For Newman on the environment, read Abbott

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman's call to abandon federal laws to protect the environment is a clear sign that Tony Abbott will dismantle the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act if he were to win the 2013 election, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"Newman says the Gillard government is influenced by me on the environment. But you can read his own words as Tony Abbott's future action," Senator Brown said in Canberra.

"We are rapidly going back to the days of Joh Bjelke-Petersen's plan for oil rigs on the Great Barrier Reef - environmentally sensitively, of course.

"I call on Tony Abbott to repudiate the Newman plan. He has been tellingly silent so far," Senator Brown said.