Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Just picking up from where I finished before question time: I was talking about Labor's proud legacy of environmental reform and how, since coming to government, we have taken strong action to combat climate change and lower our emissions so that Australia meets its targets and protects its natural resources threatened by the changing climate. Today the Albanese Labor government continues that proud history with the second tranche of its environmental laws—the establishment of an independent environmental protection agency, the introduction of better data and accountability for decision-making and the world-first decision to enshrine a definition of 'nature positive' in legislation.

We've heard some criticism around the chamber about these new laws—from some that they don't go far enough and that the reforms should have all been done at the same time, and from those opposite that the reforms are too extreme. We've also faced criticism that the EPBC Act should be implemented first. Setting up the EPA before bringing in the EPBC Act reforms is a crucial step to ensuring the new EPBC Act will be enforced. I'm personally very committed to advocacy on strengthening our environmental laws, as this is a critical part of our entire approach to protecting nature and the way we approach climate change. This is something my constituents are very engaged with and something I am confident that we will be doing and that our minister is deeply committed to—that is, something that needs to be done properly. We are talking about around a thousand pages of legislation in the current act, so consultation is continuing around that.

Professor Graeme Samuel, the author of the review of the EPBC Act, has himself said that the government and the minister are doing everything exactly as they should be; I don't underestimate the complexity of what has to be done. The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed the government's announcement that it will set up an agency to enforce environmental laws—something that previous governments failed to do. The World Wide Fund for Nature has described the new EPA as 'a potential game changer'. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has described these new institutions as 'essential and welcome'. The Business Council of Australia has commended the government for 'taking the right step', and the Urban Development Institute of Australia has said 'the minister is doing the right thing'. The National Farmers Federation has also supported these reforms, saying:

Our members have said for years that the current Act is broken. It is hard to engage with producers who want to do the right thing, and in some instances it's preventing best practice management of the landscape.

This is Australia's first national environmental protection agency, and it will have strong new powers and penalties to enforce federal environmental laws. The EPA is an important part of delivering the government's Nature Positive Plan. It's ensuring that the framework behind setting up the EPA is on its way so it's ready to administer the new environmental laws. The EPA would administer Australia's national environmental laws to better protect our environment and make faster, better decisions. It will be charged with delivering accountable, efficient, outcome focused and transparent environmental regulatory decision-making.

Our government has undertaken offsets audits which found that one in seven projects using environmental offsets under our environmental laws had either clearly or potentially breached their approval conditions. Another audit found that one in four had failed to secure enough environmental credits to offset the damage they were doing. This is unacceptable. We need to urgently strengthen enforcement of environmental protection laws.

To ensure environmental protection, the EPA will be able to issue environmental protection orders to lawbreakers and perform environmental audits on businesses to ensure that they are compliant with environment approval conditions. The penalties for breaching environmental law will also be increased, bringing maximum fines into line with punishments for serious financial offences such as insider trading and market manipulation. For extremely serious intentional breaches of federal environment law, courts would be able to impose fines of up to $780 million or send people to prison for up to seven years. Importantly, the new EPA will provide better guidance and education to make sure businesses are clear about the rules so that they can do the right thing. The Samuel review into our environment laws found that the regulator is not fulfilling the necessary function of monitoring compliance and enforcement of the current laws. The review also found that serious enforcement actions are rarely used and that penalties need to be more than the cost of doing business.

We know that the current system is not working, so we are working to fix it. Ensuring that our regulatory system works to prevent environmental damage and ensures that our laws are upheld is one of the most important things that we can do to protect nature. If organisations commit to mitigating against or to an offset to make up for an unavoidable impact on nature, the public should be confident that the commitment will be kept. Our bills respond to those findings of the Samuel review and offsets audits while we continue to work on the rest of our environmental law reforms. Stage 3 of the Albanese Labor government's environmental plans will continue our broader efforts to halt and reverse environmental decline and protect nature. The EPA will deliver proportionate and effective risk based compliance and enforcement actions using high-quality data and information. It would provide assurance that environmental outcomes are being met.

Most businesses are doing the right thing. We know that. But when penalties for breaking the law are too low and the risk of being caught is negligible, some companies or individuals regard breaking the law as an acceptable cost of doing business. That's why we are increasing the penalties too. The EPA will play an important role in the full delivery of the Nature Positive Plan and beyond and ensure that the minister and government of the day have advice on how to continue to strengthen Australia's environmental laws.

These bills also establish Environment Information Australia. The EIA will have an independent position with a legislative mandate to provide environmental data and information to the EPA, the minister and the public. This independent position will allow the agency to transparently report on trends in the environment. This will support actions and decisions to halt and reverse the decline and, in turn, protect and restore nature. The EIA will be working in collaboration with Australia's experts, scientists and First Nations peoples to collect information and produce consistent tracking of the state of Australia's environment. We all know that a nature-positive Australia is good for the economy, livelihoods and wellbeing, but to achieve a nature-positive Australia we must have good quality and useful environmental information. The EIA we are establishing through this legislation will provide that for Australians and ensure that we are nature positive well into the future.

The information collected by the EIA will inform investment, policy and regulatory decisions by government, the private sector, community groups, academics and scientists, and philanthropic groups. We know that national environment information and data is fragmented, its quality is uncertain and what is available is not readily accessible and usable. To ensure that our environment remains protected, that our unique plants and animals continue to thrive in their environments, we must have consistent and reliable information and resources for businesses. When project proponents are more easily able to select sites which minimise impacts on nature, projects can be approved more busily and completed faster.

Legislating for independent, consistent and authoritative environmental reporting will mean that no Australian government can hide the truth about the state of our environment—as the previous government did. This will stop the decade of environmental crime that we saw under the previous government from ever happening again. The Leader of the Opposition wants to weaken environmental laws, including giving Clive Palmer's coalmine on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef the green light. It is important to note that the Minister for the Environment has blocked this coalmine, because Labor cares about the environment. This bill also provides more transparency of the critical information and data that underpins regulatory decision-making. This agency was a key recommendation of the Samuel review and delivers on our promise at the last election to provide consistent and reliable information on the state of the environment across the country.

The bill also defines for the first time the term 'nature positive' and introduces a requirement to report on Australia's national progress towards that outcome. This will be the first time any country has defined 'nature positive' in legislation and put in place national reporting against this objective. In short, 'nature positive' means improving our ecosystems, including the species that rely on them and form part of an ecosystem. Creating a nature-positive Australia means that across Australia nature is repairing and regenerating rather than continuing to decline. Requiring reports to be prepared and published online every two years instead of every five years will allow us to get on the front foot and better apply and track protections where they are most needed.

Australia's environment is a national asset and responsibility. This is why the State of the Environment reports include a new requirement to report on the progress of the government's national environmental goals. This bill makes it a requirement for the government to commit publicly to national environmental goals. I am looking forward to working with the minister to make our environmental laws fit for purpose. This is an incredibly significant bill and an incredibly ambitious plan that we have to protect our environment. I commend the bill to the House.

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