Labor optimistic of nature laws deal with Greens as summer break nears
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Labor is growing optimistic it can land a deal with the Greens to rush through its signature environment protection laws before parliament suspends for the summer break.
The government is desperate to pass legislation to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in the final two sitting days of the year, finally delivering on Graeme Samuel’s blueprint to fix the nation’s broken nature laws.
The bill was not listed on the draft program for Wednesday but Guardian Australia understands it will be quickly added to the run-sheet as soon as Labor is confident it has the numbers to ram the 1,500-page bill through the upper house.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, is genuinely open to a deal with either the Coalition or the Greens and has offered a raft of concessions to both in the hope of winning the support of either side.
As we reported yesterday, those concessions failed to woo either side.
Key events
Cait Kelly
Catastrophic fire warning in NSW
A catastrophic fire warning has been issued in NSW, the first in two years, as a total fire ban is placed across Sydney and large swaths of the state.
In a statement, the NSW rural fire service said the catastrophic fire danger is forecast for the lower central west plains district on Wednesday, due to forecast high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds, making conditions dangerous:
Catastrophic is the highest level of bush fire danger and the most dangerous conditions for a fire. Your life may depend on the decisions you make, even before there is a fire.
The fire service said the safest course of action was to leave the fire risk area.
Stay out of paddocks and bushland areas during the hottest parts of the day.
Homes cannot withstand fires in these conditions. You may not be able to leave and help may not be available.
Extreme fire warnings are also in place for Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney, Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Central Ranges, North Western, Upper Central West Plains, Southern Slopes, Eastern Riverina, Southern Riverina, Northern Riverina.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Guardian Australia understands that as of Tuesday night, the government was closer to striking an agreement with the Greens than it was with the Coalition after the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, described Labor’s offer as “totally insufficient”.
The Greens were not satisfied with their offer either, which included changes to prevent the fast-tracking of coal and gas projects, but remain in active negotiations with Labor.
Watt has signalled he is prepared to shorten the proposed three-year timeframe to subject native forest logging to national environment standards, giving further ground on one of its initial concessions to the Greens.
If Labor does land a deal with the Greens, it would mark a dramatic turnaround from 12 months ago when Anthony Albanese intervened to spike an EPBC deal with the minor party amid pressure from miners and the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook.
Labor optimistic of nature laws deal with Greens as summer break nears
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Labor is growing optimistic it can land a deal with the Greens to rush through its signature environment protection laws before parliament suspends for the summer break.
The government is desperate to pass legislation to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in the final two sitting days of the year, finally delivering on Graeme Samuel’s blueprint to fix the nation’s broken nature laws.
The bill was not listed on the draft program for Wednesday but Guardian Australia understands it will be quickly added to the run-sheet as soon as Labor is confident it has the numbers to ram the 1,500-page bill through the upper house.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, is genuinely open to a deal with either the Coalition or the Greens and has offered a raft of concessions to both in the hope of winning the support of either side.
As we reported yesterday, those concessions failed to woo either side.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
Stand by for a frenetic last two days of parliament, with Labor believing it will be able to make a deal with the Greens to rush through its signature environment protection laws before the summer break. Details coming up.
And outside of politics this morning, New South Wales has woken to its first catastrophic fire warning for two years with high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds putting the lower central west plains district – covering eight local governments areas across the state’s central western river area – on alert.
A total fire ban has also been placed across Sydney and large swathes of the state.
More coming up.
