Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) to (4), as circulated in my name, together:

(1) Clause 3, page 2 (line 15), omit "or", substitute "and".

(2) Clause 3, page 2 (line 18), after "biodiversity", insert ", including the Biodiversity Convention".

(3) Clause 3, page 2 (after line 18), after paragraph (b), insert:

(ba) to contribute to meeting Australia's domestic goal of no new extinctions; and

(4) Clause 7, page 7 (after line 30), after the definition of biodiversity conservation purchasing process, insert:

Biodiversity Convention means the Convention on Biological Diversity, done at Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992, as in force for Australia from time to time.

Note: The Convention is in Australian Treaty Series 1993 No. 32 ([1993] ATS 32) and could in 2023 be viewed in the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (http://www.austlii.edu.au).

These amendments are to the objects of the Nature Repair Market Bill, to ensure the market has a clear purpose. There's a review of the nature repair market built into the bill for every five years, under clause 236. This review looks at the operation of the nature repair market and assesses it against the act's objects. This means that it's vital that the objects set clearly measurable and definable policy goals, especially given the challenges in creating a market mechanism to deliver an outcome as complex as the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. Objects provisions are also important because they not only provide general guidance for the interpretation of an act but can be used to resolve uncertainty and ambiguity.

I am proposing a few changes to the objects of the bill. Firstly, my amendment will change the object to promoting the enhancement and protection of biodiversity, not one or the other. This may seem like a minor change but threatened species and communities are already in a perilous state of decline, which means we need active management to ensure rehabilitation and recovery. Setting the purpose only to protect biodiversity would set the standard too low and not account for baseline decline. Protecting and enhancing biodiversity will lead to a positive outcome for nature beyond maintaining the status quo.

My second change to the objects include a specific reference to Australia's international obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. This provides a measurable policy outcome and specifically refers to achieving Australia's commitment under the Kunming-Montreal global diversity framework, that being 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine ecosystems under protection and 30 per cent of degraded terrestrial and marine ecosystems under restoration by 2030.

Finally, I propose the objects of the bill include contributing to Australia's domestic goal of no new extinctions. The operation of the nature repair market should be measured against this goal as well insofar as it should not only encourage species recovery and protect critical habitat; it must also avoid exacerbating threats or contributing to species decline.

These amendments will strengthen the objects clause, providing a clear benchmark against which the operation of the act will be measured in the future. Strengthening the objects clause is particularly important when dealing with a new type of framework like the nature repair market, with many aspects of the market to be determined in related legislation or regulation.

I thank the minister, and her staff, for her constructive and collaborative engagement on this bill and for her sincere consideration of reasonable suggestions for the improvement of the bill from myself and from other members of the crossbench. I look forward to working with the minister on the review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to implement important changes the minister has acknowledged tonight are needed, such as the new offset standard and a clear hierarchy showing that offsets are a last resort.

These changes will improve the likelihood of this bill and the EPBC Act making a real difference to the protection of nature in Australia. I commend these amendments to the House.

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