Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For too long, environmental protection has been pulled between competing politics. We had a perfect illustration just then from the contribution by the shadow environment minister, the member for Moncrieff. She says she wants more environmental protection in our law, yet she stood there for 20 minutes attacking every measure to achieve it. She says reform is long overdue but then also says that this bill is rushed. She said that she wants to protect the environment, but when this bill and the related bills first came out she then wanted to split the bills so that environmental protection would be kicked down the road.

Australians are tired of this pointscoring when it comes to environment and climate policy. They're sick of it. They want progress. At the last two elections, they voted for progress on climate and the environment, and this bill, the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, represents the most significant reform in a generation. It gives us a chance, for the first time in 25 years, to rewrite some laws that are, quite frankly, completely busted and to finally deliver a system that protects what's left of our environment but also helps us restore what has been lost for the very first time. We've all seen what happens when the environment and climate become a political football. Unbelievably, we're going through it all again right now—well, those opposite are. Our plans are clear, and our determination to deliver this long-overdue reform stands. We've seen inaction, and turning this into a political football has led to delay and division. Australians are sick of it, because what it also leads to is a massive decline in our environment and biodiversity, and that's what we need to stop. We've been living through this for 20 years, and this bill seeks to end it.

Protecting the environment has always been part of Labor's DNA. It's Labor governments that care for and protect our environment, be it with Whitlam's creation of many of our national parks, Hawke saving the Franklin, Keating protecting the Daintree and Kakadu, Rudd and Gillard making climate policy central to a modern federal government, or, of course, the Albanese Labor government cementing the energy transition and emissions reduction policy that those before it couldn't, expanding our marine parks and protecting our biodiversity. The environment and climate are core Labor business because we understand something fundamental: a healthy environment is not the enemy of prosperity and jobs; it's the foundation of them.

This bill builds on years and years of advocacy from the environment movement but also, importantly, Labor's environment movement. I'm proud to be the New South Wales patron of LEAN, the Labor Environment Action Network. I can tell the House that this policy, to reform our environmental laws, started from LEAN, from the ground up, from community members right across the country, way back in 2016. They're people like Felicity Wade, David Tierney, Erin Watt, Ella Factor, David Mason, Louise Crawford, Janaline Oh and all the rank and file members of the Labor movement, like John Gain and Penny Pedersen and scores more, who drove across branches, across the country, over 500 branches, including all the branches in Bennelong: Eastwood, Gladesville, Ryde, Macquarie, Epping, Lane Cove, Hunters Hill and Willoughby Castlecrag—all branches who've passed motions to get this policy to where it is today, who've pushed this policy from the ground up, making the Shorten-led federal Labor opposition commit to this in 2018 and then the Albanese opposition commit to this in 2022, and then again the Albanese government commit to it at the 2025 election. These laws are a perfect example of community led, ground up policy development, that sets Labor apart from all others in this place—from the community, for the community. LEAN pushed for this reform. LEAN supported people like me to get into this place to vote for this bill.

I will be voting for this bill, because we desperately need reform. Our current environmental laws are just broken. Faults were identified in these laws shortly after they came into force in 1999, when the former member for Bennelong was Prime Minister of this country.

Of reviews there have been more than one, but of course the latest, on which we've heard—commissioned by the current Leader of the Opposition when she was environment minister—made the case for urgent reform. This bill is based on the foundation of the Samuel review, and the Samuel review found that the laws were outdated, fragmented and failing to stop environmental decline. These laws that we currently have are not working for the environment, they're not working for communities and they're not working for business. You only need to look around to see that that's true. Species are under threat. Ecosystems are under strain. Housing and renewable energy projects are delayed, year after year, because of the inefficiencies under the current law.

In Graeme Samuel's own words, these reforms had a 'broad consensus'. Nearly every stakeholder he consulted—scores of them—supported this, bar one hold-out. From business groups to environment groups, they all supported the findings of his review—bar one.

Australians are tired of hearing that it's either one or the other—that, if you protect the environment, it's at the cost of business, or that, if you're pro business, it's at the cost of the environment. That's a false choice. This bill—and this package of bills—represents core Labor values, in that we believe we can protect the environment and also provide certainty for business. As former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry put it, with 'glistening ambition', Australia can 'build an efficient, jobs-rich', 'low-emissions nature-rich economy', with the passage of these bills. That's the future this bill can help deliver, if we work together to get it right.

