Australian Greens' Dissenting Report

1.1The Australian Greens do not support this Bill as it stands, and it should not pass without significant amendment.

1.2The inclusion of offsets as a market to repair nature is a red flag, and was the key concern raised throughout the course of the Senate inquiry. This scheme won’t save our wildlife but will greenwash the expansion of habitat destruction for fossil fuels, logging and development which harms our environment. Allowing corporations to pay to destroy nature is not nature positive.

1.3The Government themselves have recognised that offsets are a major concern, with the Minister for the Environment announcing a nation-wide offsets audit earlier this year.[1] This announcement confirmed concerns that environmental offsets have not been working for years. They are wholly designed to allow big developers and miners to destroy the environment and harm wildlife under the false pretence that saving a small piece of nature somewhere else can excuse the damage.

1.4The Government has set clear goals of zero extinctions and protection of 30 per cent of land and oceans by 2030. These goals will not be met with a scheme that facilitates further destruction. As it stands, this Nature Repair Market Bill will supercharge the use of dodgy credits and offsets, meaning more destruction, more logging and more pollution.

1.5To give any credibility to a potential biodiversity accreditation scheme, the use of offsets must be explicitly excluded. Further, to actively work to achieving these goals would require a clear investment strategy that indicates Government biodiversity protection and restoration priorities.

1.6The Greens are willing to work with the Government to put in place laws that protect and restore biodiversity, but we won’t support this scheme that allows polluters to greenwash.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

Deputy Chair

Footnotes

[1]The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water, ‘Government launches environmental offsets crackdown’, Media Release, 29 June 2023.