Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying previously: in addition, in 2023 over 270 acres that were bulldozed in the Banana shire for beef pasture had been mapped as habitat for 45 EPBC listed species, including the koala, the northern quoll, the spotted-tail quoll and the greater glider. These areas of critical habitat were able to be cleared because of the continuous land-use exemption in the current EPBC Act. This bushland was able to be cleared without any assessment under our national environment laws. In the midst of an environmental and climate crisis, in a country which leads the world for both its mammal extinctions and deforestation rate, it is extraordinary that this can still be happening.

An assessment of a project's climate change impacts must also be integrated into the EPA's functions through the establishment of a climate trigger. The Australia state of the Environment 2021 report clearly made the point that climate change is supercharging the destruction of our environment and our nature. As I said earlier, already 19 ecosystems across Australia are on the brink of collapse, and, as UN experts warn, greenhouse gas pollution is the largest and most pervasive threat to the natural environment the world has ever known. Environmental destruction, extinctions and climate change are inextricably linked. Any EPA must have a duty to consider and assess projects for their carbon and their methane emissions. Otherwise it will be doing a vastly incomplete and insufficient job, and this will mean we will continue to see widescale destruction of our environment and our species' extinctions. It is illogical in 2024, having already hit 1.5 degrees of global warming, to create Australia's first Environment Protection Agency with no mandate to protect against further climate change impacts.

That takes us back full circle to the problem of establishing this EPA as part of the so-called 'stage 2' and delaying stage 3 until who knows when. This EPA, once created, will only be tasked with enforcing what the environment minister herself described as fundamentally broken nature laws, laws which, for the past 25 years, have failed to protect our nature. As the Climate Council pointed out, more than 7.7 million hectares of threatened species' habitat have been cleared since the EPBC Act came into effect in 1999. There are now 1,918 species under threat, with more than half of those at risk of extinction. More than 740 fossil fuel projects have been waved through under the current act, despite their direct role in fuelling harmful climate change. With the great uncertainty about when or if the stage 3 reforms will ever see the light of day, it is critically important that simple steps, such as repealing the RFA exemptions and implementing a climate trigger, be enacted now, in this stage of the reforms of the EPBC Act.

Australia absolutely needs a national Environment Protection Agency—there is no doubt about it—and I thank and commend the government for their work to establish this body. But it could be so much better and stronger. If ever there were a time for strong and visionary leadership, it is now, and so I urge the minister and the government to act decisively to enact a strong and independent board to oversee the duties of the EPA. This is what environmental organisations across the country are calling for, loud and clear, as a critical step towards the true protection of our nature. I would also strongly urge the minister to include a climate trigger in the EPBC Act in this stage of the reforms and repeal the Regional Forestry Agreement exemptions in this stage of the bills because, if the intention is to truly protect nature, then it simply does not make sense to not do so.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to 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.

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024 and the two related bills. As a farmer by trade, I know thing or two about working the land. I know a thing or two about being environmentally savvy. I also know a thing or two about what it takes to protect the environment and to leave the land better than when you found it, which is something the Albanese Labor government is simply not doing. This Albanese Labor government will have the Australian public believe that those who worked the land are the problem. You can see this in all of their rushed legislation that they're trying to bring in or have brought in. Right across Australia they've attacked our farmers, they've attacked our fishers and they've attacked our logging industry, which I know is a major cause of concern for my colleagues down south. Those opposite say they want a future made in Australia, but the Albanese Labor government are MIA when it comes to Australia's future.

Closer to home, in my electorate of Dawson, the Minister for the Environment and Water bowed down to UNESCO's 10 demands, including the bans on gillnet fishing. This is a decision that has put Australia's sustainable wild-caught fishing industry in jeopardy. The reality is though—and I say this based on decades of experience—that those of us who have made a living out of working on the land look after our rivers and our oceans. We rely on these ecosystems not only to survive but to thrive. Without these thriving ecosystems there would be nothing there for us to harvest. We would lose our ability to make a living. We would lose our ability to pay our bills, and we would lose our ability to feed our families and to feed our nation.

