Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I think Senator Macdonald has hit the nub of it. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act ensures that there are those protections. That is why the EPBC Act has overwhelmingly been seen as the general and right approach. As a result, it has superseded a lot of the other specific provisions in particular pieces of legislation that were either done at the time for a particular reason or simply for political reasons later on when there was no actual need for it. Will standards be maintained? Absolutely. Will costs be reduced? Absolutely. Will that enhance job creation in Australia? Absolutely. That is our motivation: job creation without prejudicing environmental standards.

In relation to the matter that Senator Waters raised, can I indicate—I forget the language she used—'passing responsibility for certain matters to state governments' is something that should occur in a cooperative federalist country like Australia. We are a federal system, and what we have had regrettably—and I think both sides of politics have been responsible for this—is one or the other trying to legislate and then gazumping each other. As a result, ever developer—every development—has to go through a two-stage process, where you get state approvals and federal approvals.

We said at the last election—and we went to the election on this—that we believe one-stop shops are the way to go. This would mean there was not confusion; there was not overlap; state bureaucrats would not be tripping over federal bureaucrats with potentially conflicting or different regulations; that they would be clarifying and making transparent the approval processes.

Are we passing to the state governments? Yes, we are; but what is our motivation in doing so? We want the Australian economy to grow at a greater rate than she is at the moment, at a rate that will ensure there will be genuine jobs growth. We want the economy to grow so that school leavers at the end of this year will be able to look forward to a future of gaining a job, becoming self-sufficient and self-reliant—that is our motivation—whilst ensuring that environmental standards are protected.