MP says she’s prepared to fight for her portfolio – and a priority will be cutting ‘green tape’ for big projects

The new environment minister, Sussan Ley, has declared herself an “environmentalist”, saying she is prepared to fight for the environment around the cabinet table even when colleagues disagree with her.

Ley, who welcomed the Queensland government’s decision on Thursday to give the green light to the Adani coalmine, told Guardian Australia she wanted to see more action on recycling, threatened species and biodiversity protection, and a greater focus on individual action to achieve a better environment.

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But in the lead-up to a 10-yearly review of the country’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Ley has also flagged that she wants approval times for major projects cut, has left the door open to lifting the country’s ban on nuclear power, and has questioned whether land clearing is responsible for species loss.

The former health minister, who was returned to cabinet by Scott Morrison after she quit over an expenses scandal in 2017, said she saw the role as an advocacy position.

“If I was the minister for women I would say that I am a feminist, and as the minister for the environment I would certainly say that I am the minister for the environment, so my role in discussions that I have with my colleagues is for the environment,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean that I will always disagree [with them], but the best public policy is made with competing views at the table, and I look forward to promoting the view of the environment at that table.”

Ley welcomed the review of the EPBC Act, due in the second half of this year, saying the country’s current environmental laws were “unnecessarily arduous, complex and not productive”.

“I don’t think it matters whether you are on the side promoting your development or preserving conservation, all would agree that the process under EPBC is unnecessarily tied up with green tape and unnecessarily lengthy,” she said.

To be honest, I am not strongly for or against nuclear power

“Let’s not take the integrity out of a genuine environmental assessment, that is important for everyone involved in a development process, but let’s take out unnecessary paperwork, unnecessary submissions, lengthy delays, court action that is at the moment … done on process but not on merit.”

She said the current framework saw both parties line up for “years” of legal action, and “every decision is challenged”.

“Both would agree that getting to the end result as efficiently and effectively as possible without compromising the integrity of a decision that genuinely takes the environment into account is where I would like to see it go,” she said.

Along with the approvals process, a clutch of Coalition MPs have indicated they will use the EPBC Act review to have Australia’s nuclear ban removed, a push that is being backed by the Minerals Council of Australia and industry groups.

Ley said the question of nuclear power in Australia was one “where you have to listen to all of the voices” but said she was open to the review considering a removal of the ban.

“To be honest, I am not strongly for or against nuclear power. I think there are good arguments for it, and there are good arguments against it.

“From the perspective of the environment it is important that it is considered, so I am not going to lead that discussion at any point of the review process. Plenty of other people will.”

Ley also made clear her views on the threat to biodiversity after a UN report warned that a million species across the world faced extinction. The minister said she was “concerned” about the problem, but questioned whether land clearing was to blame.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has estimated that there has been a loss of more than 7.4m hectares of threatened species habitat since the EPBC Act was introduced in 1999, with Australia singled out for its high rates of deforestation.

“Biodiversity and … our level of loss of species is of great concern to me,” she said.

“I really believe that the biggest threat to our threatened species is probably feral cats. Loss of habitat isn’t just land clearing, if it is land clearing at all, loss of habitat is often the wrong type of vegetation and that is often introduced weeds.

“If you go to any national park in Australia that is run by the states, you will see areas of significant incursions of introduced plants, so if the animal doesn’t have the right vegetation, it is the biggest threat to its survival.”

Ley pointed to a $100m environmental restoration fund that was aimed at protecting threatened species but said she wanted to see “everyone and every community on the case”.

“Sometimes people can feel that the environmental challenges are so huge that there is nothing they can do, that is one of the reasons why I do want my approach to the portfolio to be about what you can do, whether it be reducing plastic waste, whether it be about joining a local volunteer group, whether it be about agitating for better weeds and pest management in national parks that are near you, where you live – these are practical things that people can do and they do make a difference.”

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On climate change, Ley said she was “interested” in the emissions reduction task of government which is included with the energy portfolio, under Angus Taylor, rather than environment, and said she believed the Coalition’s climate solutions fund is “where we need to be”.

“I am not going to discuss the emissions policy, that is Angus Taylor’s to discuss,” she said. “It is about reducing emissions and it is about our Paris targets and it is about meeting those Paris targets and it is about recognising the importance of addressing the warming of the planet.”

But Ley did flag a particular interest in the water portfolio, which is under the purview of the National party’s David Littleproud and which was a controversial issue in her regional electorate of Farrer.

Having argued during the campaign for the compliance and operational parts of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to be split, Ley also said she would use her new role to push for changes being demanded by irrigators.

“It is very important for farmers that … it be demonstrated that environmental water is being used for environmental benefit, because farmers have to account for every single drop of irrigation,” she said.

Ley said she would advocate for the importance of environmental water but believed changes to how the basin plan was managed were needed.

“I am not going to rule out advocating for changes in the way that water is managed because, as I have often said, if a piece of public policy is tolerated at best and hated at worst in the area where it plays out … it is a message to all of us that perhaps we need to work harder on that balance between environmental water and agriculture.”