Senior Liberal MPs are optimistic a deal can be reached with Labor on a watered-down version of its new nature laws, allowing them to be passed in parliament’s final sitting week of the year.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, is open to a deal with the Coalition that would require a raft of concessions, including revising a new provision designed to block projects that cause an “unacceptable impact” on the environment.

The deal would mean no new protection for native forests or extra measures related to climate, which the Greens are pushing for in their negotiations with Watt.

The Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said environment protection laws agreed between Labor and the Coalition would have no credibility.

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