“Loopholes” in new laws proposed by the Albanese government could unwittingly fast-track the extinction of one of Australia’s most famous animals. That’s the warning from an alliance of six conservation groups that claim the bill will benefit developers and destroy koala habitat.
They’re part of a raft of reforms to the 25-year-old Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The government promised to overhaul three and a half years ago.
“The government is now rushing to make these changes, and the consequences will last for generations,” Lock the Gate’s head of investigations, Georgina Woods, told Yahoo News.
What is the most controversial ‘loophole’ in the EPBC?
Under the EPBC, property owners and businesses are required to seek approval from the Environment Minister before undertaking works that will significantly harm animals or plants threatened with extinction — like greater gliders, numbats, swift parrots or waratahs.
This has historically been a time-consuming and frustrating process.
Australian Environment Minister Murray Watt holds up the ‘Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025’ in October. Conservationists have identified “loopholes” that worry them. Source: AAP
One of the most controversial changes in the government’s 1,500-page Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 is a concept called “streamlined assessments”, a program designed to allow companies to complete their own environmental assessments before they submit them to government.
Conservationists are concerned it could see around 50 per cent of decisions finalised within 30 days, without community consultation, and with very little room for appeal.
Why are changes needed to the EPBC?
No one is arguing that the EPBC doesn’t need changing — Australia has the worst record of mammalian extinction in the world, and it is the only developed nation to be declared a deforestation hotspot.
Throughout November, the government has failed to secure the support it requires to pass changes to the EPBC from either the Greens or the Coalition. The government has been desperately negotiating with the two parties this week to get reforms through before parliament rises for the year on Thursday night.
But the saga of EPBC reforms began more than five years ago.
Negotiations between former Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and the Greens reached a deal last year, but it was blocked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after concerns were raised by the timber harvesting and mining sectors.
Before that, an independent review released by the Morrison Government in 2020 found the EPBC wasn’t benefiting business or the environment, and it was described as “ineffective”, “weak” and “tokenistic”.
It had pledged to adopt some of the reforms, but the Albanese Government was elected in 2022, promising to go further in protecting the environment.
Now, Lock the Gate Alliance is warning Environment Minister Murray Watt’s proposed “streamlined assessment” could actually make the laws “worse” than they already are.
It claims “streamlined assessments” are problematic, largely because they will result in hurried decisions that will have long-term ramifications for the threatened species the EPBC should be protecting.
Fewer than 1,000 numbats are thought to exist in the wild. It is one of more than 2,200 species federally listed at risk of extinction in Australia. Source: Getty
Concern projects being held back to take advantage of new laws
Lock the Gate is a member of Koalas Not Coal, an advocacy coalition that includes the NSW-based Nature Conservation Council and the Queensland Conservation Council.
Changes to the EPBC will impact the future of mining projects in both states, some of which could require destroying hundreds of hectares of important forest.
One of them is Glencore’s proposed Hail Creek coal mine expansion, which Koalas Not Coal claims will clear 600 hectares of known koala habitat, some of which an ecologist at Queensland University said could be nationally significant.
Glencore is yet to submit an assessment to the EPBC, and campaigners have speculated it may be waiting for the Albanese Government’s reforms to pass before it does so, because they could be more sympathetic to its plan.
Glenclore declined to answer questions from Yahoo News about the matter.
Government has ‘opportunity’ to strengthen environment laws
Koalas Not Coal has identified 24 proposed coal mining projects that could clear over 10,000 hectares of koala habitat in NSW and Queensland.
It’s not only concerned that future projects could be “fast-tracked” if changes to the EPBC are approved, but that old applications could be withdrawn and resubmitted to take advantage of the new laws.
Queensland Conservation Council spokesperson Charlie Cox said it had been hoped the EPBC reforms would prevent “senseless destruction” of habitat.
“The Albanese government has a great opportunity to strengthen national environment laws to ensure that destructive coal mines proposing to bulldoze koala habitat can’t be approved,” they said.
“But they are squandering this opportunity,”
Environment Minister Murray Watt’s office was contacted about the planned changes by Yahoo News, but it did not respond.
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