Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on these really important 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. The fact is that the Labor Party is committed to a nature-positive Australia. It is something we believe in very much. We believe in it because our livelihoods, our economy and indeed all our wellbeing depend on the health of our natural world. We all want a country in which nature is being repaired and is regenerating rather than continuing to decline. We have to address that, and we're doing that. We also want to ensure compliance with environmental laws. I would like to commend the Minister for the Environment and Water for the work that has been done on these bills and across a range of different projects since we have been in government. We are a very proactive government when it comes to protecting our environment.

The Albanese Labor government went to the election promising a strong national independent Environment Protection Agency to be a tough cop on beat and we are delivering upon that. This all comes after a wasted decade under the Liberals and Nationals but, in contrast, Labor is getting on with the job of what needs to be done for environmental repair, and we are delivering more than ever on programs, projects, policies and actions to create a Nature Positive Australia. In fact, no government has done more for the environment or acted on climate change more than the Albanese Labor government. We are absolutely committed to acting on climate change and we have shown that through our very decisive actions in our transition to renewables and through the vast amount of projects and investment that we have made in that area. Labor wants to see our precious natural landscapes repaired instead of the continuing decline we have seen under those opposite in a wasted decade of environmental vandalism.

When we turn to these bills, what they will deliver is stronger environmental powers, faster environmental approvals, and more environment information and transparency. In essence, the key changes in this bill will be Australia's first national independent environmental protection agency with strong new powers and penalties to better protect nature, more accountability and transparency with a new body called Environment Information Australia, which will give businesses easy access to the latest environmental data—release the State of the environment report every two years—and report progress on national environmental goals. We will continue working to fully deliver the third stage of environmental law reform. We will do this through constant consultation, working closely with environmental groups, businesses, states and territories, and others, on further updates when it comes to environmental laws, as outlined in our Nature Positive Plan. So it is very clear the depth of our commitment.

This parliament now has an opportunity. The choices before the parliament are very clear: do you want an independent environmental protection agency or not? We do. We know it is important. Do you want better data to inform environmental decisions? Labor believes we do. Do you want tougher penalties for those breaking environmental laws? We do. Labor want to see that. A really important question for this House to look at is: do you want Australia to be the first jurisdiction in the world to enshrine a definition of Nature Positive in legislation or not? Labor do, which is why we have these bills here.

Our new EPA, Environment Protection Australia, along with Environment Information Australia, will ensure compliance with environmental laws and will improve so many processes. It will integrate environmental data collection so there is consistent reliable information on the state of the environment across the country to inform decision-making and to track our progress against our goals, like protecting 30 per cent of our land and oceans by 2030. I think there is consistent agreement that the current regulatory system doesn't work. We know that it isn't working at all. So under Labor we are fixing our laws and we will make sure they improve nature, protect our unique native animals and plants, and prevent extinctions. That is what Australians expect of us, it is what they voted for and it is what we are delivering on.

Last year we passed legislation to establish the world's first nature repair market. We also increased the reach of our environmental laws so the Minister for the Environment must assess all unconventional gas projects, including shale gas, which trigger our environmental laws. We are moving quickly to establish the Environment Protection Agency and Environment Information Australia. They are crucial elements of our plans to create a Nature Positive Australia and we want to get them in place as soon as possible so they can begin their really important work.

As I say, the EPA is an important part of delivering the government's Nature Positive Plan. In passing this legislation, we can get on with the actual work of setting up the new EPA before it is asked to administer new environmental laws so it is a smoother transition of responsibilities from the department to the agency. We're doing all this to better protect nature. We will have a truly national environmental regulator that we can all be incredibly proud of that will be responsible for a wide range of activities under Australia's environmental laws, including in relation to recycling and waste exports, hazardous waste, wildlife trade, sea dumping, ozone protection, underwater cultural heritage and air quality. And we are investing in our people, our planning and our systems to speed up development decisions, essentially to deliver quicker yeses and—when necessary—quicker noes by having that much faster system in place. The fact is the EPA will be the tough cop on the beat, enforcing our laws through new monitoring, compliance and—really important—enforcement powers.

Of course, we did have the Samuel review, and we know that that found that the regulator was not fulfilling their necessary function in terms of the monitoring of our environmental laws. Professor Samuel also found that serious enforcement actions are rarely used and that penalties need to be much stronger. Again, it showed us that the current system is just not working. Our bills respond to those findings of the Samuel review. As I said, stage 3 will continue our broader efforts to halt and reverse environmental decline and, of course, to protect nature. That is our objective.

These bills also set up the Head of Environment Information Australia, an independent position with a legislative mandate to provide environmental data and information to the EPA. It's so important to have this independent position to transparently report on different changes in the environment. Both of these are major initiatives that we do absolutely need to see in place.

As I've outlined already, the Albanese government is doing more than ever to protect our environment and act on climate change. We know how important it is to have a whole range of programs, policies, actions and reforms all in place to do that. We do that because we are a party that's committed to preserving the environment. We believe in climate change, and we act responsibly. That is the essence of all that we do when it comes to protecting our environment. This is an issue that I know many people in my area, northern New South Wales, feel strongly about, as well as people right throughout the country. It is one that we have consistently raised here and, indeed, at many elections.

