PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King on Wednesday pledged government’s commitment to the reform of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

Speaking at the Northern Territory Resources Week conference, in Darwin, King said that the newly elected government wanted to ensure that national regulations were better equipped for environmental outcomes, while providing greater certainty for the industry.

“The sector already operates under a comprehensive regulatory regime to balance development needs with the management of safety and environmental impacts. But I’m fully aware that improvements are needed.

“The government is committed to reforming the EPBC Act. We know that the Act currently doesn’t work for the environment, and it doesn’t work for industry either. Australians don’t trust that the Act is delivering for the environment, for business or for the community. We want to fix that.”

King said that the government would provide a full response to the 2021 review of the EPBC Act, completed by Professor Graeme Samuel and tabled last year, which found that Australia’s natural environment was in an overall state of decline and under increasing threat, facing pressures from land-use changes, habitat loss and degradation, feral animals and invasive plant species.

The report found that the current EPBC Act was ineffective and did not enable the Commonwealth to effectively protect environmental matters that were important for the nation, and was not fit to address current or future environmental challenges.

Samuel suggested that new national environmental standards should be the centrepiece of fundamental reform of national environmental law, to ensure that all decisions clearly track towards improved environmental and heritage outcomes.

The report also argued that National Environmental Standards would support greater integration of Commonwealth, state and territory environmental responsibilities.

Samuel also recommended that in a second tranche of reforms, the EPBC Act should be amended to deliver more effective environmental protection and management, accelerate achievement of the environmental outcomes and improve the efficiency of National Environmental Standards.

Furthermore, to harness the value and recognise the importance of Indigenous knowledge, the EPBC Act should require decision-makers to respectfully consider Indigenous views and knowledge, and that the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment should take immediate steps to invest in developing its cultural capability to build strong relationships with Indigenous Australians and enable respectful inclusion of their valuable knowledge.

The report also recommended that legislative reforms should be redrafted in line with modern, best practice drafting guidance and that the Commonwealth government should increase the transparency of the operation of the EPBC Act.

“We will commit to ongoing consultation on law reform. We will stand up an Environment Protection Agency to ensure compliance with environmental laws, improve processes for project proponents and centralise data collection and analysis,” King said on Wednesday.