Anthony Albanese is yet to land a deal to rewrite federal nature laws ahead of parliament’s final sitting day of the year, leaving the long-promised reforms at risk of collapse for the second time in 12 months.
But political, industry and environment movement sources expect the Greens will eventually accept an 11th-hour compromise after Labor offered new concessions to secure the minor party’s support.
The government was locked in tense negotiations with the Greens and the Coalition on Wednesday as it raced to meet a self-imposed deadline of overhauling the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act before parliament breaks for summer.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has become involved in negotiations, speaking directly with his Greens counterpart Larissa Waters in a bid to resolve the standoff.
Albanese’s active role in party-to-party talks on legislation is typically a sign that negotiations have reached the pointy end.
Government sources confirmed there was no deal as of Wednesday night.
The prime minister was yet to hold leader-to-leader talks with Sussan Ley as of Wednesday night, although the environment minister, Murray Watt, did speak again with his Liberal counterpart, Angie Bell.
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Watt’s meeting with Bell showed the government remained open to a potential deal with the Coalition, although that option was considered less likely after Ley criticised Labor’s offer to them as “totally insufficient”.
Guardian Australia understands the opposition requested additional business-friendly changes on Wednesday, further complicating the prospects of a last-minute deal between the major parties.
After an initial package of concessions, including measures to effectively prevent the fast-tracking of coal and gas projects, failed to sway the Greens, the government offered further changes to the minor party on Wednesday.
Guardian Australia has not seen the revised offer and neither the Greens or the government would confirm details of the updated proposal.
The Greens party room met on Wednesday to consider a position.
Inspired by Graeme Samuel’s 2020 review of the EPBC Act, the bill promises to better protect nature through new environmental standards while also speeding up project assessments.
It will also establish a new environmental protection agency – a Labor election promise at the past two federal ballots.
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The bill has faced intense criticism from all sides. Environmentalists warn it won’t properly tackle the extinction crisis while industry fears that certain features, in particular a proposed new “unacceptable impact”, could knock out projects.
If Labor can’t secure a deal on Thursday, it would mark the second time in 12 months that planned reforms to the EPBC Act have been pushed off the agenda.
In the last term of parliament, the former environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, proposed a staged approach to reforms and introduced legislation to establish an environment protection agency.
But when Plibersek was on the cusp of a deal with the Greens and independent senator David Pocock, the bill was vetoed by the prime minister after pressure from the Western Australian government and mining sector.
Albanese decided against resurrecting the bill ahead of the federal election in May, delaying the reform task until after he was returned to power.
In an email to supporters on Wednesday, the Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) – which has campaigned for years to fix the EPBC Act – said it preferred the government teamed up with the Greens.
“The Greens offer includes most of LEAN’s key asks, and we are hopeful this will be the path forward. The Coalition offer, while clearly inferior, does not catastrophically weaken the Labor bills,” the email, seen by Guardian Australia, said.
“We remain positive, though understandably nervous, and we know many of you feel the same.”
