Long-sought reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act passed in the Senate on Thursday, modernising a bill that was originally developed in 1999.
The first independent review of the EPBC Act was completed in October 2009, with Dr Allan Hawke providing 71 recommendations to the Federal Government on potential reform. Very few of these recommendations were implemented.
Then, in 2020, Professor Graeme Samuel conducted the second independent review into the environmental bill, making 38 recommendations for change. This week’s passing of the EPBC Act is the culmination of this review.
What’s in the reform?
While state entities have existed for some time, Australia will get its first national Environment Protection Agency. This will be a “strong, independent regulator with a clear focus on ensuring better compliance with and stronger enforcement of Australia’s new environmental laws”.
National Environmental Standards will be installed for the first time, representing legally binding rules to ensure activities are above board. Higher penalties have been installed to ensure compliance.
There’s forestry protections in the reform, removing land clearing exemptions from the EPBC Act, while there is now the requirement for large emitting projects to “disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and their emission reduction plans”.
What about for renewable energy projects?
The renewable energy industry will benefit from a smoother approvals process for their projects, with a new Streamlined Assessment Pathway “to significantly reduce the timeframe” for operators “who provide sufficient information upfront”.
New bilateral agreements between Federal and State Governments will remove duplication in the project assessment and approval process, while defined ‘go’ and ‘no go’ zones will provide greater clarity for project planning.
Clean Energy Council chief executive Jackie Trad said the long-awaited EPBC Act reforms would bring the project assessment and approvals process “into the 21st century”.
“The forthcoming passage of these reforms today will make meaningful progress to protecting the environment and deliver the clarity and certainty that industry needs for sustainable development”, Trad said.
“Once enacted, we look forward to seeing stronger results from minimising duplicative processes between the Commonwealth and the states, and delivering a fit-for-purpose, regional-based approach to environmental and biodiversity assessments, critical to delivering the new energy infrastructure we need.”
Trad said the hard work doesn’t stop here, with collaboration essential to developing the new National Environmental Standards and other regulations.
“The hard work continues from here to implement these reforms, and we encourage all states and territories to collaborate on its implementation,” she said.
“Regional planning is a core part of this reform package with the establishment of Environment Information Australia, and this will be key to supporting strong environmental outcomes.”
Environment Information Australia aims to support environmental decision-making and reporting by providing higher quality information and data.
EPBC Act reform will roll out in stages, with the national Environment Protection Agency to come online from mid-2026, with other components of the revised Act not starting until mid-2027.
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