Environment law reform
Better or worse for nature?
Environment law reform is moving at breakneck speeds.
Stay tuned as we give you honest and easy-to-understand legal interpretation of what’s happening in Parliament House over the coming weeks.
Most Australians would expect our national nature laws to actually protect nature.
But the long-awaited Albanese government reform package – tabled in Parliament last week – needs a lot of work to pass that test.
At more than 1,500 pages across seven bills, this EPBC Act reform package is meant to be the biggest environmental law overhaul in a generation.
But unless it’s significantly improved, it could lock in decades more destruction.
Our legal team has gone through every page of the reform package so you don’t have to.
We've released EJA’s Environment Law Reform Scorecard – an independent assessment of the good, the bad, the ugly, and what needs to change before Parliament passes it.
Explore the scorecard and read our legal analysis:
These laws touch everything
The air we breathe, the rivers and forests we explore, our climate future, the ecosystems and wildlife we love.
Over the coming weeks, a Senate inquiry will give people across Australia a rare chance to have their say.
It’s essential that communities understand the detail and speak up.
That’s why we’re inviting you to join EJA’s legal experts for an online webinar on Monday 10 November, 6.30–7.30pm AEDT.
Together we’ll unpack the reforms, answer your questions, and share how you can write an impactful submission to the Senate inquiry.
The current reform package does have glimpses of good things:
- a new national EPA (though it's missing most of its teeth)
- stronger penalties for those who break the law
- a definition of “unacceptable impact”
- the promising possibility of environmental standards.
But these small steps forward are undermined by sweeping ministerial discretion over when and how to apply the rules.
Plus it’s hard to see past the gaping holes:
- First Nations rights sidelined, with no Free, Prior and Informed Consent
- No requirement to assess or prevent climate harm to nature
- Logging and land clearing loopholes left wide open
- Discretionary ministerial powers at every turn
- A “pay-to-destroy” offsets model that experts say is among the worst they’ve seen
- Plans to hand decision-making to states ill-equipped for the job
Get ready to write your submission to the Senate Inquiry
A Senate Inquiry is inviting public submissions between now and 5 December 2025.
Stay tuned – in coming days, EJA will release a toolkit to help you write a quick and impactful submission.
In the meantime, join EJA's legal experts for a webinar on Monday 10 November at 6.30pm AEDT to learn more about the good, the bad, the ugly in this reform package – and how you can write an impactful submission.
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