Coalition Poised to Block Environmental Reform as Critical Minerals Deal Hangs in Balance
Ley, McDonald slam government transparency as industry warns reforms will drive investment overseas
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The Coalition escalated its threat Thursday to block the government’s landmark environment law reforms, revealing mining projects now take an average 16 years from discovery to production and warning the proposed legislation will make Australia even less competitive.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Shadow Resources Minister Susan McDonald launched coordinated attacks on the reforms, calling them a “handbrake on projects” that will gift investment to overseas competitors despite government claims the laws will speed approvals.
“Right now, it is on average 16 years from discovery of an ore body through to first ore,” McDonald told Sky News. “That’s unacceptable in a world where we’re saying that this is an urgent priority.”
The 16-year timeline represents a critical benchmark in the debate over Australia’s ability to capitalize on global demand for critical minerals, particularly following this week’s minerals deal with the United States.
Ley told reporters on the Gold Coast the government’s approach represents “a handbrake on projects” and “a red light to jobs.”
“It’s a gift to our overseas competitors who are attracting this investment elsewhere,” Ley said. “Quite clearly, right now, they are continuing to be beholden to green groups.”
McDonald clarified the Coalition’s position is not outright rejection but demands substantial changes to win opposition support.
“It is not a flat no,” McDonald said. “We would absolutely need to see changes. And you’re right, it is a complicated bill.”
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She said industry feedback shows the laws will achieve the opposite of their stated goal.
“Industry feedback is pretty damning that not only will this not speed up approval processes for critical minerals that are so important given the agreement that’s just been signed with the US, but in fact, it will go the other way,” McDonald said. “It will make it harder and more risky to invest in Australian projects.”
The shadow minister questioned whether government ministers are receiving the same briefings as industry stakeholders.
“I just wonder if the briefings that they’re receiving are the sort of briefings that industry is receiving, because they seem to be 1,000 miles apart,” McDonald said.
She said industry reports the legislation will create a more complicated, risky process with less natural justice, making it harder to advance mining projects despite Australia maintaining some of the world’s highest environmental standards.
“We are reaching a point where we will not have to be approving new projects because there just won’t be an appetite to go through this incredibly complicated, repetitive and onerous process,” McDonald said.
A central Coalition concern involves ministerial stop work orders included in the draft legislation, which McDonald said lack clear parameters and appeal rights.
“There isn’t real clarity around exactly what that does mean,” McDonald said. “There’s no timeline, which means that, you know, is the government going to go back and put in place a stop work over an issue that happened under a different tenure holder maybe 10 years ago? That’s uncertain.”
She said the orders appear to violate principles of natural justice.
“There is no right of appeal, as I understand, to the stop work orders,” McDonald said. “That certainly doesn’t seem like good natural justice.”
When pressed on whether stop work powers make sense given recent environmental law breaches, McDonald repeatedly deflected to transparency concerns rather than addressing the principle.
“Why is it that we are constantly being asked to vote on legislation that we haven’t seen in its entirety?” McDonald said. “We don’t give key stakeholders the ability to spend time looking at it to get it right.”
She criticized the government’s information release strategy.
“This is a hallmark of the Albanese Labor government to only provide little snippets, different snippets to different parts of the community, ask some people to sign non-disclosure agreements,” McDonald said. “There is no transparency at all when it comes to important legislation like this.”
McDonald said comprehensive transparency would allow stakeholders to identify problems and improve the legislation in Australia’s best interests.
“If the government was serious about wanting to progress this legislation and better outcomes, they would be transparent,” McDonald said. “They would put the legislation out. They would allow industry, the opposition, and anybody else who was interested to crawl all over it to point out the pitfalls.”
She emphasized the need for timelines around approval processes.
“I mean, I wonder if the Minister has anything in his head about how long this should take,” McDonald said, referencing the current 16-year average.
McDonald warned companies will invest in jurisdictions offering greater certainty.
“Companies will go and invest in the places where they have some certainty about approval processes, and I fear that it won’t be Australia,” McDonald said.
Ley revealed she previously proposed a “single touch approval system” to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that would eliminate duplicative federal and state assessments, but Labor rejected the plan.
“I want good policy and the proposal that I took to Anthony Albanese was a sensible one,” Ley said. “Labor walked away from it.”
She said the rejected proposal would have removed “reams and reams of red tape over regulation and bureaucracy by not repeating assessments at federal level, at state level.”
“They decided that they were not going to support the very sensible reforms, which included the work that Graeme Samuel did when I presented it to them when we were in government,” Ley said.
The opposition leader described the current government package as unreasonable.
“What they have put forward is completely unreasonable,” Ley said. “It ties bureaucratic tape around every single process.”
Ley expressed particular concern about an independent Environment Protection Agency that appears unaccountable to government or ministers.
