Nature Positive: Pathway out of friendless mess mapped out by crossbench senators

Yesterday a Senate Inquiry released a report in which the government majority acknowledged changes are needed to improve its Nature Positive bills. Only hours prior, Senate crossbenchers had written to the Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek proposing amendments to the Albanese government’s Nature Positive bills poised to be debated by the Senate as soon as this week.

In their report, the government majority report recommended that a power be granted to the Environment Minister for the making of National Environmental Standards. Strong and binding standards to guide and inform assessments under environment law should be advanced in ‘stage 2’ of the reforms.

Concerningly, the report stopped short of recommending strengthening the independence of Environmental Protection Australia (EPA) by instituting a board, which is a structural element of all state EPAs around the country, and necessary for the proposed new agency’s accountability.

In their letters to the Prime Minister and Environment Minister, crossbench Senators David Pocock, Sarah Hanson-Young and Lidia Thorpe recommend that the bills close controversial deforestation loopholes in federal laws. They also propose the EPA be established with an independent board, additional transparency measures and greater inclusion of First Nations in decision-making.

The Wilderness Society views the crossbenchers’ proposed amendments as having the potential to meaningfully improve the status quo for nature. The proposals present a viable pathway to pass the bills after weeks of uncertainty on the so-called ‘stage 2 reforms’, which has followed years of inaction on critical federal nature law reforms.

The Albanese government has promised to restore community trust and confidence in how decisions about nature are made. Now, with these series of proposed amendments to the ‘stage 2’ Nature Positive bills, the Senate has the opportunity to do what Australians expect and have long called for: deliver meaningful reforms to improve protection of Australia’s iconic and unique environment.

The Wilderness Society urges the government to engage with the cross-bench, whose proposed amendments present a pragmatic pathway through the mess that Australia’s nature law reform has become, and signal that meaningful nature reform is within reach.

Now, the Australian parliament needs to get on with the job of delivering genuine EPBC reforms, which have been subject to delay and attempts to water down the necessary changes to prevent extinctions and provide certainty for business.

Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager for the Wilderness Society, said, “Australia is in the grips of a biodiversity crisis. The community expects nature laws that work—and the crossbenchers have shown that’s within Labor’s grasp. The crossbenchers’ proposals have the potential to improve the status quo for nature.

“The crossbenchers’ letters show that these bills don’t have to be friendless, if the government is willing to negotiate with Senators presenting amendments that will deliver a truly independent EPA and stop the scourge of deforestation.

“The government needs to get on with the job of delivering genuine EPBC reforms to prevent extinctions and provide certainty for business. We stand ready to welcome amendments to the bills that increase transparency and accountability of assessments and decisions, and that protect Australia’s globally unique forests from deforestation.

“While these amendments would strengthen the so-called stage 2 bills, let’s not forget that there is a wider set of federal nature law reforms that the government has previously committed to, and which are needed to protect nature and give the community a fair say."

For more information, please contact Rhiannon Cunningham, media adviser for the Wilderness Society on [email protected] or 0419 992 760