Nature Positive Bills update
Staff Reporters
10 July 2024, 3:00 AM
The federal government is moving forward with its underwhelming Nature Positive Bills, ignoring widely supported amendments proposed in the House of Representatives late June, according to BirdLife Australia, the nation’s leading bird conservation organisation, which warns that these bills will not stop Australia’s extinction crisis.
“The laws meant to protect threatened species in Australia are failing, with one in six Australian birds at risk of extinction,” says BirdLife Australia CEO Kate Millar. “The Albanese Government has a chance to fix these broken laws and protect Australian birds and nature from further destruction. Instead, they’re rejecting constructive amendments and pushing ahead with weak reforms that won’t make a real difference.”
The bill to create Environment Information Australia (EIA), a federal agency to monitor Australia's environmental state, needs a clearer definition of what 'nature positive' means. Meanwhile, the bill to establish a federal Environment Protection Agency (EPA) requires enhancements to ensure the EPA's political independence, according to BirdLife Australia.
“These bills should not pass the Senate without significant amendments. We urge the Government to negotiate with crossbench senators to ensure the EPA and EIA will effectively protect nature,” Kate Millar says.
“BirdLife Australia, as a science-based conservation organisation, welcomes the creation of the EIA to improve environmental data management, monitoring, and evaluation. Reliable, accurate, and accessible data must be at the heart of environmental protection and decision-making.”
Ms Millar says the EIA bill should be amended to ensure the definition of 'nature positive' aligns with Australia’s global commitments to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 and achieve a full recovery by 2050. “We are also concerned that the current proposal will not allow Australia to track the recovery of individual threatened species or understand whether their outlook is improving.”
A Senate inquiry into the bills has been announced, set to report back by 8 August, providing an important opportunity for the community to contribute its views on the current reforms.
The Fleurieu Peninsula, home to unique and vulnerable bird species, is directly impacted by these national policies. Local conservationists and residents alike should be aware that without robust and effective legislation, efforts to protect the peninsula’s rich biodiversity could fall short.