Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 will see the introduction of a world-leading voluntary market framework supporting landholders to protect, restore and repair nature, and I thank Minister Plibersek for this exciting initiative.

This is all part of the Albanese Labor government delivering on its Nature Positive Plan, a modern version of the ancient tradition of caring for country. This new market framework will make it easier for Australian businesses, organisations, local and state governments and individuals to invest in projects to protect and repair nature. The Australian government has committed to protect 30 per cent of Australia's land and seas by 2030. This is the same goal that has been adopted globally under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. This goal reinforces the findings of the 2021 State of the environment report and its sorrowful tale of environmental degradation, loss and inaction. After a lost decade of neglect, this big, brown beautiful land needs significant investment in conservation and restoration for a nature-positive future.

The Commonwealth government can't do it alone, obviously. There's a role for farmers, citizens, businesses and private sector investment that can contribute to reversing this environmental decline. This was highlighted in the finding of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act review by Professor Graeme Samuel AC. Private companies, conservation groups, farmers and other landholders are increasingly looking for ways to achieve positive outcomes for nature, not just because it's the right thing for any patriotic Australian to do but also, increasingly, because it's good for business. A recent independent report estimates that the market for biodiversity in Australia could unlock $137 billion in financial flows by 2050. So the demand is out there and the Albanese government will respond to it.

Importantly, this new nature repair market will be driven by science. Unlike the previous Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments, we won't be ignoring the signs. Unlike those Luddites and dinosaurs, we will allow science to lead the way as the nature repair market sets up and begins to work its restorative magic. The nature repair market will enable First Nations people to promote their unique knowledge of caring for this country, ancient wisdom held today that stretches back more than 65,000 years. Our nation is fortunate to have access to this knowledge and lived experience—information that can't be found anywhere else. For this nation's sake, it's imperative that we tap into this knowledge to achieve the best possible outcomes. It will enable participation and create employment and economic opportunities for First Nations people all over this land. And it will be done on First Nations people's terms. It will promote and enable free, prior and informed consent for projects on the land or waters their people have cared for for more than 100,000 generations. There will be opportunities to design projects that reflect the knowledge and connection to country of our First Nations people, and to utilise their skills and knowledge for a nature-positive future. That's a win for everyone.

Establishing the market in legislation will ensure its ongoing integrity, encourage investment in nature and drive environmental improvements across Australia. The bill will enable the Clean Energy Regulator, an independent statutory authority with significant experience in regulating environmental markets, to issue Australian landholders with tradeable biodiversity certificates. Certificates can then be sold to businesses, organisations, governments and individuals. All landholders, including farmers, First Nations people and other organisations—conservation groups et cetera—can participate in this market. Projects will deliver long-term nature-positive outcomes through activities such as weeding, planting native species and pest control. These can be undertaken on land or water, and so will include lakes and rivers as well as marine and coastal environments.

This will be a boon for regional Australia, yet another example of the Labor Party looking after the bush. This will be a boon because it will open participation and expansive opportunities for project locations which would then support jobs and nature-positive economic activity. The market will operate in parallel with the carbon market, facilitated by having the same regulator. This alignment will encourage carbon farming projects that also deliver benefits for biodiversity. There'll be administrative efficiencies in this approach and, more importantly, clear and accurate oversight of claims being made in both markets, because, as we know, there's been some dodgy accounting in the past. Our government acknowledges the recent review of carbon crediting, led by Professor Ian Chubb, which pointed out much of this.

Lessons learned from the carbon market have informed the bill and will continue to be reflected upon as environmental markets develop. The bill provides for biodiversity certificates to have integrity and represent an actual environmental improvement. Buyers can then invest in such a market with confidence. A key integrity measure is an independent expert committee responsible for ensuring projects deliver high-quality nature-positive outcomes, underpinned by a consistent approach to the measurement, assessment and verification of biodiversity.

The integrity of environmental outcomes is also enabled through assurance and compliance requirements. This includes monitoring, reporting and notification on the delivery of project activities and progress on the environmental outcome. The regulator will have monitoring and enforcement powers to ensure that projects are conducted in accordance with the rules. As we know, good governments prepare for the rogues.

The Nature Positive Plan reflects our commitment to restoring public accountability and trust. Consequently, transparency will be a core element of the scheme. Comprehensive information about projects and certificates will be available on a public register. Additional information will be regularly published by the regulator and there will be active release of relevant data by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. This will enable parliament and the public to monitor the scheme and provide opportunities for citizen oversight of what is taking place in the community. It will support certainty and value to the market and build trust back into the system.

The department is committed to working with the ACCC and ASIC to ensure that certificates issued in the nature repair market are not victims of greenwashing claims, that the statements made about certificates accurately reflect the projects and investment they represent, and that projects in the carbon and biodiversity markets are not affected by misleading claims.

Our government is committed to consultation and engagement on our environmental reform agenda. We have listened and will continue to listen to feedback on the design and operation of this market. We are working with First Nations people on a co-design approach for developing priority methods and supporting appropriate incorporation of traditional knowledge and management practices. The bill before the chamber mandates public consultation on methods and the instrument for measuring and assessing biodiversity.

The draft legislation also establishes the Nature Repair Market Committee. This committee will be responsible for providing advice to the minister following public consultation on the submission and their advice. It will have five or six experts with substantial experience and significant standing in one or more areas of expertise, including agriculture, science, environmental markets, land management, economics and Indigenous knowledge. The Nature Positive Plan represents a different approach to biodiversity offsets. It commits to offsets being the last resort, which we will enshrine in legislation.

The Albanese government is already designing and consulting on new national standards for matters of national environmental significance and environmental offsets. These will be legislated under the new nature-positive laws and will provide certainty and confidence in the use of biodiversity offsets under Commonwealth laws. They will no longer rely on averted loss but on the protection and restoration of ecosystems that provide a nature-positive outcome where avoidance and mitigation cannot prevent a significant impact.

Projects under the nature repair scheme won't be used as offsets unless and until they meet the new standards. The nature repair market will be an opportunity to create a supply of projects certified through purpose designed offset methods. The register will be a comprehensive and public source of information on these projects and the biodiversity that they are protecting.

This bill will establish a new market for investing in nature-positive outcomes. It will support Australia's international commitments to protect and repair ecosystems and reverse species decline and extinction—long overdue. It will generate investment and job opportunities for a nature-positive economy and create new income streams for landholders, including First Nations peoples and farmers, and I commend the legislation to the House.

See this speech in context