Former PM John Howard created the EPBC Act in 2000 and since then nearly every federal government has attempted to reform it, over concerns it failed to address Australia\u2019s ailing ecosystems.<\/p>\n
Since colonisation, about 100 of Australia\u2019s unique flora and fauna species have been wiped out, with more unrecorded and unknown losses of invertebrates to boot. The rate of loss, as significant as anywhere on Earth, has not slowed over the past 200 years.<\/p>\n
Watt\u2019s reforms draw on the 2020 Samuel Review, which recommended sweeping changes to protect nature from spiralling losses.<\/p>\n
A centrepiece of the reform is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which it said would bolster nature protections with an independent eye on development decisions and regulation enforcement.<\/p>\n
It delivers Albanese\u2019s overdue election commitment for a new national watchdog agency as well as \u201cstreamlined assessments\u201d to speed up assessment of major projects like housing and renewable energy.<\/p>\n
The reforms will also include tougher rules for land clearing, a leading cause of extinctions, carves out the proposed fast tracking of mining projects and new rules for emissions reporting on big polluting companies.<\/p>\n
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It also establishes powers for the government to create the first set of national standards on the environment, with legally enforceable rules to protect endangered wildlife and ensure ecologically sustainable development. This will include strong guidelines like an \u201cunacceptable impacts\u201d test to rule out significant harm from major projects, but the full suite of rules are yet to be written.<\/p>\n
Former Labor Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last year nearly cut a deal with the Greens to to create an EPA, but the PM made a last-minute intervention to scupper her deal.<\/p>\n
Plibersek had agreed to terms with her Greens counterpart Sarah Hanson-Young but Albanese, siding with WA Labor premier Roger Cook, ruled out any concessions in a move that disappointed Labor\u2019s large base of environmentally minded grassroots members.<\/p>\n
Only one of the 89 renewable energy projects needing federal environmental assessment in Australia\u2019s three largest eastern states has received the final go-ahead from regulators since 2023, analysis by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has found.<\/p>\n