or possibly seven years in jail were revealed as the maximum penalties for "extremely serious intentional" breaches of federal environment law.

"We're delivering stronger protections for the environment, including Australia's first ever independent national Environment Protection Agency," the minister said in a statement.

"We're also working to support faster, clearer decisions for business. That greater certainty for business will help drive investment in nation-building projects."

Under the EPBC Act, projects or developments such as mines, land clearing and forestry that might impact "animals, plants, habitats and places" of national significance require federal assessment and approval.

The changes were originally expected to be introduced into the Parliament before the end of 2023. They are now expected in the coming weeks.

There have been concerns from the WA Labor government and mining groups about the EPBC reboot.

Ms Plibersek said there had been widespread consultation over the laws, but the Opposition Leader said there had been too much secrecy.

"It's an anti-WA bill because it will act against the interests of WA. It's anti-mining. It's anti-development," Mr Dutton told reporters in Perth.

"And we already know that it takes about 16 years to get a mine approved which is just beyond ridiculous. The processes need to be condensed, not expanded out and this is essentially as it's been explained to me, this Nature Positive bill will be the death of mining."

Opposition environment spokesperson Jonno Duniam went further, saying all that was announced on Tuesday was a new bureaucracy with no new laws to administer.

The new bodies include a previously flagged independent watchdog, the Environment Protection Agency, which will have an EPA chief with powers similar to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, as well as the Environment Information Australia to release data and report on progress.

It is understood that courts could impose, for serious intentional breaches of federal environment law, fines of up to $780 million or send people to prison for up to seven years.

There is also nearly $100 million, earmarked in last October's Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, to speed up environmental approval decisions.

Senate and House crossbenchers, including Zali Steggall and Senator David Pocock, have accused the government of looking to stall on its promise to legislate the reforms and have written an open letter to Ms Plibersek requesting the full package of EPBC reforms.

Meantime, environmental groups such as Greenpeace, Lock the Gate, The Wilderness Society, WWF-Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, and the Australian Conservation Foundation all called for the government to go further.

"We are in the midst of an extinction crisis and our national nature law is in need of urgent, comprehensive reform," ACF's CEO Kelly O'Shanassy said in a statement.

"We call on the Albanese government to deliver the full package in this term of parliament.

Greens senator Sarah-Hanson Young said it was a "capitulation to polluters, the fossil fuel lobby and logging corporations."

"Caving into the miners, loggers and big polluters will only leave our environment vulnerable to further destruction. Today's announcement does nothing to save our koalas, native forests or the Great Barrier Reef," she said.

The government's environmental law fix has taken longer than expected as there has been, according to the minister, hundreds of hours of consultations with more than 100 groups and more than 2000 individuals.

"When I first announced the Nature Positive Plan, I said it would take a bit of cooperation, compromise and common sense to deliver. That's exactly how we're approaching the rollout," Ms Plibersek said.

Earlier a new report, commissioned by Lock the Gate Alliance and written by Professor Kim Rubenstein and Associate Professor Joel Townsend, was released, recommending giving groups and communities the right to challenge, on their merits, large projects approved under the EPBC Act.

Independent MP Kylea Tink told The Canberra Times there is "absolutely room" to challenge ministerial decisions in national environmental law change, but she has rejected it would merit reviews will lead to drawn-out "green lawfare" in the courts.

"The argument that lawfare is the thing we need to be concerned about is a red herring. It's being used as a way to try and discourage this course of action," Ms Tink said.

"Better quality decisions are made because those making the decisions are forced to consider them on a broader scale far earlier in the decision making process."