Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My electorate of Moreton is home to some areas of absolutely outstanding natural beauty and diverse habitats. The Brisbane River, known locally and affectionately as the Brown Snake, meanders its way past Oxley, Corinda, Sherwood, Graceville, Chelmer, Tennyson, Yeronga and Fairfield, supporting a variety of freshwater, estuarine and marine-tolerant fish. There are beautiful parks—like the Sherwood Arboretum, one of only three botanic gardens in our city—dotted along the river's route, many of them currently adorned with jacarandas. Soon, poincianas will cover the parks with a blaze of red.

A bit further afield, the Archerfield Wetlands encompass 150 hectares of eucalypt forest, open grassland, fresh water, wetlands and creeks. The federal government are providing funding to rehabilitate these habitats after decades and decades of industrial use, and they now support over 170 different bird species.

Another of my favourite places to visit is Oxley Creek Common. There are four kilometres of walking tracks where, if you're lucky, you can spot some unique bird species such as the magpie goose or the black necked stork.

And, of course, there is Toohey Forest. Toohey Forest is home to a diverse range of wildlife, from koalas and echidnas to wallabies, frogs and reptiles. Work on the federally funded fauna crossing—$3 million to a fauna crossing—is due to start by the end of the year. I'm delighted that this will help wildlife move safely between habitat areas within the forest.

Being outdoors and enjoying our green spaces is core to the Australian way of life. It's core to who we are. It's core to our family memories. It's core to our future. And I am certain that this is something that all of us in this place want future generations to enjoy. We know that to make this possible we need environmental law reform, and we need it now. That is what the Albanese Labor government's suite of environmental protection reform bills is focused on. We need to ensure that we deliver stronger protection of the environment while balancing the requirements of efficiency, housing and renewables.

Five years ago Professor Graeme Samuel, commissioned by the Leader of the Opposition, led an independent review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This bill addresses the critical issues that were identified by Professor Samuel in his report—critical issues that were ignored by the opposition when the report was handed down. The focus areas are stronger environmental protections, more-efficient project assessments, and increased accountability and transparency around that decision-making process. These are the areas where it is clear that the current Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is failing. It is not meeting the needs of the environment, it is not meeting the needs of business and it is not meeting the needs of our community. It is an outdated piece of legislation. It's over 20 years old, and it is no longer fit for the purpose for which it was originally created. That is why it needs reform.

This bill is all about better outcomes for the environment and faster decision-making. Fixing these issues will help us advance key national priorities, including protecting the environment, building more homes, creating more jobs, transitioning efficiently to renewables and achieving economic prosperity while doing it. Surely these are priorities that the opposition and the Greens can get behind, especially after the feedback they received in May from the Australian people—voters who were tired of legislation being blocked, voters who don't want to see this bill split, voters who want to see a sensible balance and voters who want action on the environment and on housing and on future prosperity.

As Professor Samuel recently said of the coalition's posturing:

It's bitterly disappointing because it says to me there are potentially political games being played, or posturing, which we should be putting aside.

When it comes to political games, we know where that road leads. We've seen this movie before. We know what the outcome will be, because we saw it with the CPRS when the Greens and the coalition teamed up. We saw it in the last parliament, with the EPA, when the Greens and the coalition teamed up. It's been five long years since the Samuel report was handed down, and it hasn't been able to go through the parliament yet, because of the political games that Professor Samuel himself is so concerned about.

This is the opportunity to change that history. This is the opportunity to take action. This is the opportunity to make a change that is real and to make a change that will make a difference. This is the opportunity not to block, not to play politics, but just to do something about it. What this bill means in practice is seeing more environmental protections and more restoration of critical national habitats while benefiting from more transparent and efficient housing approvals. It also means faster progress on renewable energy infrastructure and on the critical minerals projects that are vital for Australia's future.

Labor is committed to establishing a strong and independent National Environmental Protection Agency. The agency will ensure that rules are followed without any political pressure and that the same standards apply across the country. The National Environmental Protection Agency will, as it's been described, be a tough cop on the beat. The National Environmental Protection Agency will be empowered to audit the assessment and approval processes of the states, keep track of environmental impacts and share that information openly. Companies that keep breaking environmental rules will receive tougher penalties. This may include taking the profits of a company that has been found to be breaching the rules. The bill will implement new environment protection orders to ensure urgent, risky and damaging situations can be managed quickly, and there will be enhanced audit powers to improve monitoring and compliance.

