Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023. Let's get something clear. This government was elected to act on climate change, we were elected to stop the decade of damage to our country's unique natural environment caused by successive coalition governments, and we were elected to repair our natural environment with a whole-of-community effort, bringing together businesses, organisations, governments and grassroots groups to tackle this existential threat to our way of life. Our objective is to leave our planet, our country and our natural environment in a better place for future generations. We don't want to trash it for short-term gains, which was exactly what those opposite did for almost a decade.

We know the story of the coalition's record on the environment from the 2021 State of the Environment Report, the very same report that the now deputy opposition leader hid from the Australian people, and the findings of this report show why. It was embarrassing. It said that the environment suffered devastating damage and it predicted it would only get worse. Specifically, the report found Australia had lost more mammal species to extinction than any other continent—more than any other continent—and, for the first time in this continent's history, Australia has more foreign plan species than native species. That is absolutely shocking. The destruction of our biodiversity, the deleterious effects of decades of neglect. And to make matters worse, between 2000 and 2017 habitat the size of Tasmania has been cleared. That is the size of an entire state in less than two decades. Forests gone, many of which will never be replaced or will take decades to replace. This was the mess left behind by those opposite. That was a decade when the word 'government' seemed to cover everything but the environment, a decade where climate laws were axed, where environment laws were broken, where 22 different energy policies were floated but never landed and where billions of dollars were cut from our environment department. It is clear what the coalition thought about our natural environment when they were in government. It was just another program to be cut so they could save a billion dollars here and a billion dollars there. They wanted to keep claiming the title of better economic managers and even then they couldn't manage a single budget surplus.

Now more than ever we need to make significant investments in conservation and protection of our natural heritage to secure a better environment for our future, an environment worth inheriting from us for future generations, an environment entrusted to us by previous generations. When I say that protecting our environment is an investment, I really do mean it, not just in the social and cultural benefits but in the significant economic benefits just waiting to be unlocked. When a recent independent report was done on the market for biodiversity in Australia, an estimated $137 billion in financial flows by 2050 were discovered. That is a huge long-term economic opportunity that was left untapped by the former government.

We know that around the world countries that have preserved their environment have reached enormous economic dividends. Whether it be in tourism or natural industries or agriculture, environmental protection has made good economic sense. Those countries that have degraded their environments, that have allowed the quality of their land to erode, that have allowed their forests to be cut down, their rivers and seas to be polluted, have inflicted on themselves terrible economic damage. With this bill we are not only taking advantage of the economic opportunity afforded by the environment but we are also putting forward real solutions, and making a real effort when it comes to protecting our natural environment.

The Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 provides a framework for a voluntary national market that delivers on improved biodiversity outcomes. Eligible landholders who undertake projects that enhance or protect our nature and its biodiversity can receive a tradable certificate tracked through a national register. This bill will also enable the Clean Energy Regulator, an independent statutory authority, to issue Australian landholders with these tradable biodiversity certificates. These certificates can then be sold to businesses, organisations, governments and individuals. Establishing this market in legislation will ensure its ongoing integrity while encouraging and growing investment in nature. This in turn will help drive environmental improvements across Australia.

This market will operate in parallel with the existing carbon market. Both markets will be facilitated by the same proven and independent authority. This alignment will also make it easier for intersections in projects, encouraging carbon farming also to deliver benefits for biodiversity. The parallel operation of these markets will also address one of the biggest concerns when it comes to introducing Nature Repair Market implementation. By administering this market through the Clean Energy Regulator, the Nature Repair Market will benefit not only from the regulator's experience but from the administrative efficiencies that come from having clear and accurate oversight of claims made in both markets. Importantly, this bill and the establishment of the Nature Repair Market has been informed by the recent review of carbon crediting by Professor Ian Chubb. Lessons learned from the carbon market have been taken into account and will continue to be reflected on as environmental markets continue to develop.

This bill and the Nature Repair Market are important parts of our Nature Positive Plan. The government published this plan in December last year in response to the shocking findings of the 2021 state of the environment report. Our government's response, outlined in the Nature Positive Plan, is guided by three fundamental principles. First is the need to better protect Australia's environment and prevent further extinction of native flora and fauna. Second is the need for faster decision-making and clear priorities when it comes to action on environmental protections. Third is the need to restore public accountability and trust in environmental decision-making.