Aussie farmers and fishers are Australia's biggest environmental warriors. We know what it takes. More importantly, we do what it takes to ensure that our land and our waterways are healthy. Anyone who says otherwise has never been a farmer. Those opposite are persecuting us at every turn, with more and more paperwork, more regulation and even monitoring the amount of fertiliser we use, claiming that we are the problem. What an absolute joke! Anyone who thinks a farmer wastes fertiliser has never had to pay for the stuff. Farmers are nature positive, unlike this bill.

I could stand here in this House and tell you all about how lazy the Albanese Labor government are when it comes to their policy and legislation. I could tell you how lacklustre this government have been. I could tell you exactly how much they do not care about rural and regional Australia, and that the only thing they care about is putting out political agendas and marketing spin to draw on the heartstrings of those inner city voters. And yet, they make no real effort towards positive change.

I stand here and I say this and, yes, I will yell it from the rooftops if I have to: let's actually have a look at a few of the examples of how those opposite have already let the Australian public down and how they continue to let the Australian public down. I've already mentioned the minister's ban on the use of commercial gillnets right across Queensland, impacting Australia's fishos and removing 2,000 tonnes of Australian wild-caught seafood from the market. This decision was rushed and not based on science. It was pushed through by the Labor government without consultation with the local fishing industry and without any plan for if or when these men and women were going to be compensated, leaving all of them scared for their future and their families, which for most spans back many generations—all with a stroke of a pen from Canberra by a minister who, when invited to my electorate to speak with these fishers and to consult with the experts and all of the industry, just refused. Tell me how that works, Minister? Please tell me, because I really struggle with this concept. I say it again: this decision was rushed through without any scientific backing. It's a pattern that we've seen emerge from this one-term government.

What else have those opposite done that goes against protecting the environment or that goes against protecting Australia's future? As a display of hypocrisy at its best, the Albanese Labor government wants to destroy thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land and native vegetation for this reckless race to renewables. Let me be clear: I am not against renewable energy. I love renewable energy. But you have to do it sensibly and you have to do it in the right place.

Instead of clearing the plant life that naturally removes carbon dioxide from the air and turns this into oxygen through a process called photosynthesis—those opposite might want to google that and see what photosynthesis does—they want to build massive metal wind turbines that only produce energy when the wind blows—but not too much wind because they won't work then either. Those opposite want to fill thousands of hectares of land with giant solar panels that can't be recycled at the end of their life, which is only about 10 to 15 years. And then where do they go? They go straight into landfill, and then the landfill has to be monitored forever. Now, that is not very nature positive, is it? In fact, I'd have to say that's nature negative.

Instead of having a mature discussion after looking at its viability, safety and potential, the Labor government won't even talk to us about zero emission nuclear technology that would provide continuous and reliable power 24 hours a day, seven days a week; have a life expectancy of 80 years; and take up a physical footprint that is only a small percentage of that under the renewables plan. Instead, those opposite are utilising scare campaigns, with images of three-eyed fish from The Simpsons. Australia already has a nuclear industry in Sydney. Where are the three-eyed fish there?

Refusing to have a mature discussion about zero emission technology that lasts for decades and choosing to bulldoze thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land and native vegetation instead is certainly not nature positive.

Those opposite gagged debate on the family ute and car tax and rushed that legislation through without bothering to stop and consider the consequences for those of us living in rural and regional areas, where the infrastructure to power electric vehicles simply does not exist. It's nowhere to be found. In my electorate of Dawson, we are the biggest cane-farming region in Australia, we have farmers growing beautiful Bowen mangoes, we have a half-a-billion-dollar horticultural crop and we supply food for the entire nation. What this government doesn't understand is that our farmers and food producers can't use electric vehicles, because they're not fit for purpose. They can't carry the weight, they can't tow the load and they cannot travel the vast distances that we need to be able to travel. As a result, our farmers are going to be charged thousands of dollars more for their vehicles just for the privilege of feeding our nation and keeping our nation alive.

