Environment

What We're Doing

Following a decade of neglect, the Albanese Government is acting. Our policies will restore our environmental protection laws, repair what’s been damaged and institute better management for the future. We have a clear path to becoming a nature positive economy and net zero by 2050.

Renewable Energy

We are boosting renewables in Victoria and Tasmania, with a combined 1.7GW opening in May 2024.
We have signed off on a new solar farm in Queensland which will generate enough energy to power 300,000 Queensland homes, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1,438,883 tonnes per annum.
We are supporting a new wind farm in Central Queensland which will generate enough energy to power 240,000 Queensland homes.
We are investing in the national Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), the largest single ever tender for renewable energy in Australia, targeting 6 W of new variable renewable energy projects for the National Electricity Market.
We are investing $15 million through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), backing Hysata in the Illawarra to expand production of high-efficiency hydrogen electrolysers.
We are expanding the New Energy Apprenticeships Program to assist more apprentices and trainees skilling-up in sectors with exposure to clean energy.
We are investing $3.6 million towards the Solar for Apartments Program, delivering cheaper, cleaner solar energy to more than 2,100 households.
We are supporting the Powering the Regions Fund in delivering $330 million to nine clean energy and emissions reduction projects at heavy industrial sites around the country.

Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2019–2030

We are working with all states and territories to update Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2019-2030. This update will set ambitious national targets and demonstrate how Australia will contribute to the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

On 10 November 2023, Australia’s environment ministers agreed on 6 priority areas for national targets under the strategy. These are:

protecting and conserving 30% of Australia’s land and 30% of Australia’s oceans by 2030
working towards zero new extinctions
effective restoration of degraded terrestrial, inland water, marine and coastal ecosystems
tackling the impact of invasive feral species
building a circular economy and reducing the impact of plastics on nature
minimising the impact of climate change on nature.

Ministers also agreed on 3 elements that will be essential to achieving the national targets. These are:

ensuring environmental data and information is widely accessible and supports planning.
incorporating nature into government and business decision-making. This includes financing, policy reform, regulation and planning.
ensuring equal representation in decisions relating to nature, particularly for First Nations people.

Legislation

Labor knows Australia's environment laws are broken. Nature is being destroyed and businesses are waiting too long for decisions. Things must change.

We are supporting Australia’s first national Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy which aligns with recommendations from the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group interim report, delivering a future remade in Australia.
In response to Professor Graeme Samuel’s Independent Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBA) Act, we have released package of reforms. These new laws have been developed in collaboration with business and community stakeholders and will strengthen our environmental laws. The centrepiece of our reforms is the legislation of National Environmental Standards to improve environmental protections and guide decision-making. Learn more about how we’re implementing National Environmental Standards here.
At the heart of our Nature Positive Plan is a $121 million investment to establish Environment Protection Australia (EPA), a transparent and independent body that will restore trust to our system of environmental approvals. EPA will make environmental assessments, oversee the approval of projects and their attached conditions and ensure accountability for them on the ground. It will be resourced and empowered to ensure compliance with the new Act.

Global leadership

We led the way at COP15, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, and fought fiercely for ambitious global biodiversity agreements. This included the creation of the High Ambition coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, which includes a goal to protect 30% of the world’s land and 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
We have signed the Leader’s Pledge for Nature, the Joint Declaration on the creation of a Global Coalition for Blue Carbon, and the Forests and Climate Leaders Partnership.
We joined the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040, signalling our strong ambition to end plastic pollution under this new plastics pollution treaty. We recently defended this commitment in Paris, participating in critical talks to prevent the treaty from becoming watered down and unenforceable.
The Closing the Hole in the Ozone Layer legislation will ensure we contribute to global efforts to close the hole in the ozone layer as part of the Montreal Protocol championed by the Hawke government. It will also help us meet out ambitious emissions reduction targets, as part of the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Program.
Australia was a leader in making sure the UN Treaty of the High Seas was signed.

Biodiversity

We are investing more than $1.2 million to save threatened freshwater species.
We have committed $17.48 million for council-led projects that will contribute to the protection and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.
We have announced plans to triple the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park, which will make our marine parks almost 50% of all Australian oceans.
We have announced $262.3 million to support our Commonwealth national parks, as well as $92.8 million for urgent upgrades in the town of Mutijulu within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to provide critical infrastructure.
We’re supporting bushfire affected species through a $200 million recovery package.
We're investing over $76 million through the Saving Koalas Fund for the conservation of koalas. This includes $10 million to help community groups rebuild koala habitat.
We’re safeguarding our native flora, with the Strategy for the Australian Native Seed Sector launched at the Australian National Botanic Gardens last year.
We launched the Threatened Species Action Plan: Toward Zero Extinctions. This will set out a pathway for the conservation of threatened species, and their recovery over the next decade. Within this, we are spending $224.5 million on the Saving Native Species program to boost outcomes for our threatened native animals and plants. This includes $24.7 million to eradicate gamba grass in the Kakadu National Park, and $24.8 million to control Yellow Crazy Ants.
We will endeavour to conserve the Great Barrier Reef- investing a record $1.2 billion in its preservation and protection. Indigenous rangers will play a lead role in reef preservation, with the Albanese government ensuring at least $100 million of protection and restoration work to Indigenous ranger organisations by the end of the decade. We have commissioned the Reef 2050 Plan Independent Expert Panel, chaired by Professor Ian Chubb, to provide high-level advice to better inform policy, management and investment decisions. A landmark draft decision by UNESCO to not list the Reef ‘in danger’ was released on 1 August 2023. This draft decision recognises the significant progress that has been made in putting the Reef on a stronger and more sustainable path, as well as the fundamental transformation of Australia’s environmental policies under Labor.

