There is no such thing as a free lunch
The Albanese government is now the latest in a string of governments that have tried and failed to reform the law known formally as the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. This is despite two major independent reviews calling for wholesale change. Labor’s capitulation does not, however, change the facts. Australia’s natural environment is deteriorating rapidly. Laws are urgently needed to protect our nation’s valuable natural assets.
The Government’s ambitious ‘Nature Positive’ initiative appears to have founded on the rocks of realpolitik. Peter Burnett has been closely following the saga of Nature Positive policy reform and believes while the chances are small that legislation establishing an EPA and EIA will be passed before the next election, they are not zero. Indeed, as he explains here, there is a credible pathway that might enable the reforms to be acceptable to all parties and still achieve significant environmental outcomes. This might be critical if the Government wants to burnish its rather dull environmental credentials as it heads into what is expected to be a tight electoral race.