Central Queensland environmental advocates say proposed national environment law reforms will fast-track destructive projects, shut the public out of decision-making, and fail to tackle climate impacts.
Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland (EnvA) has lodged a submission to the Senate inquiry into the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, warning the reforms risk delivering “even weaker national environmental protections” at a time when nature and climate pressures are rapidly worsening.
EnvA Director, Dr Coral Rowston said:
“The proposed “streamlined assessment” pathways would allow major coal and gas projects to be fast-tracked without any public consultation, including projects assessed through Preliminary Documentation or Public Environmental Reports.
“In just the last few years, we’ve worked on eleven projects in Central Queensland alone that fall under these pathways.
“Together, these projects will destroy around 4,000 hectares of koala habitat and large areas of other threatened species habitat. Under the proposed reforms, the public may never get a chance to comment on these projects at all.”
The group is also critical of proposals to expand bilateral agreements with state governments, arguing this will hand important environmental decisions back to the States that often have conflicting responsibilities.
“We need the Commonwealth to step up — not hand responsibility back to States whose track record shows they cannot or will not protect Matters of National Environmental Significance,” said Dr Rowston.
Another major concern is the Bill’s failure to require meaningful consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in environmental approvals.
“The Bills will force companies to estimate their emissions but then let decision-makers ignore the climate damage those emissions will cause to threatened species and ecosystems.
“Without a climate trigger or a requirement for projects to be consistent with Australia’s climate targets, new and expanding fossil fuel projects can continue unchecked.”
EnvA says the proposed new National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) is a welcome step, but warns the legislation gives the Minister broad powers to overturn NEPA decisions on vague “national interest” grounds.
“The Bills set up an independent environmental watchdog but then give the Minister a giant escape hatch to ignore its decisions.
“That’s a recipe for political interference.”
The group also opposes the introduction of a national “pay-to-destroy” offset scheme, warning it will normalise habitat destruction without delivering real environmental gains.
EnvA is calling for the Senate to strengthen the Bills by guaranteeing public consultation for all projects, removing excessive ministerial override powers, requiring climate impacts to be assessed, and ensuring the NEPA is properly resourced and truly independent.
“With extinction rates rising and climate impacts accelerating, Australia needs strong environment laws — not a system that makes it easier to approve destructive projects,” Dr Rowston said.
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