Land and water

We’re investing $236 million to establish a national and reliable flood warning system.
We’re providing $439.2 million to support programs that repair World Heritage properties, restore Ramsar wetlands and conserve threatened species and ecosystems.
The 2023-24 budget includes $118.5 million to help community groups, NGOs, councils, and First Nations groups to restore urban rivers and waterways.
We’ve announced $7.7 million to support landholders to carry out activities that repair nature. This will establish a world leading Nature Repair Market.
Of the $200 million Urban Rivers and Catchments Program, we will allocate $1 million to support the City of Stonnington’s work to regenerate the KooyongKoot, which flows into the Yarra River. This new wetland in Tooronga Park will improve the quality of water runoff into the Kooyongkoot and assist with flood mitigation.
We are committed to delivering the Murray Darling Basin Plan in full. This sets the amount of water that can be taken from the Basin each year, leaving enough for our rivers, lakes and wetlands and the plants and animals that depend on them. The Restoring Our Rivers Bill 2023 has now passed Parliament which promises to deliver an additional 450GL of environmental water.
We have redefined the National Water Grid Fund’s investment framework – aiming to improve water security while being economically and environmentally sustainable. This will ensure we can secure drinking water for the towns that need it most.
More than $30 million has now been invested to boost Western Australia’s recycling and waste infrastructure as part of a joint funding scheme by Australian and Western Australian Labor Governments.
The Federal and New South Wales Labor Governments are investing $6 million to investigate water recycling in Tamworth to boost long-term water security.
$25 million to be invested to encourage private and philanthropic investment projects to better protect Australian fauna and flora.
$88.2 million Mount Morgan pipeline project has commenced with Albanese Government support. The Albanese Government has confirmed an additional commitment of $26.5 million to progress the project. This adds to our election commitment of $3.5 million to support planning and investigation work.
$33.5 million dollar investment in effective water delivery in Deniliquin. The implications of such funding will allow water to be better targeted and distributed to restore local creeks and wetlands – better mimicking the natural flow of water.

Research and innovation

We are supporting Western Australia’s most advanced tyre recycling infrastructure, doubling Western Australia’s production of crumbed rubber for use in recycled products like rubber chips, granules and powders – for reuse in things like roads and playgrounds.
We are investing $6.2 million in energy upgrades for 500 South Australian households.
We are providing $163.4 million to the Australian Institute of Marine Science to continue world-leading scientific marine research.
We introduced the Soft Landing mattress recycling and collection scheme, which assists residents and businesses in VIC, the ACT, NSW and WA recycle mattresses. For a fee, you can drop off your mattress at a recycling facility or pay an additional fee to have your mattress picked up.
We created the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group to guide our nation’s transition to a more circular economy by 2030.
We’re investing $250 million in building and upgrading recycling infrastructure. This includes $60 million for hard-to-recycle plastics like soft plastics.
We’re investing in low emission and clean energy recycling technologies with $3 billion in our National Reconstruction Fund and $100 million for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
We established the Antarctic krill aquarium research facility that will be built in Hobart.
New $137 million facility to be built which will transform Queensland’s paper-recycling industry. The facility will be used to turn 220,000 tonnes of wastepaper and cardboard from across Queensland and northern New South Wales into pulp annually for export.

First Nations first

First Nations Australians managed this country for 65,000 years, they are the world’s most successful environmental custodians. We must protect and utilise their knowledge.
We are doubling the number of Indigenous Rangers to 3,800 by the end of the decade and delivering $40 million for a First Nations water program in the Murray-Darling Basin.
We have invested $231.5 million to expand and improve the Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) program over the next five years. This includes $14.5 million to establish 10 new IPAs. IPAs now cover 87 million hectares of land and over 5 million hectares of sea country. The 10 new IPAs will contribute to our commitment to protect 30 percent of land and seas by 2030, and will also help deliver on the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, enabling First Nations People to maintain their physical and spiritual connection to Country.
We’re investing $150 million for First Nations water infrastructure to provide safe and reliable water for remote and regional Indigenous communities.

“Within the seams of the bedrock of our ancient land, like precious ores, lie new ways of thinking. The One Health model encompassing human, animal and environmental health immediately elevates stewardship. Our First Nations have known this all along. We cannot privilege one above the other, because we are nourished both physically and spiritually by the natural world.” - Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah MP, Maiden Speech, 1 August 2022