Additional comments from the Australian Greens

The Australia Greens welcome the majority committee report’s in-principle support for this bill.

We are pleased that the inquiry process allowed a thorough exploration of emergency listings for threatened species and ecological communities under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), resulting in the recognition that effective protection is only possible by amending section 158A.

Section 158A of the EPBC Act ensures that once the minister makes the primary decision on whether an action is a controlled action or not, that decision is not affected by subsequent listing events. All too often new species are only discovered through the environmental assessment process, so precluding their consideration once that early decision is made would negate protection of threatened species and ecological communities in all but the rarest of situations.

We note that the bill currently provides that an emergency listing of a threatened species or ecological community requires such a listing to be considered throughout the federal environmental assessment process as well as after development approvals are granted by the minister.

We recognise the concerns of some stakeholders regarding the possible uncertainties this could introduce for project proponents in situations where the final approval decision has been granted.

The Greens would naturally like to see all newly discovered species afforded the highest level of protection no matter when they are discovered, however any improvement to section 158A will deliver real benefits for our threatened wildlife. This is particularly the case if we ensure that the time when these species are most likely to be discovered is within the time when protection is able to be afforded, rather than access to that protection closing at the very start of the assessment process when only desktop studies are likely to have been done. As such we agree to amend the bill to reflect the recommendation in paragraph 3.62 of the majority report, but strengthening it as follows.

There are a number of options for when to 'close the gate' to emergency listings – that is, the point in the approval process when the minister must disregard a new emergency listing. The majority report recommends that this should occur at a point during the assessment period.

We consider that at the end of the assessment period – the time of the final approval decision – would be the most ecologically appropriate time to close the gate. This would ensure that in making the approval decision the minister can consider any information about the presence of a new and potentially threatened species discovered through further information requests (to the proponent, or to any other party – per section 132 of the Act) after the environmental assessment documents were submitted for decision. This would provide both certainty to industry and ensure potentially threatened species and ecological communities are appropriately protected. We accept that any such amendment should apply only to prospective projects and not to projects that have already been referred under the EPBC Act.

We wish to thank all the submitters and witnesses at the inquiry hearing for their valuable contribution on this issue, and to recognise the many non-government organisations who work tirelessly to ensure our precious endangered species get the protection they need. We also wish to thank the secretariat for their support in undertaking this inquiry.

Recommendation 1

1.1        That the bill be amended to 'close the gate' for emergency listing for threatened species and ecological communities at the time of the final approval decision.

1.2        That the bill as amended be passed.

 

Senator Larissa Waters
Senator for Queensland

Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page