Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

In continuation, projects will reflect the knowledge and connection to country of our First Nations peoples, utilising their skills and knowledge for nature-positive events in the future. I mentioned earlier the great work that's going on in my electorate at Botany Bay in a partnership between the University of New South Wales and the Gamay Rangers, the Indigenous rangers group, for seagrass restoration. That's a classic example of a nature-positive project in a partnership between the university and Indigenous rangers. These will operate side by side with the carbon market, with a shared regulator, and the market will encourage carbon farming projects that also deliver biodiversity developments.

The alignment will result in administrative efficiencies and, more importantly, a clear and accurate oversight of claims in both markets. Buyers can have faith in the market thanks to the integrity measures that the government is putting in place with this bill, such as an independent expert committee ensuring projects deliver high-quality, nature-positive outcomes. This approach will guarantee that biodiversity certificates reflect genuine environmental improvement. The regulator will enforce, monitor, report and provide notification requirements for project activities and environmental outcomes, and it will exercise its powers to ensure compliance with those rules.

We've also committed to restoring public accountability and trust through our nature-positive plan. The plan ensures transparency, with comprehensive project and certificate information available to the public. Regulator information updates will also come from the regulator, and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will actively release relevant data. We're also working hand in hand with the ACCC and ASIC to prevent the so-called greenwashing of certificates in the nature repair market. The statements about certificates should accurately reflect the projects and the investments that they represent. We value consultation and engagement as we navigate our environmental reform agenda. We're not just listening but actively incorporating feedback on the market's design and operation to ensure that integrity into the future.

We're engaging in a co-design approach, with First Nations Australians helping to develop priority methods and proper incorporation of traditional knowledge and management practices. That's a key feature of the seagrass restoration project that's occurring in Botany Bay. The scientists at UNSW have been sitting down and taking in the traditional knowledge and the cultural knowledge of those involved, with the Gamay Rangers and those that have the traditional knowledge because of their connection to country. Professor Adriana Verges, the UNSW scientist that's leading this project, spoke to me and outlined how in the past there had always been a scientific approach to projects such as this, but it ignored the cultural and historical connection that First Nations Australians have with the natural ecology around Australia. But this time they were taking a different approach and listening to and consulting with First Nations Australians from the La Perouse Aboriginal community about their cultural knowledge and traditional practices, and how important that is for ecology as well.

This bill will mandate public consultation on methods and the instrument for measuring and assessing biodiversity. The proposed legislation establishes the Nature Repair Market Committee to advise the minister following that public consultation. The committee will include five to six experts with extensive experience and standing in areas like agriculture, science, environmental markets, land management, economics or Indigenous knowledge. The Nature Positive Plan outlines a fresh approach to biodiversity offsets, and we will legislate to make offsets the last resort. The government is also designing and consulting on a new national standard for matters of national environmental significance and environmental offsets, and the standards will provide certainty in the use of biodiversity offsets under Commonwealth laws, focusing on the protection and restoration of ecosystems. Projects under the nature repair scheme won't be used as offsets unless they meet new standards. The nature repair market will provide a supply of projects certified through purpose designed offset methods. The register will provide comprehensive public information on these projects and the biodiversity that they are protecting.

The bill will create a new market for investing in nature-positive outcomes. It will support Australia's international commitments to protect and repair ecosystems and reverse species decline and extinction. Unfortunately, Australia has the unenviable record of the largest rate of mammal extinctions in the world, and that is something that this government is deeply keen to arrest and to change. We're striving to protect and improve that rate and that record, and in doing so protect not only endangered species but all species for the future as well. We're dedicated to striving to improve our natural environment for future generations.

The government is simplifying the investment process for businesses, organisations and individuals that are interested in conservation projects across the country. We're backing those landholders that know conservation and ecology best, farmers and, of course, First Nations communities, with specific environmental projects such as the replanting of crucial koala habitats, the restoration of damaged riverbeds, the removal of invasive species and projects such as the one that I mentioned in my electorate—the seagrass restoration project in Botany Bay. By establishing an integral and transparent nature repair market, we will ensure that businesses and philanthropists can confidently invest in nature into the future. They will have the ability to purchase quality, well-regulated nature repair certificates and ensure that their investments in protection and restoration yield significant yet lasting environmental benefits. I commend this bill to the House.

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