WA Labor MP Chris Tallentire has launched an extraordinary attack on his own government’s report and Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media, accusing the state’s only daily newspaper of waging a campaign to derail environmental protection efforts.

Tallentire, who was environment spokesman when Labor was in opposition, used the cover of parliamentary privilege on Wednesday to lay bare concerns about the report underpinning the state’s Environmental Protection Amendment Bill.

Tallentire said recommendations from the Vogel–McFerran review to streamline environmental approvals were akin to “a wishlist” industry groups had sought for years and claimed the report contained “very serious” inconsistencies.

Tallentire, who has been Member for Gosnells for 16 years, questioned a proposal to strip third parties of the right to appeal EPA decisions not to assess projects, and challenged the competency of the environmental watchdog’s staff.

He also raised concerns about changes that would enable the environment minister to give weight to the economic and social implications of a project (as well as environmental implications) and rubbished claims the appeals process had been hijacked by “green activists”.

But the former environmental consultant was also scathing of coverage of the federal government’s “nature positive” laws, which have been pulled from Thursday’s senate notice paper over concerns levelled by the business community about their so-called “climate trigger”.

Tallentire singled out Seven West Media, owner of The West Australian.

Although claiming he had “never heard” of the ASX-listed company’s national masthead The Nightly, backed by mining magnates Gina Rinehart and Chris Ellison, he said its coverage had been referenced at an environmental conference in Canberra hosted by “the architect” of the new laws.

And Tallentire accused the media giant of joining the effort to counter environmental protection laws at both a state and federal level.