It is abundantly clear that the Labor government are not interested in the welfare of Australia or the Australian environment. Those opposite are playing a game of pass the parcel with Australia's future, and you never know what you're going to find under each new layer of bureaucratic paper.

Now we have had these rushed nature positive bills through from Minister Plibersek, nothing about these bills is very nature positive at all, but everything about them is Australia negative. These bills are going to be bad for business, bad for the economy and bad for every Australian who is trying to work hard and get on with the job.

Let's get to the reality of the situation. If Labor get their way with this legislation, we are going have yet another environmental protection agency handed millions of dollars to do exactly what all the other environmental organisations have been established to do. The minister is handing over all the power to these organisations before even legislating how they will work—another pattern emerging from the Albanese Labor government. This is what happens when you have a prime minister that provides weak leadership; it filters down through the whole organisation. As the fishos in my electorate say, 'The fish rots from the head.'

We already have the Environmental Defenders Office, who come after legitimate projects and shut them down. But where are they when it comes to defending the environment as a Labor government is decimating thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land, native vegetation and koala habitats to put up wind farms and solar panels that all end up in landfill? There is nothing renewable about these renewables. The Environmental Defenders Office is nowhere.

As I mentioned before, the minister wants to legislate another body that is a duplication of something that already exists. But that isn't even the most sinister part of this bill. This organisation won't have to report to anyone, not even the minister. They will have all the power to walk into a workplace and shut your business down, stop your projects and hand over enormous fines, and all they will have to say is, 'We have reasonable suspicion to do it.' Whose version of reasonable is reasonable, though, Minister? Nothing those opposite have done so far has shown me that they are reasonable. This is nothing but green lawfare on business and on the hardworking Aussies just trying to do their bit and get on with their lives.

This isn't an environmental protection agency; this is an environmental union. This minister wants to give this organisation union power, and the scary thing is it is going to hurt everyone. Yes, it's going to hurt big business and, yes, it's going to hurt small business too. This environmental union will be able to walk into any business—restaurants, hairdressers, accountants, engineering shops and your local fish and chip shops—and force them to stop trading. If they want to shut you down, they will be able to do this. I will not be supporting this bill. As I've clearly demonstrated, this bill is not nature positive; on the contrary, this bill is nature negative.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that went for about 13 minutes and 35 seconds, and I'm not really sure what it was that the member for Dawson was trying to achieve—

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just telling the truth!

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take your interjection, Member for Dawson—apart from running a scaremongering campaign based on the idea that, on that side of the chamber, you know farmers and, on this side of the chamber, we don't know farmers—'You're bad; we're good.' Newsflash, buddy: without a productive, safe, positive environment, our farmlands don't work, and I know that because I spent quite a lot of my youth growing up on family farms. I was also lucky that my father spent quite a long time with the Victorian Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. I had a firsthand experience of going with him on 'Take your kid to work' days. I got to see what happens when we don't take care of our environment. Soil degradation and higher salinity levels make farming harder and production drops off. It is important that we take care of our environment because, without our environment, we don't have anywhere to live and, as the member for Dawson likes to rightly point out, we can't grow crops. Yes, we need to feed the nation, but we also need lands that support that production of food and, importantly, we need an environment that is supported by good policy to ensure that that land remains productive and safe for generations to come.

That's what the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024 and the related bills essentially go towards. It's about setting a framework where you can look to the future and know with a high level of certainty that we are going to have an environment that is habitable, that is productive for food production and where farmers are profitable. This is not about shutting down farming; this is about working with farmers, working with our agricultural sector, working with our environment. It's about having a positive environment so that we can work positively with farmers and people to live in harmony. I really have to say that the member for Dawson needs to pull his head out of his proverbial and see the sunlight. We constantly hear this rhetoric about wind towers taking up land that we can't farm on. Actually, the truth is that you can still farm around your wind towers.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 7.30 pm, the debate is interrupted.