After reviewing documents outlining proposed changes to Australia’s Environment Act, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s National Biodiversity Policy Advisor, Brendan Sydes, said:
“Three years to the day since Graeme Samuel delivered his damning review of Australia’s environmental laws to the Morrison government, ACF is calling on the Albanese government to make reform of these laws a high priority.
“Today we’ve had the opportunity to review a selection of the government’s proposed reforms.
“For the first time, our national environmental laws will define ‘unacceptable impacts’. The new Environmental Protection Agency will not be able to approve projects that have unacceptable impacts on, for example, ‘critical protection areas’ for listed threatened species. This is welcome.
“Under the current law, some projects that would be so environmentally damaging that their approval should never even be considered go through the system and end up being approved with offsets.
“However, ACF is concerned that the Minister can call in and approve projects with unacceptable impacts.
“The information we have seen today confirms the key role of the Environment Agency in the new system.
“An independent regulator should be a real game changer, taking politics out of the assessment process and leading to stronger environmental protection and more efficient decision-making.
“ACF will be looking for details to confirm that the EPA will be independent and free from political interference.
“Climate change, fuelled by coal and gas projects approved under the Act, is a key threat to Australia’s wildlife and places, but we have yet to see any detail on how climate impacts will be assessed under this Act – beyond simply disclosing Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
“ACF believes that all climate impacts, including emissions that occur overseas when gas and coal from Australia is burned, must be taken into account when assessing the proposals.
“It remains unclear whether the proposed National Environmental Standards will have sufficient legal force to stop the extinction crisis and help threatened species recover.
“Everyone agrees that existing environmental law is being broken. Nearly 8 million hectares of threatened species habitat in Australia have been destroyed since the Act came into force in 2000, and recent ACF research shows this destruction is continuing.
“ACF research shows that the ineffective law continues to allow many hundreds of thousands of hectares of threatened species habitat to be bulldozed with impunity.
“We urge the Albanian government to move quickly to strengthen the law.