Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and cognate bills. I rise to defend nature and I rise to stand up for the engines of our nation's prosperity. I rise to speak to one of the most important topics in the country: the land itself. It is a land that my parents fell in love with more than 50 years ago. It is a land that I fell in love with and a land that I worked on, just like my old man. 'Stunning country' is how I describe the childhood hometown where I grew up, Kambalda, and my birthplace, Kalgoorlie. The goldfields of Western Australia are not just a source of mineral treasures; they are a source of natural treasures too. The ecosystem systems are complex and intensely alive, and anyone who has looked at our deserts and only saw red dirt and flies did not look hard enough.

One of the things that I would like to do as I rise today as a Western Australian engineer who has worked on the mines is dispel some myths and falsehoods. One of the myths is that people that take part in the resource sector do not like nature or the great Australian outdoors and also that being an environmentalist means that you're always anti economic prosperity. We live in a world where we need to both look after the environment and use our resources wisely for our prosperity. We need the critical minerals, and we need to look after the land, and the world needs Australia. Not only do we need this legislation; we need leadership. We need leadership from our government, we need leadership from the Greens, and we need leadership from the coalition. Our goal is to strike the balance and to safeguard what is precious and for Australia to continue to be an amazing nation.

So some might be surprised to learn of the love of the land from those that have worked on the mines. The mines, of course, run 24/7. When you work on the mines, you actually plug into the land more than you do in an air conditioned office. Imagine seeing a mob of kangaroos at the edge of a mine site at dusk or hearing at dawn the chorus of desert birds. I bring to this chamber 18 years of experience as a chemical engineer, as someone that was born in a goldmining town, who grew up in a nickel-mining town and who is the daughter of a fitter and turner. I am a woman who followed in my dad's steel capped boots into the male dominated resource sector, and I was determined to use my love of science and also harmonise industry with sustainable practices. In the town where I grew up, Kambalda, when the houses were built, they removed the footprint of where the houses would go, but what that meant was that everyone had gum trees in their back yards and their front yards. I also grew up learning how to rehabilitate mine sites. Mr Woolard was the environmental leader that worked on the mines there, and he taught us as students that you could heal the land after you extracted the minerals that you wanted.

So, as someone who has walked, driven and flown across the country to mine sites and commissioned and worked in continuous improvement and even energy efficiency and emissions reductions, what I would say is that I have seen instances where the resource sector has done best practice, and it has been very impressive at those times. I've been immensely proud to call myself an engineer that has worked on the mines. But there have also been times when there have been questionable practices and sometimes, frankly, sloppy work. The thing that we're trying to do today is lift the standards, have a new benchmark and set what we expect across Australia. This is what this legislation is doing, and we have important structures that we're putting in place. This includes the National Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Information Australia, the restoration contributions holder and also, importantly, a better, faster, smarter approval system.

This is a massive effort by a Labor government, prepared to do the work to safeguard what matters. Begun by the former minister for the environment, the member for Sydney—thanks to her hard work, the current Minister for the Environment hit the ground running and has not stopped. Forget the term 'fixer'; I think of him as an endurance athlete because this has been a marathon—a marathon of consultation, conservation and conversation. I am proud to be part of a Labor government that is determined to keep decarbonisation and housing and nation-building projects moving at the pace required, at the pace we need to safeguard not just our prosperity but our children's prosperity. And do you know what? Industry wants clarity. Take it from an engineer. Sometimes, that means a quick no, because the sunk costs of waiting on approvals are disastrous for a project.

Here's another line: if a project harms our most precious environmental assets, it won't get the green light. Don't waste your time. As the Minister for the Environment and Water put it, no, you can't mine Uluru, and it shouldn't take a bureaucratic run-around to say a quick no. We're also empowering industry to do their bit by setting standards based in science. Priority 1 is avoiding harm. For cases where harm is unavoidable, we have introduced the concept of net gain. This updated offset framework ensures that any environmental damage is more than compensated. Net gain means that projects that do harm must leave nature better off than before. Protection statements will make it easier for decision-makers and proponents to understand what is required.

This bill honours the deadly Australian bush, and, like the deadly bush creatures we all love, this legislation has teeth. Stronger penalties and enforcement powers will ensure that environmental harm is taken seriously. You will not profit from the destruction of nature in Australia. The incentive to move fast while breaking things, copping just a slap on the wrist, will be history. Put simply, if you wreck our environment, whatever you make from your wrecking, you will pay.

There was genuine constructive public debate about finding the right place for emissions, and I thank the Labor Environment Action Network, who, like many groups, came to the table in good faith. No-one on this side of the House is deluded about climate. Climate change threatens the planet. It is indeed anthropogenic, meaning it is caused by mankind, and we need to act on it. This bill requires the disclosure of emissions, both scope 1 and scope 2, and aligns with Australia's safeguard mechanism. Proponents will also be required to disclose associated emission mitigation measures and abatement targets, along with their estimated emissions. This supports our climate goals. Environmental approvals must be considered with broader decarbonisation efforts.

We attempted this bill once before, but the Liberals and the Greens teamed up and blocked its pathway. What a disappointment. The Liberal Party is supposed to be the party of business, but not supporting this legislation will bring business to a halt. It's one thing to stand by a future Ley government, or even a future Wilson government, but not standing by business—are the Liberals so far from their values that they can't even remember what to do for business? As for the Greens, in the last term we never saw a 'green for go' or even a 'yellow for go slow'; it was red lights all the way. What Australia saw was blockers, not builders, and at the last election Australia gave them the red light. I hope the Greens have left that blocking era behind them. It's getting a bit old and a bit like a broken traffic light.

I want people to recognise that the EPA is nothing to be afraid of. The US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK all have their own versions. An independent national environmental protection agency will ensure that rules are enforced fairly and transparently. It will educate and guide industry and communities. Companies will be held accountable for the damage they cause, promoting better compliance and deterring future breaches. This is excellent progress.

We also want Australians to understand the state of the environment. That's why we will also have the Head of Environment Information Australia, to improve access to reliable data. We want to support evidence based decision-making. This aligns with global best practice in environmental regulation, and our world-renowned natural wonders deserve nothing less.

A streamlined pathway will reward well prepared proposals and reduce delays, saving billions across the economy while maintaining strong environmental standards. We want an ecosystem of intelligence, not a pipeline of problems. This is a collaborative approach by a mature government, and we are working both with community groups and with industry. If industry does its homework and comes to the table in good faith, clarity will be rewarded with clarity. Efficiency means empowering awareness through our systems.

This is very exciting legislation. We can get the balance right. We can do right by future generations. Australians reject extremism and division, as we saw at the last election. Now let's show it in the parliament. Let's do the work for the country that we all love.

  (Quorum formed)

See this speech in context