I'll go back to Graeme Samuel's words again, because I find that his involvement in this debate most recently has been incredibly powerful. Not only did he do all that work, back in 2020, setting up this review, but, if you've seen some of the interviews he's given and his contributions very recently, he has reminded us of why this parliament needs to stop playing games with environmental protection. He said:

What we are talking about here is the future of nature for our children, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He called on every side of politics to set aside grievances and to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. These are good reforms. These laws are based on the Samuel review commissioned by the opposition, and his words are powerful. They're a message for all of us, because, in front of us here in the House, and soon in the Senate, we have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to restore trust in this parliament to do good things about the environment, to fix a very clear problem.

We tried to do this last term, and we hit a roadblock—as was the flavour of the Senate in the last term. Please, let's not do this again. Let's not do this again, because our environment cannot wait another five years, 10 years or 25 years for this law to change. We can make approvals faster and clearer and fairer while continuing to protect our environment with important concepts like net gain, not only protecting our environment but making it better. This bill represents the chance for a massive leap forward on environmental protection and on certainty for business. Australians want to see us work together to deliver it.

I did two really big street stalls recently. We had our petition out there for the creation of an environmental protection agency, and this was overwhelmingly the feedback that I received from locals at Lane Cove, at their rotary fair, and also at Eastwood, at the Granny Smith Festival. Scores of people were coming up. We would raise this issue with them, and it was like, 'We've got to get this through; we have to get these reforms through.' This bill builds a modern, credible and accountable framework for environmental protection. Environmental Protection Australia will be created, independent, science based and empowered to enforce the law, ensuring its decisions are transparent and trustworthy. National environmental standards will set clear and consistent rules so decisions are fair and practicable. The net gain principle ensures that projects contribute to restoration, not just compensation, an incredibly important aspect of this bill—that we don't just preserve what we've got but contribute to getting back what we've lost.

Stronger penalties will make sure environmental wrongdoing is never just the cost of business. If someone breaks the rules, they should cop massive fines. That's what this bill proposes. It's a disincentive for businesses to break the rules. Of course, First Nations participation will be embedded throughout the decision-making process, recognising the custodianship and traditional knowledge central to protection and environmental protection as well. These reforms can replace the current mess we've got now with focus, with clarity and with accountability.

Right now and before us, we have the opportunity in this parliament to show that we can rise above division and deliver reform that's lasting. As the environment minister said at the National Press Club, it's now or never. We had a go at this in the last term, and we've recommitted to doing it again. I welcome that the minister has made this a priority, and I welcome that the government have brought this on to be debated and hopefully sorted by the end of the year. Our environment can't wait for us to continue to argue over this. Everyone agrees these reforms need to go through. Everyone does. These laws are based on the review that the opposition commissioned and handed down. The minister has made it very clear that he's willing to listen to all sides so that we can reach a consensus. Sure, it won't be perfect, and some will want to go more, to go harder, to bring more into this bill. But we also need to get it through. We also need to be faithful to our children and to our grandchildren and to their children, because this has just gone on for too long.

This bill delivers the strongest environmental standards in a generation—an independent EPA; higher penalties for environmental wrongdoers and the power to actually enforce the law. The Australian people are asking us to deliver on the environment and to deliver on climate, not to continue to delay and to divide. They don't want another decade of fighting over this; they want progress. If this bill doesn't pass soon, our environment will keep going backwards. Renewable energy projects will continue to be delayed, and our biodiversity and environment will continue to be impacted upon by laws that simply are not fit for purpose.

The time for politics on this is over. The time for partnership is now. It's just unacceptable for people in this place to say that they want stronger protection for the environment and then block a plan when it comes to parliament. Wanting environmental reform isn't enough. Delivery is all that matters. This parliament simply must deliver these changes, because this bill does what the experts, businesses and communities have told us we need to do. They want things better for the environment, better for business and better for our community, and this bill delivers on all three of those measures. This is our moment to prove that this parliament can deliver, that we can work together and, importantly, that we can listen to the Australian people who re-elected an Albanese Labor government to deliver these reforms. That's two mandates received to deliver an independent environmental protection agency, two mandates delivered to ensure that our environment doesn't continue to degrade and two mandates for us to deliver this bill, to rise to the challenge and to get this done. As Graeme Samuel said, this is about the future of nature for our children and our grandchildren. That's the legacy we have the chance to leave here, and I call on all sides of this place to work together over the coming weeks, nut out a solution through the House and through the Senate, and get these reforms through.

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