This bill begins the process of repairing our nature by acting on all three of these points. In particular, this bill and the design of the Nature Repair Market reflect our commitment to restoring public accountability and trust. In fact, transparency will be the core element of this scheme. Comprehensive information about projects and certificates will be made available on a public register, and additional information will be published by the regulator alongside active releases of relevant data by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. This will help both the parliament and the public to monitor this scheme and allow for citizen oversight. This stands in stark contrast to those opposite, whose approach was guided by lack of transparency and hiding facts from the Australian people when it came to damage to our biodiversity, the rise in energy costs or the impacts of climate change. We saw on that side a decade of denial, delay and hidden information. The approach in this bill, consistent with the approach of this government more broadly, is about delivering transparency, openness and accountability.

As the Nature Positive Plan states, restoring public accountability and trust is not good just for its own sake; it provides key economic benefits as well. Restoring public accountability and trust is key to supporting certainty and value in the market and for investors. When coupled with the second principle—faster decision-making and clearer priorities—accountability and trust can be important to de-risk investments and promote sustainable economic development. Implemented as part of the Nature Positive Plan's recommendations, they have the potential to assist in long-term economic growth, increase employment, create jobs and support a greater capacity to invest in the environment and social priorities.

The Nature Positive Plan also states what we all know. It states the obvious: that a healthy and resilient environment is necessary for a vibrant economy. Over a decade, we watched the so-called better economic managers, as the coalition like to think of themselves, hard at work. But, strangely enough, they weren't hard at work delivering better environmental climate policies. They certainly weren't hard at work delivering budget surpluses or strong jobs growth. What they were was hard at work stoking the flames of climate war—rather than delivering on climate policies—and watching our environment degrade and our biodiversity decline.

In 2009, Tony Abbott said the science of human-caused climate change was 'crap', and he even went so far as to claim that climate change was 'probably doing good'. This is a former Liberal prime minister talking about the environment that we all rely on and will hand down to our kids. That same year Malcolm Turnbull admitted that his own party 'does not believe in human-caused global warming'. As he left office, Malcolm Turnbull said that his biggest regret was failure to secure meaningful climate policies. They're honest when they leave. It's a shame they're not as honest when they're in the parliament. Mr Turnbull didn't blame Labor for the lack of climate policies. He didn't blame a lack of business support. He didn't even blame vested interests. He blamed his own party, a party that he saw as having a reckless disregard for Australia and the global environment.

Over this decade, the coalition saw climate change as a political thorn in its side, an inconvenient conversation that needed to be shut down, pushed aside and silenced. But in doing so, they missed the voices of businesses across Australia who cried out for leadership—leadership on climate and leadership on the environment. For a decade, businesses had no certainty, no clarity and no incentive to deliver the investment and change that were solely required. The coalition failed to offer businesses the integrity, trust and transparency that Australia so badly needed and our environment so richly deserved.

Then the so-called party of business got left behind by their own constituency. Businesses started to recognise the value of environmental protection. They assumed the mantle of the ESG agenda. They started to make significant improvements in each business's environmental record. They started to adopt plans to get to net zero and to report on their environmental impacts. Businesses were taking forward the agenda that the Liberal government was failing to take forward. Because businesses knew it was important to their employees, their shareholders, their customers and their suppliers, they knew that protecting the environment was a critical part of Australia's future, and critical to the success of their own business models. They received no leadership or support from those opposite, but they did it anyway, and they did it because they knew it was the right thing to do and because they knew that without it they would not have a strong business future of their own.

So the coalition have been left behind. They have been left behind on climate and left behind on environmental protection. The community's expectations have moved ahead. Businesses' actions have moved ahead. Investors and superannuation funds have moved ahead. All are creating new standards and new practices to preserve Australia's important and rich biodiversity and our planet's precious climate. All of this has been done in the absence of leadership, and now the Labor government is here to assume the mantle and support Australian businesses, people, and community groups to deliver the leadership, the certainty, the accountability and the trust so that all Australians know the direction in which we're heading, which is to preserve and protect our environment for future generations.

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