Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise on the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024. This is the second tranche of environmental legislation that we have brought in since coming into government, and a very important one at that.

Our environmental laws are broken, they are not fit for purpose and they are a relic of a day gone by. We now have a different set of environmental circumstances that mean we need to consider projects faster so that we can approve the projects that meet environmental standards, while also ensuring that the standards of habitat protection, protection of our wildlife and protection of our precious natural wonders are maintained and increased in this day of rising temperatures.

The previous government actually started this work. The previous government engaged Professor Graeme Samuel to conduct a review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. In the typical fashion of the former Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison governments, they conducted a review, completely ignored it and decided to do their own thing. One of the key recommendations of Professor Samuel was that the federal government and this parliament should create and uphold national environmental standards, and that we should not be divesting our responsibilities to the states and territories to approve environmental projects or requests.

What did those opposite do when they had the privilege of sitting on the Treasury benches? They introduced an Abbott-era style of bills where they basically removed any responsibility from the federal government to be a part of those decision-making processes, ignored Professor Samuel and didn't create the national environmental standards and tried to divest all of those responsibilities to the states. The member for Farrer, who is now the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, was the environment minister at the time. Not only did they gag debate—I know this because I was one of the few speakers who managed to speak on the second reading debate—but they got to a point where they were so sick of having any form of democratic process around their terrible environmental bills that they forced the question for no reason. There was no rush to give the states more power in environmental approvals and to relinquish the federal government from environmental decision-making, but those opposite decided that they'd had enough of democracy, and what they wanted was to ram through the debate. They did so, and then, thankfully, in the other place—in the Senate—their bills were rejected not once but twice. They not only ignored their own review, by Professor Samuel, and creating national environmental standards, but then, when they brought that bill into this place, they decided they didn't want members talking about it and that they were going to try and ram it through. Then, in classic Morrison government style, it blew up in their face and was rejected by the Senate. I'm grateful for every senator that voted against that bill, as I did in this place, because what we want is greater and stronger environmental protections in this country, not weaker.

The first set of environmental reforms that we have brought in since coming to government were for extending the water trigger to unconventional gas. This was an important reform. We did that at the end of last year. It means that any unconventional gas project that is likely to impact water will have to go through the usual processes. One of the high-profile cases, obviously, is the Beetaloo gas basin in the Northern Territory. My understanding is that the proponent of that project has been communicated with to outline their responsibilities, because it is the proponent's responsibility to put forward propositions under the act. That proponent has been notified. As far as I'm aware, there is no current proposal before the environment minister, but we will have to wait and see. Nonetheless, that was a very important reform, which leads us to these bills before the House.

These bills, the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024, the Nature Positive (Environment Information Australia) Bill 2024 and the Nature Positive (Environment Law Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024, will do a number of things. The first bill is to create the Environment Protection Australia authority, which is going to be such an important institution resourced to be the watchdog and to ensure that companies are complying with environmental standards. The second bill is to create Environment Information Australia to ensure that we have the data and the information that is required to monitor and to understand the state of our environment. We're not going to bury the state of the environment report like those opposite did when they were in government. We are going to be transparent, and we are creating institutions that will lead to greater transparency around environmental management.

The other thing I want to say before I go into more of the details on these bills is that the electorate of Macnamara, which I have the privilege of being the member for, is one that stands for not only greater climate action but stronger environmental protection as well. It is an electorate that cares deeply about our environment and about the incredible natural wonders that we have here in Australia. I am proud—and I think each and every member of this place knows—that not only do I stand for greater climate action and better environmental protection but the people of Macnamara do too. Macnamara is one of the electorates and communities that people know want to see reform in this area.

Since coming into government we have demonstrated that we are constantly looking to move on from the laggard approach of the previous government and actually take environmental management and climate change seriously. I want to thank the—literally—thousands of members of my community who have called, emailed and spoken to me about the need for environmental reform. This bill, I hope, is an important step that is recognised as part of that process to bring forward more environmental protections.

Under the previous government, the State of the environment report was hidden by the now deputy leader of the Liberal Party. It was received prior to Christmas, but they chose to keep it hidden. They chose to lock it away until after the federal election in 2022. Here are some of the things that report said at that time: Australia has lost more mammal species to extinction than any other continent; for the first time, Australia has more foreign plant species than native; plastics are choking our oceans; and flow in the Murray and Darling rivers has reached record low levels. That's the state of the environment under those opposite, and now we have those opposite no doubt opposing any form of environmental protection improvements in this place.

