Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on this very important piece of legislation, the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, and related bills. This is a piece of legislation that has been in the works for a very long time and one where, after sustained and tough negotiations with the government, we have managed to secure a better outcome for nature, with new protections for our native forests, our Australian bushland, and new protections for our endangered animals and other wildlife. Importantly, we have delivered a blow to the fossil fuel companies who want to keep polluting and putting our climate and our environment at risk. Today, with the amendments that the Greens have secured in relation to this piece of legislation, time is up. Time is up for native forest logging. The clock is ticking, and time is up.

Australians love our bush. They love our beautiful trees. They love our ancient forests. They know that these areas, so precious, so unique and so important, must be saved and protected. They know that these beautiful forests are the homes of our animals—of our little critters—and of our other wildlife. They know that if we continue to destroy our native forests—if the chainsaws and bulldozers continue rolling, chopping and destroying—that means the homes of these animals will be gone forever.

We didn't get everything we wanted in these negotiations. You never do. There's always give and take. But delivering a blow to the logging companies that want to continue to destroy our beautiful native forests is good. Delivering a blow to the bulldozers who want to continue to destroy our Australian bushland without even getting any sense of approval is good news. It's good for our bush and it's good for the climate. Delivering a blow to the fossil fuel companies who thought that they had it in the bag and that they were about to get their applications for new coal and new gas—expansion of pollution—fast-tracked and made easier, cheaper and faster is brilliant news.

You just need to see the reactions of people today to see what side of history people want to sit on when we're debating these issues. Do you know who's angry that the Greens have negotiated and got these outcomes, with new protections for our forests and wildlife, and have stopped coal and gas getting fast-tracked? Who's upset about this? The MCA, the fossil fuel industry, the big miners who want to keep polluting, and Australian Energy Producers, who thought they'd get a free ride, just cruise on in and get their mines passed and approved within 30 days. Uh-uh—not happening. They are furious that the Greens have stepped in to stop them getting a free ride. I say to the MCA and the other mining lobby, the big polluters: you got too cute, you got too cocky, and you assumed after years of donations and walking the halls of parliament that you ran this place. Well, you don't. You don't run it, and we are going to make sure you never do.

To those who are upset and angry that the Greens have put in place new protections for forests and our bushland, I say to you: time's up. We have to stop destroying our forests. They are the lungs of our planet. They are the homes of our wildlife. Those ancient trees do so much to keep the air clean, the soil healthy and our biodiversity rich. It is time to stop the chainsaws and the bulldozers. Of course we need a forestry industry. We need timber. Of course we do. But you don't need to be destroying native forests and putting them up the chip mill for Australia's timber needs. The spin and the squeals from the industry every time someone talks about transition is getting tired.

I grew up in the bush. I grew up in the native forests in Victoria. I know how hard people have worked for decades to put in place laws that simply say no to destroying our ancient forests that are the homes of our beautiful animals. I say to those campaigners: we wouldn't be here without you; we wouldn't have made this happen without you, but the war is not over and we will be with you as we save these forests. While we have managed to put in place laws that can protect and laws that give the minister of the day the ability to do his job as environment minister—no more excuses; no more, 'I'm not sure I can.' You've got the laws; use them. We will be standing with our forest activists, because the job is not done. But, boy, this is a blow. I say to the forest industry, and I say to those who want to continue to see our beautiful trees, the homes of our critically endangered animals, destroyed: time's up.

The package that the government has put on the table to help with the adjustment of these changes is welcome, but it must go to the workers. It's been the logging companies that have been pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds for decades. Taxpayers have been propping up an industry that has allowed the destruction of these forests for far too long. The workers know the transition needs to happen. The communities know. The politicians know. And boy, oh boy, don't the companies know it.

So the time is now. This is an opportunity for serious transition. We know that's not going to happen without the squeals of the industry. They're going to be doing everything they can over the next 18 months to make it harder, but we have put in place the laws that are required to protect these forests. I say to the minister: use them. Protect these ancient forests. Protect the lungs of this planet and make sure those bulldozers and those chainsaws really do stop.

We know that not everything in this place can be done at once. I fought the government tooth and nail on getting more protections for climate in this package. They refused to put the considerations of the climate damage that projects make as part of the process of assessing whether things should be given a green light. I think that that is just outrageous. I think it's dumb. I think it's short-sighted, and time will come for that to change. In this package there is, for the first time, at least the acceptance that climate pollution is damaging to the environment; companies will now be required to disclose what that damage is. That's a step forward, but I ask the minister and I ask the government: what is the point of getting the companies to disclose if you're not going to do something with that information? I couldn't get them over the line on that because they dug in. They refused to compromise. But I don't give up hope on that, because it's common sense. We now have, for the first time, climate in the bill, in the act, and that is good. We will hold this government to account.

We've stopped the fossil fuel companies getting an easier ride, a cheaper ride, a faster ride, and they're angry about it. The more angry they are, the better I feel. But the job is not done. This government has now had to pick a lane. They put this piece of legislation to the parliament. It was riddled with holes. It delivered everything that big business wanted, the big loggers wanted, the big miners wanted, that the industry groups all wanted. They thought it was so good for them that the coalition would just have to pass it. Well, I'll tell you what happened in the last couple of months. The coalition have proved themselves to be unfit for government. They have scrapped any shred of credibility on science, on climate, on the environment.

The government of the day had to pick a side. We had to fight hard to make sure we were in the right lane. I say to Labor that what has happened in this process is proof that if you want genuine environmental outcomes, outcomes for our climate, outcomes that are good for the community and not good just for the corporations, there is only one party in this place that can be trusted, and that's the Greens. That's why we have done this deal today. We have stood for outcomes for our environment and our communities, and we will keep doing that.

We will keep holding you to account because this rabble over this side doesn't give a toss about climate. They don't give a toss about the environment. They don't give a toss, it seems, about proper process and democracy, because they were going to be prepared to ram this bill through just for the interests of business. We're going to hear them squealing today about the Senate doing its job. We're doing it for nature. We're doing it for the community. We're doing it for all of those who have participated in this process for the last 25 years and who knew that these laws didn't work. But that side—you're going to hear them squeal and whinge all day because they couldn't deliver what the mining companies wanted.