Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

The government rejects the amendment proposed by the Greens for a very simple reason: we support one-stop shops. We support the idea of simplification. We support the idea of maintaining standards whilst also reducing bureaucracy and delay. If we want to get the economy moving and protect the environment, the one-stop shop is the way. It was also the way proposed at the April 2012 COAG agreement by the then Labor government, which said, to quote the communique:

First Ministers reaffirmed COAG’s commitment to high environmental standards, while reducing duplication and double-handling of assessment and approval processes.

So this was the ALP's policy in government: to support the idea of a one-stop shop for both assessment and approval processes. We are bringing that into practice in government. We are making enormous progress. We do not accept this amendment. It does not help the environment. It does enormous damage to projects. We respectfully decline to support it.

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