![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763998211_867_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/56273ae0-cb27-11f0-99c7-31ebf6937b97.jpg.webp.webp\")
Getty<\/p>\nGetty<\/p>\n
Reforms to Australia’s environment laws include a limit on the fast-tracking of coal and gas projects.<\/p>\n
Australia is set to to overhaul its decades-old nature laws with a raft of major reforms including the country’s first independent environment regulator.<\/p>\n
After a years-long deadlock, the Labor government struck a last-minute deal with the minority Greens party to get the laws passed, after talks with the opposition stalled.<\/p>\n
The changes include more protections for native forests, stricter rules for land clearing and a limit on fast-tracking of coal and gas projects but critics say more is needed.<\/p>\n
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the laws were a win for nature and business and would speed up major projects linked to housing, renewable energy and critical minerals.<\/p>\n
With support from the Greens, Labor’s proposed changes are expected to pass through the Senate on Thursday, the last sitting day for parliament this year.<\/p>\n
For months, the opposition – a coalition of the Liberals and Nationals – had also been negotiating with the government on the bill, with a focus on gaining more concessions for businesses.<\/p>\n
Liberals leader Sussan Ley labelled the Labor-Greens deal as “dirty” and said it would lead to job losses in forestry.<\/p>\n
The latest development comes five years after an independent review into Australia’s nature laws found they were no longer fit for purpose.<\/p>\n
The government said the reforms would protect the environment for future generations and speed up projects in “key areas of national priority like housing, renewable energy and critical minerals”.<\/p>\n
“Everyone agrees that the laws as they stand are broken and need to be reformed,” Albanese said. <\/p>\n
“Getting these laws passed is vital to protect our environment and to boost productivity in our economy.”<\/p>\n
Once passed, the new laws will also establish Australia’s first-ever national environment protection agency as well as a set of national standards which would include rules on protecting endangered wildlife. <\/p>\n
It will also remove exemptions for “high-risk land clearing” and bring regional forest agreements under federal laws, instead of state ones.<\/p>\n
Greens leader Senator Larissa Waters said her party had negotiated significant wins but criticised the government for not including a so-called “climate trigger” that could stop fossil fuel projects based on carbon emissions. <\/p>\n
Instead, a project must report its carbon emissions and provide plans on how they plan to reduce those to net zero by 2050. A “water trigger” will be included in the laws, meaning coal and gas projects must get federal approval for their water use.<\/p>\n
Amanda McKenzie, the head of the independent climate organisation Climate Council, said while the deal would help native forests, new coal and gas projects “still get a free pass on climate pollution”.<\/p>\n
“That is a gaping hole in a law that should protect nature from the ravages of climate change,” she said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said Australia – one of the world’s biggest polluters per capita – would miss its 2035 emissions reduction targets unless it made significant changes.<\/p>\n