NFF welcomes Nature Repair Bill

Australia’s peak farming body has welcomed the passage of the Nature Repair Bill through the Senate, but says it falls short with the exclusion of offsets.

The bill, which creates a national framework for a voluntary national biodiversity market, was passed on Tuesday night.

National Farmers Federation Chief Executive Officer Tony Mahar said the organisation was looking forward to working with the Government to establish a functioning marketplace off the back of this legislation, and would continue to advocate for meaningful funding in the Federal Budget to support a new market in its infancy.

“The Nature Repair Bill is one step in the journey to unlock capital so farmers can invest more in caring for their country,” he said.

“We’re concerned however that a rushed political deal with the Greens has delivered a weaker bill than we’ve been working towards for almost a decade. It could and should have been much better.”

Farmers would have liked to see protections included for prime agricultural land, and limits on participation by public land assets – the restoration of which should continue to be publicly funded.

Mr Mahar described the exclusion of offsets in the final bill as “peculiar”. 

“As an established function of the EPBC Act, we would have welcomed the increased rigour and transparency of having offsets valued and traded in whatever marketplace ultimately emerges from this new framework,” he said.

“The establishment of a functioning marketplace must now be the priority. As we’ve said throughout this process, this legislation does not constitute a marketplace. It simply lays the groundwork for one to be established.”

Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, said the Nature Repair Market will make it easier to invest in restoring nature. 

“It will support landholders to do things like replanting koala habitat, excluding livestock to repair natural marshland or eradicating feral species,” she said.

“This is an exciting chance to see extra investment in protecting our environment.”