Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the main reasons I ran for parliament was my concern that our generation's legacy would be to bestow a much degraded environment and much reduced biodiversity on the generations to come. Last week, I spoke at a Town Hall forum hosted by the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society about the urgent need for stronger environment and nature laws. Hundreds of people attended. Clearly, this matter is important to our communities, who expect us to do much better. At the heart of the forum was our responsibility to protect our environment to safeguard the wellbeing of all Australians and ensure the quality of life and prosperity of future generations. Every delay in passing robust environmental legislation represents a missed opportunity. This is urgent.

Australians were promised comprehensive reform of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 by the end of last year. The government is setting up the Environment Protection Agency, the EPA, and the Environment Information Australia organisation, and I applaud that, but there's still no timetable for the EPBC rewrite. I'll say this again: it's on us. It's our responsibility to the generations who will follow us. Because if not us, who? If not now, when?