Overview

• Environment Minister Murray Watt will bring a reworked EPBC bill to parliament before it rises in late November, months earlier than first planned.
• The package will seek to legislate national environmental standards and create a federal environment protection agency in a single bill, with the agency’s final model still to be settled.
• The reforms aim to cut duplication and speed decisions on housing, renewable energy and resources projects, with a departmental strike team set to fast‑track more than 26,000 housing assessments.
• Watt says he has secured strong backing from business, environment and community representatives and has held more than 40 meetings and forums over the past three months.
• Passing the legislation will require support from either the Greens or the Coalition in the Senate, after a previous push collapsed over Western Australian opposition to a proposed climate trigger.