Australia politics live: NDIS a ‘trainwreck’, one of scheme’s architects warns; Watt ‘prepared to compromise’ on nature bill

8.59pm GMT Government in a “rush to fail” on environment laws, says shadow minister Sitting in the RN Brekky hot seat following Murray Watt, is shadow environment minister, Angie Bell, who says she’s not “in a rush” to pass the EPBC bills. Bell says that the ball is in the government’s court. We’re certainly not in a rush to fail, Sally, and we’ve heard three days of inquiry where all of the stakeholders have agreed that the bills are unworkable the way they are. What I will say is that that the ball is firmly in the minister’s court. I have put forward those red lines, if you like, or those substantive issues that the coalition has with this set of bills, and it’s up to him now to come back to us with the amendments. Host Sally Sara, challenges Bell on whether the opposition has been “distracted” as Watt has put it, by the Coalition’s own internal political turmoil. The shadow environment minister bats it away and calls it “rhetoric”. I’ve been solely focused on the EPBC reforms. There’s a 1,500-page package that I’ve read and I’ve been working absolutely 100% in lockstep with the Leader of the Opposition’s office and others to make sure that we understand what the ramifications are here. I’ve been meeting with stakeholders. So, certainly, we are 100% focused on EPBC reform. 8.51pm GMT What about some of the other sticking points? Labor has been adamant from day one that it won’t establish a “climate trigger” which the Greens have been consistently calling for. But Watt says he is prepared to remove fossil fuel projects from the national interest approval. I recognise that’s a big ask from the Greens. But you will have seen over the weekend that we said that we are prepared to remove fossil fuel projects from the national interest approval mechanism that is included in the bill … that’s a bit of a nod towards the concerns around climate change and fossil fuels. Related: Labor to rule out controversial ‘national interest’ exemption for coal and gas if Greens back nature laws Over on the other side, the Coalition has said it wants penalties for breaches of the legislation scaled back. Watt says the penalties and maximum penalties are comparable with the US and UK. One area where there probably is some room to move is for the bill to make it a little bit clearer about what kind of circumstances would attract the maximum penalties. So we’re having a bit of a look at what could be done there. I don’t think that anyone would expect that a minor breach of the law would result in an $850m fine, which is the maximum. Updated at 8.57pm GMT 8.45pm GMT Watt ‘prepared to compromise’ to pass environment laws this week Continuing his media rounds this morning, Murray Watt says he’s feeling confident that a deal is “very close” with either the Coalition or the Greens. He tells ABC’s Radio National Breakfast the number of issues each side is seeking change on is “smaller than it was this time last week”, and that there’s more room to move. I’m in under no doubt that we will pass these laws this week. It’s really a matter of whether it’s with the Coalition or the Greens. I’ve always said that I’m a realist. I am a senator, I work in the Senate, I understand that you’ve got to make changes to bills to get them through … I am prepared to compromise a little bit more on either side to get this through as long as we don’t get rid of those core principles. Asked more specifically about some of the Greens demands, like ending native forest logging, Watt says even under the new act, which would remove an exemption for native forest logging, the logging could still continue. We’re not going to be ending native forestry altogether and we’re not going to be getting rid of regional forest agreements under which native forestry occurs, but we are open to increasing the environmental standards expected of native forestry, and that’s one of the things that Graeme Samuel recommended. Updated at 8.58pm GMT 8.39pm GMT Not-for-profit providers leaving ‘train wreck’ NDIS, warns industry expert Not-for-profit NDIS providers are leaving the system, says Dr Martin Laverty, who helped design the national disability insurance scheme and now runs registered provider Aruma. Speaking to ABC’s AM program a little earlier, Laverty said the situation in the NDIS is a “train wreck”, with not-for-profits now in their fifth year of consecutive losses. Laverty says a key issue is the pricing that the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) sets. Over the five years that have just concluded, registered not-for-profits have suffered 12% losses. That’s unsustainable. And what we’re now seeing is a number of not-for-profit organisations have chosen to exit. Others are on the precipice and the National Disability Insurance Agency has put the government in a really awkward position. The reason for these losses is price. The NDIA is running a flawed pricing system. It’s a train wreck. This, for those of us who were involved in setting up the scheme are horrified with what’s happening. Updated at 8.46pm GMT 8.22pm GMT Abandoning net zero is “economic insanity” Chalmers claims The Coalition’s plan to dump its net zero emissions policy would “decimate investor confidence” in Australia for clean energy projects, claims the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, warning about risks to investment in critical minerals projects. Chalmers is this morning talking up the economic benefits of Labor’s plans for the energy transition, pointing to billions in investment into critical minerals projects. He claimed that the Coalition’s pledge to drop a net zero target, and unwind the government’s production tax incentives, would put those projects at risk. What the Coalition is proposing would decimate investor confidence around Australia and risk billions of dollars of investment. Abandoning net zero would swing a wrecking ball through the energy market, through investor certainty and put billions of dollars of critical minerals projects at risk. He called the net zero transformation “a golden economic opportunity for Australia”. Abandoning net zero is economic insanity that would mean less investment, higher energy prices and fewer jobs. Updated at 8.35pm GMT 8.20pm GMT Environment deal “getting closer”, Watt says The environment minister, Murray Watt, has one big task this fortnight – to pass the environment protection and biodiversity conservation (EPBC) bills with the support of either the Coalition or the Greens. Unsurprisingly, Watt says, both parties want quite different concessions from the government. He tells ABC News Breakfast this morning he spoke to representatives from both parties over the weekend and they’ll continue negotiating today. The Coalition want more changes to support business. The Greens want more changes made to support the environment. You will remember what I’ve always said through this process is that we need to have a balanced package that delivers wins for both the environment and for business. It’s not one or the other … I suspect that we’ll end up going with whichever of those two parties is more prepared to come closer to the package that we’ve already passed through the House of Representatives. Updated at 8.28pm GMT 8.16pm GMT BoM facing increased heat as $96m website upgrade cost revealed The pile-on continues on the Bureau of Meteorology for their controversial website redesign, which we now understand has cost $96m. Over on Sunrise this morning, Labor cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce both say it’s not a great look for the bureau. The figure is a whole lot more than the $4m originally estimated. Plibersek, in defence of her government, says the website rebuild started under a former BoM CEO back in 2019. When we came to government there was a rebranding exercise going on where the asking people to call it the Bureau instead of the BoM. I said at the time we needed to focus on the weather and not rebranding. There were some upgrades necessary, the security systems on the computers of the Bureau of Meteorology were very prone to hacking. The government was told that. Plibersek is pushed on when the cabinet knew how much it would cost, and whether it approved that figure – the now social services minister says she suspects there was “overrun” in the spending on the project, but that the work started before the Albanese government took office, and it was necessary to improve cybersecurity. Updated at 8.36pm GMT 8.12pm GMT Good morning Krishani Dhanji here with you for the final parliamentary sitting week of the year, and boy is it going to get busy. The environment protection and biodiversity conservation bills are up for debate in the Senate, with Murray Watt hopeful he can negotiate an agreement with either the Greens or the Coalition by the end of the week. It’s like the Bachelor … except serious, and with lots of real-life consequences. Also likely to keep the drama going is the instability in the Liberal party – following leadership spills in both the Victorian and NSW parties last week. New polling in the Australian isn’t helping their case. And everyone’s on the bandwagon criticising the new Bureau of Meteorology website – particularly now that it’s been revealed that the total price tag was nearly $100m. Stay with us.