Historic Environmental Law Reforms
The Albanese Government has passed landmark environmental law reforms, establishing Australia's first National Environmental Protection Agency and new National Environmental Standards.
Environment
Term 2
The Albanese Labor Government passed the Environment Protection Reform Bill through Parliament on 28 November 2025, marking the most significant changes to Australia's environmental laws in over 25 years. The legislation amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, delivering reforms more than five years after Professor Graeme Samuel handed down his independent review of the nation's environmental laws in 2020.
For the first time, Australia will have a National Environmental Protection Agency, a strong independent regulator with clear focus on ensuring better compliance with and stronger enforcement of environmental laws. The National EPA will commence operations on 1 July 2026. Australia will also have National Environmental Standards for the first time, providing clear, strong guidelines to protect the environment. The reforms introduce higher penalties for the most significant breaches of environmental law, as well as environmental protection orders for use in urgent circumstances to prevent and respond to major contraventions. The reforms remove and sunset the exemption from the EPBC Act for high-risk land clearing and regional forest agreements, ensuring they comply with the same rules and standards as other industries. Proponents of large emitting projects will be required to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and their emission reduction plans. Federal approval of water trigger coal and gas projects will be maintained.
To speed up decision-making for business and the community, the reforms introduce a new Streamlined Assessment Pathway to significantly reduce timeframes for proponents who provide sufficient information upfront, delivering faster decisions and saving businesses time and money. New and improved bilateral agreements with states will remove duplication for the assessment and approval of projects. Regional planning will deliver go and no-go zones, providing greater certainty to business and enabling future planning at a landscape scale rather than project-by-project assessment. The reforms also clarify definitions of unacceptable impacts and net gain for the environment.
Key outcomes:
National Environmental Protection Agency established as Australia's first independent environmental regulator, commencing 1 July 2026
National Environmental Standards introduced for the first time to provide clear environmental protection guidelines
Streamlined Assessment Pathway and regional planning to speed up approvals for housing, renewable energy and critical minerals projects
[1]
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/albanese-government-pass-historic-environmental-reforms
[2]
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/epbc-act-reform
[3]
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