We don't deny the science, as those opposite often do, or stand in the way of sensible progress, like the extreme Greens political party always do. We've seen on many occasions, particularly of late, that the opposition and the extreme Greens political party are all about the headlines. That's all they're about—the headlines, not the hard work of reform and implementing sensible and effective changes that actually protect our environment and also secure our future energy sources. It's so important that we transition to renewable energy but at the same time keep the lights on. We have to do that sensibly, and we are doing that, absolutely. But particularly we see the opposition and the extreme Greens just chasing those headlines.

Even last week, it was quite hard to believe that, in the Senate, we saw the Greens teaming up with One Nation to try and delay the Senate inquiry in relation to setting up the first national environment protection agency. There you've got the Greens with One Nation trying to delay the protection of our environment. As the member for Blair and the member for Cunningham pointed out, when members of the extreme Greens spoke, including the leader, the member for Brisbane and the member for Griffith, they didn't actually address anything in the bill at all. They just spread a lot of misinformation, as they often do. They referred to a recent approval, claiming that there was no protection for koala habitat, whereas, as the minister said here in question time, there were very strict conditions. There was no koala breeding or foraging habitat that can be cleared in relation to that.

We constantly see misinformation from the Greens political party. They claim they want to conserve forests, but it wasn't that long ago that we had a Greens senator who was proposing to bulldoze koala habitat to build three luxury investment properties. It was outrageous, and people are still outraged, as we often see that hypocrisy from the party of protest—the extreme Greens. We see it with the environment. We see it again and again with housing. They'll block every initiative when it comes to housing that they can. It is absolutely unbelievable. It's certainly an issue that people raise with me locally about how extreme the Greens are and how they hold up any good reforms that are in place.

But, of course, we also see the Liberals and Nationals. Let's look at their record. When the Albanese Labor government was elected, the minister released the official five-yearly report card on the Australian environment, the Australia state of the environment 2021report. It had been previously hidden by the previous Liberal-National government. It was just horrific—a catalogue of horrors! It shows how much damage in a decade the opposition did in terms of their neglect when it comes to the environment.

The report told us that Australia's environment was in a very bad shape and getting worse. It's quite staggering when we actually look at some of the details of what it found. It found that Australia has lost more mammal species to extinction than any other continent. It found that for the first time Australia has more foreign plant species than native. It found that habitat the size of Tasmania has been cleared. It found that plastics are choking our ocean—up to 80,000 pieces of plastics per square kilometre. And it found that flows in most Murray-Darling rivers had reached record low levels.

It is fairly confronting when we look through lists like that and we see the absolute neglect by the previous government when it came to the environment, right across the board. There was a lot of work for us to do in terms of that decade of neglect. With a lot of the initiatives that we've brought forward, we've certainly heard from many people that they're very pleased that we are in government and we are taking this decisive action.

We also listen to other experts. In fact, Professor Graeme Samuel said that the government and the minister are doing everything exactly as they should be, and 'I don't underestimate the complexity of what has to be done.' ACF said:

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

The Australian Marine Conservation Society said, 'These new institutions are essential and welcome.' These groups know how important it is to be proactive when it comes to protecting our environment. In fact, the Business Council of Australia said that the government is taking the right step, because business needs certainty as well. It's vitally important. The Urban Development Institute of Australia said, 'The minister is doing the right thing.' The National Farmers Federation said:

Our members have said for years that the current Act is broken. It's 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.

We are addressing all those concerns, right across the board, by the establishment of these particular agencies. We know that it is absolutely the right thing to do, and that's because we, on this side of the House, understand how important it is to address all the complexities when it comes to protecting our environment. It's about addressing climate change and environmental protection through our really decisive action, while also, of course, examining the economic and business realities, as well.

I know that the minister, and many of us on this side, has been working with many different groups in our communities and hearing firsthand, as we have for years, about the action that needs to be taken. We have done a lot by establishing the Net Zero Economy Agency to have a focus on economic opportunities for the regions, which is important. We've set up our National Electric Vehicle Strategy. We're also rolling out 400 community batteries across the country. It's really important to have that in place, too.

The fact is that these bills that we're looking at today, the three nature positive bills, represent a really groundbreaking step towards our commitment to preserving our incredible landscapes and what is, as we all know, our very unique biodiversity and our very rich ecosystems, which we are so fortunate to have in this country. But it takes time, commitment, investment and a long-term vision to make sure that this is all in place. That's why we have had so many ongoing stages when it comes to the reform. We need to make sure it's all in place. It really is a new era of environmental conservation.

We also recognise the urgent need to act longer term as well, to ensure that all of those challenges are met, particularly when it comes to addressing climate change. A lot of work has to be done because we've had so much environmental degradation under the previous government. That's why there is an urgency about starting all of this.

But we, those of us in the Albanese Labor government, are very proud to be taking this decisive action. We went to the election, put it to the Australian people, and they elected us so that we can take action on a number of fronts. And one of those absolutely includes taking action on climate change and addressing the needs of our environment. That's exactly what we're doing and we're very proud to be doing that. I commend all of these bills to the House.

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