“It doesn’t answer critical questions about an independent Environment Protection Agency, not accountable to government or a minister, it would seem, that can step in and take control of projects and make their own decisions at arm’s length from a minister,” Ley said.
She said the legislation fails to provide project proponents with necessary confidence.
“It doesn’t give proponents of projects the confidence they need to be able to go ahead,” Ley said.
The opposition leader emphasized the Coalition will prioritize economic interests while reviewing the package.
“We will have front and centre the vital interests of our economy, our productivity, our prosperity as a nation,” Ley said. “And this government has not got that right.”
Ley connected environment law concerns to the recent critical minerals deal with the United States, arguing swift approval processes are essential for the agreement’s success.
“We see the Critical Minerals deal that was signed with the United States but vital to that is an approvals process that backs in not just that project but every other project that similarly brings investment and jobs and a value added future,” Ley said. “That’s vital to our national interest and our prosperity.”
The opposition leader also used her Gold Coast appearance to attack the government over CFMEU corruption allegations, claiming the prime minister failed to follow through on promises to crack down on union misconduct.
“We all remember over a year ago when the Prime Minister said that he was going to get tough with the CFMEU, that he was going to get tough with a union that had run rampant on building sites with corruption, bullying and bad behaviour,” Ley said.
She said allegations against someone appointed to address corruption demonstrate systemic failure.
“Anthony Albanese is clearly not doing his job when we see that somebody who was put in place to address this corruption is the subject of allegations for taking bribes,” Ley said. “So under Anthony Albanese’s workplace arrangements, corruption is walking through the front door.”
Ley called out mistreatment of women on building sites.
“At the time, I particularly called out bad behaviour to women on building sites,” Ley said. “I don’t want to repeat those horrible stories, but they are writ large in my memory.”
She demanded swift action to address continuing corruption that adds costs to building projects.
“This needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed quickly in the interests of the people who work incredibly hard on our building sites every day and the cost that is being added to every building project because of corruption that is clearly still present within the CFMEU and its successors,” Ley said.
On tax reform, Ley attacked the government for lacking interest in reducing tax burdens on ordinary Australians, citing Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ abandoned unrealized gains proposal.
“Jim Chalmers stood up day after day, week after week and said his unrealised gains proposal was the way to go,” Ley said. “Nothing would get in its way and he made that argument even though we said every single day it offends every principle of the taxation system in this country.”
She said the government’s retreat on the proposal demonstrates public rejection of the tax plan.
“So they’re walking back from it as they should and we’ll watch them very closely because we know that Australians deserve the personal income tax reduction plan that we will put forward at the next election,” Ley said.
When asked about women’s safety in the Australian Defence Force, Ley broadened her response to encompass all workplaces.
“I’m concerned about the safety of women in every workplace,” Ley said. “Every workplace should dedicate resources, effort and a system of reporting that allows women to confidently express circumstances where they do not feel safe.”
On childcare policy, Ley drew on personal experience to connect with working mothers struggling under cost of living pressures.
“When you bundle the children into the car, where you rush to the childcare centre, where maybe a place isn’t available, you have to pick one of them up,” Ley said. “Then you do the commute to work. Then somebody calls you to pick up one of the children because they’re not well, and you feel that you can’t manage the family, you can’t manage the workplace, and you can’t manage every single day.”
She said the Coalition hears these concerns constantly from women and emphasized Liberal values of flexibility and choice.
“As Liberals, we believe in freedom, flexibility and choice,” Ley said. “In terms of the dedicated policy committees that I’ve set up across the Coalition, there are terrific proposals like this one that those committees and my colleagues will consider.”
McDonald said the Coalition wants better outcomes for Australia’s prosperity through improved processes for getting critical minerals and base metals projects approved.
“I would say to the government, we are all on the same page that we need to be getting doing better for Australia, for Australia’s future prosperity, in getting critical minerals and base metals projects out of the ground,” McDonald said.
She said the Coalition supports maintaining Australia’s high environmental standards while ensuring projects can proceed.
“We have some of the highest standards in the world. We should be proud of those,” McDonald said. “But I just think that this legislation, as it stands, the minister is surprised.”
McDonald said everyone wants good environmental outcomes but the legislation must provide balance for mining projects that employ Australians, pay taxes and provide minerals that make the world more modern.
“I think that we all want to see good outcomes for the environment, absolutely, but we also want to make sure that there is balance, that mining projects have clarity and certainty because they’re the ones who employ so many Australians, pay so much in taxes and allow us to access the sort of prosperity and minerals that make the world a smarter, more modern place,” McDonald said.
The coordinated Coalition attacks place the government’s signature environmental reform in jeopardy ahead of an election due by May 2025. With the Coalition threatening to block the laws and the Greens demanding stronger environmental protections, the government faces the prospect of securing support from neither crossbench bloc needed to pass legislation through the Senate.
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