Nah, me and Tanya are good, says PM after rolling his own Environment Minister

Anthony Albanese says his government is still intent on establishing a national environmental watchdog despite blatantly disregarding the work of his Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek.

But everything’s OK between them, he assures.

The Prime Minister overruled a deal Ms Plibersek had made with the Greens in the final days of Federal Parliament sitting for the year after he was pressured by the mining lobby and Labor’s WA Premier Roger Cook.

The logging industry had also expressed its displeasure over the prospect of new laws with more powers over the sector.

Ms Plibersek brokered a deal in writing with both Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and ACT independent Senator David Pocock last week to support her Nature Positive legislation, which seeks to create two new agencies to collect environmental data and to enforce compliance with national environmental laws.

But no sooner had Ms Plibersek informed the PM of the deal than Mr Albanese started getting calls.

Both the Prime Minister and the WA Premier are facing elections in the first half of next year – a point the mining lobby and forestry industry are happy to stress to both leaders.

So the PM, accompanied by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, met with Senator Hanson-Young and Greens leader Adam Bandt to tell them the deal was off.

That’s a Prime Minister’s prerogative, but to do so without informing Ms Plibersek, as has been reported, was a huge disrespect.

Now, many inside Labor ranks are unhappy, to say the least, about how Mr Albanese handled the situation.

“Poor form” was the term offered to Region on Monday (2 December) by a number inside government ranks.

But the PM denies Ms Plibersek was snubbed and that, in fact, there never was a deal between the Greens and the government.

“Well, that wasn’t a letter from me,” he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday (1 December).

“What we did was go through, and where there wasn’t agreement, they were set aside, and we progressed 45 different pieces of legislation … we were negotiating through a series of legislation. Forty-five pieces of legislation went through. Not everything did.

“But what we were assured, what we were certain about was that we wouldn’t make major changes. We wanted to stick to our values. We did that successfully. At the beginning of the week, no one was saying that we would pass 45 pieces of legislation … All ministers were informed … the whole way through.”

Mr Albanese said the government would still pursue the new environment laws at the right time and they won’t necessarily be subject to what the Greens want included.

“It’s our intention to proceed with them, but we’ll proceed with them on the basis of our values that we put forward,” the PM said.

He added: “We held the line on areas like housing. And they changed their mind, the Greens political party, and they went through unamended. We will hold to our values. We won’t allow any tail to wag the dog.”

In subsequent interviews, Mr Albanese has denied a feud between Ms Plibersek and himself.

For her part, the Environment Minister is largely staying quiet, only responding that results were “disappointing” and that there was some discussion with the PM and Senator Gallagher over the legislation.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has confirmed she believed a deal had been struck between the Greens and the government over the legislation.

“The Greens put a deal on the table, and the government has walked away,” she said.

“The Prime Minister has been bullied by the mining and logging lobby again.”

Senator Hanson-Young also criticised the Prime Minister’s move as disrespectful of Ms Plibersek.

“Gina Reinhart and the logging industry have more of a say than the Environment Minister,” she said.

Senator Pocock said Ms Plibersek was “really keen” to get the laws passed.

Premier Cook confirmed he had discussed the situation with the Prime Minister.