26 July 2024
Environment groups are giving evidence today at the Senate inquiry into the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill, aiming to send a clear message to the Albanese government that the so-called “Stage 2” environment reforms will require significant amendments in the Senate to change the status quo for nature.
The inquiry is a pivotal moment for the environment and for the current law reform process, which to date has not met expectations set by the Albanese government at the start of its term. The Wilderness Society, Queensland Conservation Council, and Environmental Justice Australia say the government has not yet made this promised nature law reform the priority that nature, communities, and businesses urgently need.
Amendments to the bill are being called for by these organisations that would close loopholes that enable deforestation, including from agricultural land clearing.
These calls come in the wake of the publication last week of new data on deforestation in Queensland by the Queensland government. Its Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) covers the 12 month reporting period between 2021-22 and revealed that in Queensland alone, a whopping 323,676 hectares of vegetation was destroyed — equivalent to 168,581 Gabba Stadiums in just one year. These astronomical deforestation rates are seen year after year in the state, and are putting threatened species like the koala on the fast track to extinction on the east coast, harming the Great Barrier Reef and worsening climate change.
These shocking figures are a timely reminder of why amendments to close gaping deforestation (via land clearing and logging) loopholes are so critical. Such amendments were moved in the lower house by Independent MP for Mackellar Dr Sophie Scamps, but were rejected by the Albanese government. The battleground will shift to the Senate following the parliamentary winter break.
Without additional amendments, the proposed EPA currently before Parliament would preside over a broken national environment law, riddled with exemptions that perpetuate Australia’s deforestation, extinction, and climate crises.
Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaigns Manager for the Wilderness Society, said:
“As the Senate hears from experts on how to better protect Australia’s iconic and unique environment, unsupervised bulldozer-driven deforestation is putting threatened species like the koala and greater glider on the fast track to extinction.
“Australia’s forests and bushlands hang in the balance. We call on the Senate to amend the Albanese government’s stage 2 bills to include neat and necessary changes to close deforestation loopholes. If the Senate can’t plug the holes in the existing nature protection system, the new federal EPA risks presiding over a broken system and perpetuating the same type of ‘out of sight out of mind’ environmental regulation that has caused this problem in the first place.”
Natalie Frost, Nature Campaigner, Queensland Conservation Council, said:
“The EPA and EIA alone will not halt the extinction crisis. Australia urgently needs to see the full suite of reforms that were announced in December 2022.
“Queensland continues to bulldoze huge amounts of forests and woodlands each year, with the majority of bulldozing not referred for assessment under the EPBC Act.
“The EPA needs to have the teeth needed to crack down on land clearing and protect Australia's iconic animals and plants like the beloved spotted tail quoll.
Danya Jacobs, Special Counsel and Ecosystems Lead for Environmental Justice Australia, said:
“Australia is a global deforestation hotspot, with lawless logging and rampant land clearing that’s as bad as Brazil and Borneo.
“Yet, deforestation escapes Australia’s environment law because of exemptions and loopholes that should be urgently closed via the Bills currently before the Senate.
“The new EPA can’t stem the extinction crisis without laws that actually regulate deforestation and protect critical habitats for wildlife facing extinction, the Senate has a crucial opportunity to get this right.”
While giving evidence recently at another government inquiry about forest loss, independent EPBC Act reviewer, Professor Graeme Samuel said, “if we don't deal with this, and deal with it long before 2030, we are neglecting a fundamental element of the habitat for species, whether they be threatened or whether they're going to go onto the threatened species list.
The Wilderness Society, Queensland Conservation Council, and Environmental Justice Australia are calling on the Senate to ensure that the EPA Australia gets is the one it truly needs — one with integrity and with the tools to halt nature destruction.
Media contacts:
Wilderness Society – Rhiannon Cunningham on [email protected] or 0419 992 760
Environmental Justice Australia – Miki Perkins on [email protected] or 03 8341 3110
Queensland Conservation Council – Natalie Frost on [email protected] or 0411 074 846