Interestingly, we also have the Greens in the other place looking to delay a reference to the Senate review committee. Apparently, we have to get environmental reform done as quickly as possible but the Greens want to delay this bill by at least a month. Thankfully, that was defeated. Clearly, they want a bit of a break over the holidays and aren't interested in doing the environmental reform. Anyway, that's a matter for them! On the other hand, we have set a national goal of protecting at least 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030; we'll make it easier for First Nations Australians to protect their cultural heritage; we've signed the Leaders' Pledge for Nature at the United Nations, which is something the previous government didn't do; we're establishing a new Nature Repair Market to reward farm and other landholders for their work in protecting nature; we've introduced legislation to the parliament to strengthen regulation on ozone-depleting gases; we've joined the international High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040 and the new Plastics Economy Global Commitment; we're working with state and territory governments to improve waste management and to build a more circular economy; and we're delivering on our $1.2 billion record investment into the Great Barrier Reef and funding for native species protection, including for our beloved koalas.

These bills, the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024, and the Nature Positive (Environment Information Australia) Bill 2024 and the Nature Positive (Environment Law Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024, comprise one of most significant steps forward by a federal government in more than a decade. They will establish the national Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Information Australia. These two organisations will ensure compliance with environmental laws, improve processes for business and integrate environmental data collection. This will mean consistent and reliable information on the state of the environment across the country to inform decision-making and to track progress against our goals, like protecting 30 per cent of our land and oceans by 2030. This delivers on our commitment to respond to Professor Graeme Samuel's landmark review of our national environmental law reform—something that those opposite commissioned but completely ignored. It's also important to note that EPA, Environment Protection Australia, will be given powers to issue environmental protection orders, also known as stop work orders, to those in breach of the law and to audit businesses to ensure they're compliant with environmental conditions—and there will be maximum fines for breaches of environmental laws. The new EPA will make sure that businesses are clear about these rules.

We can all be clear that the current system we have in place is simply not adequate. The Australian Conservation Foundation said about these new laws:

ACF welcomes the government's announcement that it will set up an agency to enforce environment laws—something previous governments failed to do.

An audit ordered by the minister last year found that one in seven projects using environmental offsets under our environmental laws had either clearly or potentially breached their approval conditions. A separate audit found that one in four had potentially failed to secure enough environmental credits to offset the damage that they were doing, and this is clearly unacceptable. These bills will fix our laws; they respond to both the findings of our audit and the Samuel review. We will make sure that we improve our native plants species and prevent extinctions—that's what Macnamara expects. Macnamara expects that we come into this place and improve the environmental protections in our country.

EPA is a truly national environmental regulator that Australians can be proud of. It will be responsible for a wide range of activities under our environment laws, including in relation to recycling and waste; exports; hazardous waste; wildlife trade; sea-dumping; ozone production; underwater cultural heritage; and air quality. The EPA will deliver proportionate and effective risk based compliance and environment actions using high-quality data and information, and it will provide assurance that environmental outcomes are being met.

The head of Environment Information Australia will be independent. They will have a legislative mandate to provide environmental data and information to the minister and to the public. They will be able to report on trends in the environment transparently, something that I know there has been a little bit of commentary on. They will report in collaboration with our nation's top experts, scientists and First Nations people to produce the tracking and data we need. This was another of the key recommendations of the Samuel review. For years to come, this will mean Australia can no longer hide the truth about nature, just like the previous government did time after time.

Macnamara is home to 44 species listed as threatened. The Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve—which I'm very proud to have helped secure millions of dollars of funding for—is something that we are building, and it will be home to many of those threatened species. We need more places in our cities and urban areas that provide sanctuaries for our precious wildlife. I've been pleased to bring a number of ministers to the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve, including the minister for the environment, the minister for infrastructure and many other ministers as well. If anyone has an opportunity to come and have a walk through this incredible piece of Elwood, I highly recommend you do so. It is going to be an iconic part of the inner Bayside suburbs of Melbourne.

In conclusion, this bill is about improving compliance with environmental law. It is the second of the tranches in our environmental protection laws. The first, obviously, was the water trigger that we did last year. This is the EPA, and the next tranche will be a significant package of reforms in line with our election commitments around other recommendations of the Samuel review. We have a record of improving environmental standards. This bill complies with and builds on that record. I am proud of the environmental protections that are contained in this bill, and I commend them to the House.

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