The legislative reforms generating the most attention in recent weeks have been the reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) which the Government introduced into Parliament on 30 October 2025. The reforms comprised a series of 7 bills (the EP Reform Bills) which were finally passed by the Australian Government on Friday 28 November 2025.
The Government states that the reforms seek to deliver on 3 key pillars: stronger environmental protection and restoration, more efficient and robust project assessments and greater accountability and transparency in decision making.
The EP Reform Bills were passed as a result of successful negotiations between the Minister for the Environment Murray and the Greens on the last sitting day of Parliament before the Christmas break. The Greens were seeking a climate trigger together with stricter regulations for native forest logging and fossil fuel projects. Minister Watt conceded on the latter but refused to include a climate trigger. The proposed climate trigger would have added climate change as a “matter of national environmental significance”, meaning projects with significant greenhouse gas emissions would require assessment and could potentially be blocked by the Minister.
New rules will make it clear when the new laws will take effect. Transition arrangements provide that existing projects that have not received a final decision when the laws take effect will still be assessed under the current EPBC Act. This includes projects being looked at by states and territories under current agreements. New projects that haven’t been referred yet will need to comply under the new laws. This includes the National Environmental Standards.
The next steps involve the establishment of the National Environmental Protection Agency and finalising details of the subordinate legislation, including the National Environmental Standards and regulations. National Environmental Standards have been developed for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) and for Environmental Offsets and drafts of these documents are open for public consultation until 30 January 2026.