This is a critical time for nature in Australia. Right now the Federal Parliament are debating changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) that will shape how we manage our environment for years to come. This is a huge opportunity to properly protect nature, but also presents a real risk that things will go backwards.
We at the Conservation Council have been really concerned about the first draft of this legislation, which seems to take protections for our nature backwards. To that end, last week we made a Submission on the Australian Senate on the Albanese Labor Government’s Environment Protection Reform Bills, presenting our case in time for the related Senate Inquiry hearings were held last Friday (The Hansard is now available here following the Senate Inquiry hearings last Friday into EPBC Act and related reforms. There is also a full replay on YouTube here, where Prof Graeme Samuel, whose review of the EPBC Act has sparked these reforms, speaks from the 25:30 min mark.)
Overall, we consider that the reform package includes some good features, like the inclusion of a framework for National Environmental Standards (NES), defining ‘unacceptable impacts’ and requiring overall ‘net gains’; but, ‘signs of compromise are everywhere’. As drafted in the bill, the changes will weaken the protections for nature, climate, cultural heritage and communities in Australia which will eventually have a negative impact on all of us. Future generations will not look back on the decisions made in 2025 and applaud fast timeframes based on less rigorous assessments, they will applaud strong action taken now to protect Australia’s environment. As we quote Wendell Berry in our submission, “whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”
We were also pleased to join forces with the State and Territory Conservation Councils of Australia last week to develop and submit a joint statement to the Australian Senate addressing issues that relate specifically to local Conservation Councils. A highest priority of this submission was to tackle proposals for devolution of environmental decision making – effectively handing over power back to the states to make key decisions on our environment. This is a real risk, as State and Territory Governments often have vested interests in proposals that impact our environment, and also rarely have the capacity or expertise to properly assess large projects impacting our environment. In the view of the State and Territory Conservation Councils, the three central principles of an effective EPBC Act are:
- Strong, enforceable, and objective upfront protections for nature and climate.
- Strong federal responsibility and oversight for decisions made under the EPBC Act
- Strong public participation in decisions made under the EPBC Act.
It is of our opinion that the proposed legislation as it currently stands undermines all of these components. We are therefore pushing for real changes to ensure much stronger legislation.
This is a real chance to do something good for nature and we are pushing hard to ensure this is achieved. We are expecting the reform package may be passed this week and call on the Government and all negotiating parties to do their best to address these major flaws and create better laws for our environment.