Farmers cautiously welcome new enviro rules

A new national environment watchdog will be have the power to issue fines of up to $780 million and order jail terms of up to seven years, but a key plank of the Government's environmental policy - the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act - has been kicked to touch.

The staging of the reforms has been welcomed by the National Farmers' Federation, who have asked for more time to scrutinise the impact of the policies.

“Our members have said for years that the current Act is broken. It’s hard to engage with producers who want to do the right thing, and in some instances it’s preventing best practice management of the landscape," said NFF President David Jochinke.

“What we don’t want to see is these new Federal bodies charging off into the bush waving a big stick."

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek had promised the government's Nature Positive Plan - which includes reforms to Australia's marquee Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act - would go to parliament by the end of 2023.

But the plan has been split into components, kicking other elements down the road to later in 2024.

Ms Plibersek on Tuesday announced the establishment of Australia's first national, independent Environment Protection Agency along with an information and data body called Environment Information Australia.

The environment watchdog will be given powers to issue Environment Protection Orders, also known as stop-work orders, to those in breach of the law, and audit businesses to ensure they are compliant with environmental approval conditions.

Maximum fines for extremely serious intentional breaches of federal environment law have also been increased to $780 million or a jail term of seven years. 

The agency leader will be an independent a statutory appointment, similar to the Australian Federal Police Commission, ensuring government can't interfere with its work.

A new agency - Environment Information Australia - will provide businesses with easier access to the latest environmental data, release state of the environment reports every two years instead of five and report on progress on national environmental goals.

The new bodies will be complemented by a $100 million commitment to speed up environmental approval decisions, more funding for research into threatened species, and more support to help businesses with compliance.

Environment groups have criticised the staged approach, saying Labor is moving too slowly after data from the Australian Conservation Foundation showed more species were added to the national threatened species list in 2023 than in any previous year.

Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O'Shanassy says Australia is in the midst of an "extinction crisis" and the agency needs to be complemented by significant law reform after the 2020 Samuel Review found Australia's main environment legislation was failing.

"Without comprehensive reform, the (agency) will be enforcing a flawed and ineffective law that still needs serious surgery," she said.

The NFF's concern is that an overlapping set of state and federal laws would be increasingly complex for farmers and they wanted to work with the minister and the department to reach a positive outcome for farmers and the environment.

“What we need to see – including from these new bodies – is a much more positive and proactive engagement with farmers, aimed at helping them comply rather than catching them out," Mr Jochinke said.

“As custodians of over half Australia’s landmass, if this new system doesn’t recognise the good work farmers are doing in terms of managing the landscape while also producing food and fibre for the community then it just doesn’t work.

“It needs to recognise that agriculture is an existing land-use and the intersection with matters of national environmental significance is complex and dynamic, the law needs to be viewed through this lens."

with AAP