Our government is doing more than ever to protect our environment. We’re delivering stronger protections for our land, waterways, plants and animals.
Our strong new climate laws, developed with the Greens party and independents, allow the Minister for Climate Change and Energy to stop coal and gas projects adding to Australia’s emissions. These laws mean that coal and gas projects must comply with Australia’s commitment to net zero.
Our legislated Safeguard Mechanism reforms already ensure that all new large industrial facilities meet international best practice baselines for their emissions and requiring net emissions reductions from our 215 biggest emitters, the equivalent of taking two-thirds of the cars off our roads by 2030.
We have ensured that information about the emissions impact of environmental approvals is provided to the Climate Change Authority and Climate Change Minister to ensure these settings are working.
Under Labor, we’ve already seen a 25 per cent increase in renewable energy in our grid. And we have record numbers of renewable energy projects in the approval pipeline.
Recently, our legislation to establish our first national, independent Environment Protection Agency passed the House of Representatives and is now before the Senate.
Delivering on our election commitment, Environment Protection Australia will be a tough cop on the beat. It will be able to issue ‘stop-work’ orders to prevent serious environmental damage, and proactively audit business to ensure they’re doing the right thing. We’re also increasing penalties, so that punishment for seriously damaging the environment is in line with crimes like insider trading or market manipulation.
Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek has also introduced legislation to establish Environment Information Australia. EIA will provide up-to-date, transparent environmental data and information. It will also release State of the Environment reports every two years, instead of five.
In a world first, this bill also provides a legal definition of, and reporting measure for, ‘nature positive’.
We’ve already legislated the first tranche of environment laws, with a stronger ‘water trigger’ to make sure the impacts of coal and gas projects on water are considered – helping to better protect our water for drinking and farming. We’re also establishing a world first Nature Repair Market, making it easier for business and charities to invest in the repair of nature.
We’ve committed to a national target to protect and conserve 30% of Australia’s land and 30% of its marine areas by 2030. And since coming to government we’ve protected more than 40 million hectares of land and sea – that’s an area bigger than Germany, with more to come!
Just last year, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek signed off on tripling the size of Macquarie Island Marine Park, adding an extra 385,000 square kilometres under high protection. This was the biggest act of ocean conservation in the world in 2023.
We’re also proposing to more than quadruple the protected oceans around Heard Island and McDonald Islands which is home to penguins, seals and whales. This would be a huge win for ocean protection, with the marine reserve poised to expand by over 300,000 square kilometres – an area bigger than Italy.
We’re also establishing 12 new Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) right across Australia, with these new projects combined protecting 7.5 million hectares of land and 450,000 hectares of sea Country – bigger than the size of Tasmania.
Our government is continuing to consult closely with environment groups, business, states and territories, and others, on further updates to national environment laws, as outlined in our Nature Positive Plan.
As part of the third stage, there will be a comprehensive exposure draft of the new laws released for public consultation, prior to their introduction to Parliament.
Through the 2024-25 Budget, the Government has made further investment to help us to better protect more of our natural world, fix more of what has been damaged, and care for the places we love.
We’ve secured Australia’s position as a global scientific leader, investing $371.1 million to rebuild and upgrade our research station on World Heritage listed Macquarie Island. We’re also expanding our Antarctic science program, investing an additional $17.6 million to enable the Nuyina, Australia’s ice breaking research vessel, to undertake more expeditions for scientific research, including its first dedicated marine science voyage to the Denman Glacier. If this glacier melts, sea levels could rise by 1.5 metres – making this research trip more important than ever.
We’re also driving Australia’s transition to a circular economy – cutting down on plastics, reducing waste, and supporting households and industry to recycle or repurpose more materials. In this Budget, we’re investing $23 million to develop a new national circular economy framework, continue tackling problematic waste streams, such as packaging, and get on with the development of a much-needed new recycling scheme for solar panels.
Other information on the Government’s work in the environmental protection space which may be of interest can be accessed at the following links:
www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/epbc-act-reform
www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/nature-positive-plan.pdf
www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/threatened-species-action-plan-2022-2032.pdf
