Australian Conservation Foundation:
The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek's intention to overhaul the country's broken environment laws by introducing national environmental standards and an Environmental Protection Agency with enforcement powers.
CEO Kelly O'Shanassy:
"We are encouraged that Minister Plibersek intends for the new national EPA to have decision-making powers to stop political influence affecting nature protection."
Business Council of Australia:
Business Council President Tim Reed:
"Business welcomes the government's commitment to implementing recommendations of the Samuel Review of our environmental protection laws but we'll need to work closely together to avoid creating more complexity.
"Big reform is hard, so we appreciate the government's willingness to design these changes through a consultative process that gives us the opportunity to work through the detail.
"The current system doesn't deliver businesses certainty or facilitate environmental outcomes. Complexity makes project approvals too slow and a lack of clear accountability means we're not getting the best environmental results, we need a win-win system."
Greenpeace Australia:
Glenn Walker, Head of Advocacy and Strategy:
"The reforms outlined are a very welcome and long-overdue step to better protecting Australia's extraordinary wildlife, forests and natural environment.
"The reforms announced today present a major opportunity to set Australia on a path to stronger environmental protection and should bring hope to all Australians. We congratulate the Minister for showing leadership on this critical issue."
WWF - Australia (World Wide Fund for Nature):
WWF-Australia's Chief Conservation Officer, Rachel Lowry:
"Today's response outlines some significant and long overdue reforms to tackle Australia's extinction crisis, especially in light of the scale of loss and corruption experienced over the past decade.
"The reform package has the potential to be a game-changer for the protection of wildlife and wild places if the government secures expert input from the environmental sector when landing the next phase of detail."
Property Council of Australia:
The Property Council of Australia has today welcomed the Commonwealth Government's framework in response to the Samuels' Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and practical Ministerial engagement to date.
Property Council Policy Executive Mike Zorbas:
"The Nature Positive Plan presents an opportunity to improve environmental outcomes while streamlining the approvals process. We look forward to engaging further with the government and key stakeholders to put two decades of lost opportunity behind us."
Invasive Species Council:
Invasive Species Council conservation director James Trezise:
'There are a lot of positives in the government response released today, including a commitment to national environmental standards, an independent Environmental Protection Agency and major improvements in data management."
Environmental Defenders Office:
Head of Policy and Law Reform Rachel Walmsley:
"In addition to the new EPA, we welcome commitments to improved transparency through publicly available data and reporting.
"We also welcome retaining fundamental community rights to access information, participate in decision making and seek review of decisions."
Fortescue:
Executive Chairman Dr Andrew Forrest AO:
"Fortescue supports the recommendation for companies, like ours, to disclose their emissions across the life of projects at the approval stage. It is great to see the government is planning to legislate this next year.
"Minister Plibersek and the Government are taking the path less travelled, however it is one that will help us to remove emissions and meet Australia's emission reduction target."
Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA):
Maxwell Shifman, UDIA National President:
"The development industry has been aligned with the Commonwealth Government's overall approach - land in need of protection should be preserved, and land that should be used to create our cities, towns and businesses must have a simple, clear framework that can be efficiently navigated for quick environmental decisions before committing to projects."
