The Federal Government are implementing a Nature Positive Plan which sets out the government's commitment to reform Australia's environmental laws to better protect, restore and manage our unique environment.

As part of that plan, the Federal Government have introduced several bills - including one to establish an independent enforcement agency called 'Environment Protection Australia' and another to improve the transparency of environmental information by establishing a 'Environment Information Agency'.

An inquiry into these bills are underway. The Biodiversity Council broadly supports the government’s Nature Positive Plan reforms, particularly the overarching ‘nature positive’ objectives and the commitment to give First Nations a stronger voice in Australia’s system of environmental protection. However, we are disappointed that current reforms underway do not include the proposed reform of Australia's national environmental law. There has been limited detail of how, and when, reform to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) will proceed. Operating under the current EPBC Act does not provide adequate protection for nature and presents significant risk to Australia’s environment.

Thus, our submission to the Inquiry into the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024 and related bills is made in the context of operating under the current federal environmental laws.

In our view, the proposed bills do not go far enough in establishing strong national institutions to support comprehensive and effective environmental policy. We detail 11 recommendations that would strengthen the proposed bills.