Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to today to speak to the Albanese Labor government's approach to making our nation nature positive. The Nature Repair Market Bill is a bill that will benefit the environment and everyone that interacts with it. This bill will contribute to that vision, and the people of Boothby will benefit from this. My electorate is one of the most environmentally diverse in the state. Boothby spans the southern suburbs of Adelaide and, while an urban environment, has an ecosystem and biota representations spanning from coastal and marine ecosystems through to urban wetlands and rivers right up to the hills to the beautiful Belair National Park.

The Belair National Park, which is just 25 minutes from the Adelaide CBD, is South Australia's oldest and most accessible national park, spanning over eight square kilometres. It has amazing fauna, like bandicoots, echidnas, kangaroos, emus and the brown butterfly, as well as beautiful flora, like spider orchids, scented sundews and blue devil flowers. Down on the plains of my electorate, we have some of the best urban wetlands Adelaide has to offer. The Warraparinga Wetland along the Sturt River is a rich piece of biodiversity in my electorate, as well as such an important and sacred site to the local Kaurna people in Boothby. It's looked after by the Friends of Warriparinga.

A little further downstream on the Sturt River, we also have a more recently established Oaklands Park Wetland. It's another pit stop for species of birds travelling up from the river and cared for by the Friends of Sturt River. If you follow the river downstream, you reach the ocean and the beaches, like Glenelg and Brighton, which have beautiful marine environments.

I am very proud to be part of a government that is serious about being nature positive. To be nature positive is such a simple concept, yet it's something that we struggle with. Nature positive is more than just no more decline to nature. The government is not only stopping decline; we actually want to repair the damage and finally give back to the environment. We have taken from the environment for far too long. This government wants to give back, repair the natural environment and rebuild. The Albanese Labor government has taken this philosophy to all of its environmental commitments. This ambitious plan sees the environment put back front and centre, where it belongs. The Australian government has committed to protecting 30 per cent of Australia's land and seas by 2030, a commitment that recognises that the environment has been in decline and sets out to reverse this.

The same goals have been adopted globally under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Biodiversity loss and nature decline is not an issue facing just Australia. It is a global issue, and one that we must all act upon. These goals reinforce the findings of the 2021 State of the environment report and its story of environmental degradation, loss and inaction. The report is a sobering read that shows the reality of where we are with environmental decline in this country, and I'm proud that this government has reviewed the science and is acting accordingly.

My home state of South Australia is well positioned for protecting 30 per cent land and sea by 2030. In fact, we have achieved such a goal already. It is more about the quality of such areas, helping communities look after them and valuing these areas. That's why we need a nature repair market. This legislation allows for investment in the environment for a nature-positive future and to protect these precious areas, empowering community groups as well as business and private sector investment. This approach to investment was highlighted in the findings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act review by Professor Graeme Samuel AC. We know private companies, conservation groups and farmers and other landholders are eager for ways to achieve positive outcomes for nature. We need to bring all people that interact with the environment along with us on this journey.

This is not just good environmentally, it's also good from a financial perspective. It's estimated that the market for biodiversity in Australia could unlock $137 billion in financial flows by 2050. We are responding to that demand. We can bring together these groups that want to look after the environment and empower them to consider the environment in their business models. We want to build a system that is self-reinforcing so it has a future that isn't dependent on a government pushing it all the time but has momentum and drives itself.

The bill is designed to enable the Clean Energy Regulator, an independent statutory authority that has significant experience in regulating environmental markets, to issue Australian landholders with tradeable biodiversity certificates. These certificates can then be onsold to businesses, organisations, governments and individuals. The market is designed to be accessible to all landholders, including Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, conservation groups and farmers. It is designed for long-term nature-positive outcomes achieved through activities such as weed reduction, planting native species and pest control. These activities can be undertaken on land or water, including in lakes and rivers, as well as in marine and coastal environments.

The market will also operate in parallel with the carbon market, facilitated by having the same regulator, the Clean Energy Regulator. Not only should Australians have confidence in this bill, as these markets exist in similar areas, but the scheme will also partner with these other markets, strengthening and complementing each other. The alignment will encourage carbon farming projects that also deliver benefits for biodiversity. There will be administrative efficiencies in this approach and, more importantly, clear and accurate oversight of claims made in both markets. The government acknowledges our 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.

Establishing the market in legislation will ensure its ongoing integrity, encourage investment in nature and drive environmental improvements across Australia. This will build confidence in the market for buyers to invest. The bill provides for biodiversity certificates to have integrity and represent an actual environmental improvement. A key integrity measure is an independent expert committee responsible for ensuring projects deliver high-quality nature-positive outcomes underpinned by a consistent approach to the measurement, assessment and verification of biodiversity. The integrity of environmental outcomes is also enabled through assurance and compliance requirements. These include monitoring, reporting and notification on the delivery of project activities and progress on an environmental outcome. The regulator will have monitoring and enforcement powers to ensure that projects are conducted in accordance with the rules.

The Nature Positive Plan reflects our commitment to restoring public accountability and trust. Transparency will be a core element of the scheme. Comprehensive information about projects and certificates will be available on a public register. Additional information will be regularly published by the regulator, and there will be an active release of relevant data by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. This will enable parliament and the public to monitor the scheme and provide an opportunity for citizen oversight. It will provide certainty and value to the market. The department is committed to working with the ACCC and ASIC to ensure that certificates issued in the nature repair market are not victims of greenwashing, that the statements made about certificates accurately reflect the projects and investment that they represent, and that projects in the carbon and biodiversity markets are not affected by misleading claims

The nature repair market will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to promote their unique knowledge, on their terms. It will enable participation and create employment and economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It will promote and enable free, prior and informed consent for projects on their waters and lands. There will be opportunities to design projects that reflect the knowledge and connection to country of our First Nations people and to utilise their skills and knowledge for a nature-positive future. South Australia already has fantastic work being conducted in Indigenous protected areas, in co-managed parks and in landscape board regions, more broadly known as natural resource management boards. Indigenous rangers have been hired in these areas to facilitate this work and the unique knowledge. The nature repair market is also designed to support regional Australians, with open participation and extensive opportunities for project locations, creating jobs and nature-positive economic activity.

In conclusion, this bill will not only benefit the environment; it will benefit all of those who have a relationship with the environment. This bill is designed to leave nature better off for our kids and grandkids. The Albanese Labor government knows what it means to be nature positive. Let's help Australians achieve this too.

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