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Former Labor minister Ed Husic has broken ranks with the government to warn that its environmental reform could create sweeping powers open to abuse by future Coalition governments, as Environment Minister Murray Watt prepares to introduce the laws on Thursday. Husic, now on the backbench after he was dumped from the industry portfolio in May by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, raised concerns about reforms to expand so-called national interest powers to approve major projects and override environmental checks. “We’re going to give them the power to override environmental laws in what is called the national interest,” Husic told ABC News’s Afternoon Briefing. “That’s a really consequential power.” “One scenario could be, for instance, the AUKUS arrangements require us to open up a new uranium mine. If it doesn’t meet the test, do we say on the basis of strategic national interest, we’ll let the mine go ahead, even if it’s assessed as having unacceptable impact?”
