Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a landmark piece of legislation that represents the most significant overhaul of Australia's environmental laws in a generation. It is overdue. After our environment was neglected, ignored and left to degrade by those opposite, this is work that Labor attempted in our last term but that we could not get opposition or Greens support for in the Senate. We are now meeting the commitment we made—I certainly made this commitment to many of my constituents prior to the last election—to bring back to the parliament new laws to protect the environment. Our Labor government understands how critical these laws are, for our environment and the precious places and species we must protect and for the certainty needed by business and those looking to make necessary developments.

While this bill, the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, very clearly demonstrates that the Labor government understands the need to protect our environment and pass these laws, I'm yet to be convinced that those opposite understand it. These are some of the questions on my mind right now: Will the Leader of the Opposition stand up for our environment? Will she demonstrate her party's new-found capacity to listen, to learn the hard lessons and reflect the Australia from which they have become disconnected? Will she listen to Graeme Samuel—who she commissioned to do the report that these laws are based on—to Ken Henry or to the businesses urging her to support reform? Will the Greens political party finally join the government and pass these reforms to protect our environment, or will they once again hold out for the perfect and scupper the good? I want to pay tribute to the many groups and individuals who have campaigned hard for these reforms for many years, who have made and continue to make informed contributions. These are the people who understand the importance of getting this done. I just hope that the opposition and the Greens political party do too.

This bill builds on the Albanese Labor government's broader agenda to protect and restore Australia's natural environment, and this is an agenda that stands in stark contrast to the inaction and neglect of those opposite. For nearly a decade the Liberals failed to act on climate change. They ignored the warnings of scientists, and they left Australia without a credible plan to safeguard our environment. They stalled renewable investment, cut environmental programs and oversaw worsening biodiversity loss.

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