Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

In the Nature Positive Plan, we committed to provide the public with easier access to up-to-date environmental data, to make high-quality data and information publicly available and to increase transparency and public accountability on matters affecting the environment.

This bill establishes the head of Environment Information Australia: an independent position with a legislative mandate to provide environmental data and information to Environment Protection Australia, the minister, and the public; an independent position 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—charged with working in collaboration with Australia's experts, scientists, and First Nations people to collect information and produce consistent tracking of the state of Australia's environment, and charged with leading Environment Information Australia, a division in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.

A nature-positive Australia is good for the economy, for livelihoods and for our wellbeing. But achieving a nature-positive Australia relies on good-quality and useful environmental information—information to 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.

Through its public portal, the head of EIA will be a source of the best available, verified environmental information—a consistent and reliable resource for business, enabling better site choices to avoid removing high-value habitat for our unique plants and animals. When project proponents are more easily able to select sites which minimise impacts on nature, projects can be approved more easily and completed more quickly.

A consistent and reliable source of environmental reporting will mean that no Australian government can hide the truth about the state of our environment—like the previous government did.

Environment data and information comes from a variety of sources. There are a lot of organisations doing great work to further our understanding of nature. The head of EIA will form partnerships with government and non-government organisations with a shared purpose of making data better, easier to access, and more useful. This includes partnering with state and territory government organisations to provide a rich national picture of the environment.

The head of EIA will also gather information relevant to the minister and the functions of the CEO of Environment Protection Australia. Our improved information and data will underpin faster, clearer decision-making. It will also avoid the need to collect and provide the same data over and over again.

We recognise that there are good reasons why certain information and data should not be made publicly available. Our bill balances the need to make more information public, while protecting information where the public release of it could cause harm—for example, to individuals, businesses, critically endangered species, or for cultural reasons. It applies protections on the use and disclosure of sensitive information to individuals but allows information essential to inform Environment Protection Australia's decision-making to flow between it and the head of EIA.

The bill also provides more transparency of the critical information and data that underpins regulatory decision-making.

The head of EIA will establish an integrated and robust reporting framework to monitor the impact of environmental actions and decisions. This was a key recommendation of the Samuel review. It 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 that 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, and form part of, an ecosystem. Creating a nature-positive Australia means that, across Australia, nature is repairing rather than continuing to decline.

Defining and measuring this outcome against an explicit baseline will mean that we can be accountable for our collective efforts to halt and reverse biodiversity degradation.

The head of the EIA will be charged with developing and implementing a monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework to report on nature positive, including setting a baseline. This will be an independent function of the head of Environment Information Australia.

The preparation and publishing of the Australia state of the environment report will be another independent function of the head of Environment Information Australia.

Previous state of the environmentreports have been backward-looking and shone a spotlight on the environment's continual 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.

The Australia state of the environment 2021report set a benchmark with the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in environmental reporting.

We recognise the important knowledge and unique perspectives that Indigenous Australians provide. This bill ensures that future reports must incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and knowledge.

The requirement for these reports to combine scientific and Indigenous knowledge with contributions from independent experts will ensure the reports are based on the best available information and analysis.

Australia's environment is a national asset and responsibility. This is why 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 government to commit publicly to national environmental goals.

The government will be held to account on its actions, and the progress of the commitments will be transparent.

The bill introduces a new requirement for the government to respond to state of the environment reports within six months. It's expected that the response will incorporate input from the states and territories.

It's the responsibility of the Commonwealth, state, and territory governments to work together to achieve environmental improvements. The Commonwealth also provides an important leadership role.

The data used in reporting and analysing trends will be robust and the best available.

The head of EIA will have a leadership role to establish and maintain environmental economic accounts. The head of EIA will also prepare an annual statement of environmental economic accounts.

The bill gives the minister responsibility for tabling the statement in the parliament each year to provide a national picture of how the health of nature is supporting the health of the economy.

The challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and air and water pollution carry implications for the economy, for the environment and of course for the wellbeing of future generations.

Australians care about and want to preserve the environment for our children and our grandchildren. Australians also care about a strong economy and having secure, well-paid employment.

Regulators and regulated industries increasingly desire dependable information and structure to devise and plan for regulations that protect the environment, while growing the economy and creating jobs.

The work on environmental economic accounting will bring together, and make sense of, information about the interrelated challenges and opportunities facing our important industries and the environment.

It will also show both economic and nature-positive gains that can be made by investing in the environment. This will lead to better decisions by government, business and our whole community.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.