Another key element of the reforms is the introduction of a new ministerial authority to establish national environment standards. These standards will define the parameters for decision-making across the act, ensuring that outcomes for the environment are improved. They will provide clarity, giving business predictability and lifting the quality and consistency of regulatory decisions. They will drive economic investment. They will drive job creation at the same time as protecting the environment. Labor is prioritising the development of these standards, working on draft versions for matters of national environmental significance and environmental offsets and further drafts concerning First Nations engagement and environmental data. Once the legislation is in place, consultation on all standards will continue.

Professor Samuel emphasised that reform must go beyond protection; it must also drive restoration of habitats. That's why the new laws will legally require projects to avoid, minimise and repair environmental damage wherever it's feasible. Where significant residual impacts remain, they must be fully offset, delivering a net gain for the environment. This is a crucial step beyond the current no-net-loss approach. This approach places the environment front and centre and enables a more strategic large-scale investment in biodiversity and ecosystem repair.

The reforms will also define, in law, what constitutes an unacceptable impact on the environment. Currently, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act includes a 'clearly unacceptable' category but does not provides a definition. The new criteria will provide upfront clarity on what cannot be approved, making it clear from the start whether a project is viable and enabling faster, more transparent decisions. The legislation will also empower the minister to issue protection statements, guiding decision-makers on how to safeguard threatened species and ecological communities, including where unacceptable impacts or critical habitats are identified.

The current assessment and approval process leads to lengthy delays, with companies having to deal with duplicated processes across federal, state and territory jurisdictions. The act will remove three of the six existing assessment pathways and introduce a new and efficient streamlined assessment pathway for project assessments and approvals. This will reduce both duplication of processes and time, cutting the process from the current 70-day statutory period to 50 days or less.

There are also provisions for bilateral agreements with states and territories to apply Commonwealth assessment standards to projects, ensuring consistency and efficiency. This accreditation will be audited every five years to ensure that the new national environmental standards are being met.

The measures in this bill follow a proud Labor history of environmental protection. Labor governments created the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Labor governments saved the Franklin River from being dammed, and Labor governments protected the Daintree and Kakadu. In its first term, the Albanese Labor government protected over 95 million hectares of land and sea. Fifty-two per cent of our oceans are now protected, and Labor tripled the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park. This was the biggest act of environmental conservation anywhere in the world in 2023 and was backed up by $1.2 billion of investment to save the Great Barrier Reef.

This government has also forced big polluters to cut their emissions. As part of our commitment to achieve net zero by 2050, as part of this journey, we have committed to 62 per cent to 70 per cent emissions by 2035. We have approved 111 renewable energy projects. That's enough to power 13 million homes. Renewable energy generation in Australia is at its highest level ever, up in volume by around 30 per cent since Labor came to government. At the end of 2024, 46 per cent of the national energy market was provided by renewables, and we are working towards 82 per cent renewables by 2030.

This forward-thinking bill includes regional planning to streamline development in areas where it will have less impact on the environment and to protect critical habitats of vulnerable species. The current legislation focuses on a project-by-project assessment basis, whereas regional planning will enable a thorough view of the environmental impacts on a regional basis, protecting areas of high conservation priority. The Minister for the Environment and Water has consulted widely on the bill, holding over 100 meetings, roundtables and forums, and the result is a comprehensive, meaningful, sensible and balanced environmental law reform.

I urge the opposition, the Greens political party and the crossbench to support what may be our only chance in a generation to enact the protections our environment needs, because, contrary to what people say, you don't have to choose between protecting the environment and boosting jobs. You don't have to choose between protecting the environment and investing in housing. You don't have to choose between protecting the environment and the economy. And that's what this bill does.

This, right here, is a moment. It's an important moment because it's the moment that we get to change history when it comes to environmental policy. Instead of repeating the mistakes of the past, this is the moment to get things done. This is the moment to put the reform into place. This is the moment to pass these laws.

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