Anthony Albanese is still pretending that the only reason there isn’t an environmental protection agency is that he doesn’t have the numbers in the senate and not that he would not allow negotiate with the crossbench in the senate because it might have actually made it stronger:

Well, we won’t be legislating the same model, point one. What we’ll be doing is attempting to legislate an EPA. We have 25 votes out of 76. I’m yet to see a list published, including by The Guardian, that shows a majority 50% plus one of the voting for any of the legislation that’s put forward. That’s just a fact. We took the recommendations from the Samuel review – importantly, a review initiated by the coalition, not by us – initiated because the EPBC Act is out of date.

We know that that is the case. What we will do if we are elected is sit down. And I had a discussion with Rebecca from the WA Chamber just last week, just last week. There is industry and environmental groups who both recognise that it’s not fit for purpose. What we’ll do is work it through, we’ll consult widely, make sure that we get it right, and that is what we will legislate. Something that provides certainty for industry and the way that processes occur – but also provides for sustainability. That’s what we’re after.