Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in strong support of the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023. It is an important bill that enables the protection and restoration of our valuable natural assets. Through this bill, the Albanese Labor government will make it easier for people to invest in activities that help repair nature. It is crucial that we take these measures to ensure that we leave nature in a better condition for our future generations. We are a government that values and protects our environment. I am a nature lover, like many in this place and like many people in my electorate of Pearce in Western Australia. There is nothing better for our health and our souls than being surrounded by natural landscapes. It is calming and rejuvenating. As an ambassador for the WA Parks Foundation, I promote and raise awareness of our natural environments, particularly our national parks. Pearce has many beautiful bushland areas and more than 30 kilometres of stunning coastline. We have the beautiful Yanchep National Park and the Yellagonga Regional Park, and many others that I know are highly valued by our large and fast-growing community. The Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 has many merits. It is a framework to support landholders in their efforts to protect and restore nature. The bill will help support landholders, including farmers and First Nations communities, to do things such as plant native species and repair damaged riverbeds. Establishing the nature repair market will also support landholders to remove invasive species, which are a real problem in some of our natural areas. The nature repair market is part of the Albanese Labor government's delivery of the Nature Positive Plan, and, through this, we make it easier for businesses and philanthropists to invest in these areas. The nature repair market will make it simpler for individuals, businesses, organisations and governments to invest in projects that protect and repair nature.

The Albanese Labor government has made a commitment to protect 30 per cent of Australia's land and seas by 2030. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity has adopted the same goals across the world. These targets of protecting 30 per cent reinforce the findings of the 2021 State of the environment report—a report that speaks of environmental degradation, loss and inaction. We absolutely need significant investment in conservation and restoration for a nature-positive future. Professor Graeme Samuel AC reviewed the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. His findings highlighted the need for investment. Business and private sector investment can contribute to reversing environmental decline.

I am encouraged by the fact that conservation groups, private companies, farmers and landholders are increasingly looking for ways that they can achieve positive outcomes for nature. I see this in my electorate, with groups such as the Friends of Yellagonga Regional Park, who recently celebrated their 30th anniversary, and the Quinns Rocks Environmental Group. These are committed volunteers who understand the value of nature and the importance of what they do so very willingly. A report prepared independently estimates that the market for biodiversity in Australia could unlock a staggering $137 billion in financial flows by 2050. As a government, we are responding to that demand. What is important to note is that the nature repair market will be based on science, and it will enable Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders to promote their unique knowledge on their own terms.

Establishing the market legislation will ensure its ongoing integrity. This will also encourage investment in nature and drive environmental improvements across Australia. The bill will enable the Clean Energy Regulator, an independent statutory authority with significant experience in regulating environmental markets, to issue Australian landholders with tradeable biodiversity certificates. These certificates can then be sold to individuals, businesses, organisations and government. Importantly, the market will be inclusive, and all landholders, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, conservation groups and farmers, can participate. Potential projects will deliver long-term nature-positive outcomes through activities such as pest control, weeding and planting native species. These projects can be undertaken on land or water. This includes lakes and rivers, as well as marine and coastal environments. This bill is about doing better by our natural assets. Open participation and extensive opportunities for project locations will also support regional Australia through jobs and nature-positive economic activity. This will be fantastic for regional areas around the country when you also consider the employment potential that it will create. The nature repair market will enable participation and create employment and economic opportunities for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. It will promote and enable free, prior and informed consent for projects on their land or waters, and there will be opportunities to design projects that reflect the knowledge and connection to country of our First Nations people. We will be able to utilise their skills, knowledge and wisdom for a nature-positive future.

The market will operate in parallel with the carbon market, with the same regulator. This alignment will encourage carbon-farming projects that also deliver benefits for biodiversity—a win-win. By establishing it in this manner, there will be administrative efficiencies in this approach and, more importantly, clear and accurate oversight of claims made in both markets.

Our government acknowledges the recent review of carbon crediting led by Professor Ian Chubb. Lessons learnt from the carbon market have informed the bill and will continue to be reflected upon as environmental markets develop. The bill provides for biodiversity certificates to have integrity and represent an actual environmental improvement. Buyers can then invest in the market with confidence. There will be a key integrity measure too and an independent expert committee that will hold responsibility for ensuring projects deliver high-quality, nature-positive outcomes. These will be underpinned by a consistent approach to the measurement, assessment and verification of biodiversity. The integrity of the environmental outcomes is also enabled through assurance and compliance requirements, using monitoring, reporting and notification on the delivery of project activities and progress on the environmental outcomes. The regulator will have both monitoring and enforcement powers to ensure that projects are conducted in accordance with the rules.

The Nature Positive Plan reflects the Albanese Labor government's commitment to restoring public accountability and trust. A core element of the scheme will be transparency, and that is vitally important. A public register will outline in a comprehensive manner information about projects and certificates so that anyone can access details. Additional information will be regularly published by the regulator, and relevant data will be released by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. This is part of ensuring the transparency I spoke of and will enable parliament and the public to monitor the scheme and provide an opportunity for citizen oversight. Additionally, it will support certainty and value to the market.

The department is committed to working with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to ensure that certificates issued in the nature repair market are not the object of what's known as greenwashing. It is crucial that statements made about certificates accurately reflect the projects and investment that they represent. It is also important that projects in the carbon and biodiversity markets are not affected by misleading claims, and we seek to ensure that this does not happen.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to listening to consultation and engagement under our environmental reform agenda. We have listened and will continue to listen to feedback on the design and operation of this market, and we are working with Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders on a co-design approach and supporting appropriate inclusion of traditional knowledge and management practices. As someone who values consultation and engagement, I am pleased that this bill mandates public consultation on methods and the instrument for measuring and assessing biodiversity.

The legislation establishes the Nature Repair Market Committee, which is responsible for providing advice to the minister following public consultation on the submission. This committee will have approximately six experts with substantial experience. They will have significant standing in one or more areas of expertise, including environmental markets, land management, agriculture, science, economics and Indigenous knowledge. Relying on the knowledge and expertise of these specialists will help us achieve better outcomes for nature.

The Nature Positive Plan presents a different approach to biodiversity offsets. It commits to offsets being the last resort, which will we will enshrine in legislation. Our government is already designing and consulting on new national standards for matters of national environmental significance and environmental offsets. These national standards will be legislated under the new nature-positive laws and will provide certainty and confidence in the use of biodiversity offsets under Commonwealth laws. Projects under the nature repair scheme won't be used as offsets unless and until they meet the new standards.

This bill will establish a new market for investing in nature-positive outcomes. It will support Australia's international commitment to protect and repair ecosystems and reverse species decline and extinction. It will generate investment and job opportunities for a nature-positive economy whilst also creating new income streams for landholders. I commend this bill to the House.

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