EIS loophole closed

CANBERRA -- The Democrats have gained government agreement to remove a loophole from the telecommunications legislation now before the Senate which would have exempted telecommunications companies from having to conduct environmental impact studies.

The government was “proposing to ride roughshod over federal environmental procedures in its haste to fast-track the introduction of a private competitor to Telecom”, said Democrat environment spokesperson Senator John Coulter.

Communications minister Kim Beazley has now agreed that the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 should continue to apply to the telecommunications industry.

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