Banner image: Deforestation of koala habitat in Scenic Rim Region. Reported as potentially illegal under the EPBC Act in late 2025. Cleared for cattle.
In late 2025, the Australian Parliament passed substantial and much needed changes to Australia’s national nature protection law.
We welcomed these changes, however it’s what happens now that is critical. It’s one thing to pass reforms, and another thing entirely to implement them effectively.
Next steps for Australia’s national nature laws
Many of the changes to the laws are yet to take effect. For example, the carve outs for native forest logging under “Regional Forest Agreements” sunset in 2027. But some changes have taken immediate effect. Importantly, from the start of December 2025, the loophole that previously allowed agriculture to get away with rampant bulldozing was tightened.
These changes could not have come soon enough.
More than half of Australia’s native forests have already been destroyed or severely damaged. Every two minutes, an area of forest the size of a football field is bulldozed.
Australia’s forests provide healthy soil and clean water. They also lock up around 19,000 million tonnes of climate-damaging carbon.
In Queensland, the latest data shows an area of forest and woodland larger than 4 x the size of Singapore was wiped out in just one year.
86% of this was to expand pasture for livestock and nearly half of the bulldozing occurred in areas that flow into the Great Barrier Reef. This damages coral and puts the livelihoods of 77,000 people whose fulltime jobs rely on the reef at risk.
So, closing these deforestation loopholes is key. But how does this work?
Closing the deforestation loophole for agriculture
The details are quite technical, but the law is now clear. Clearing of vegetation over 15 years of age or within 50 metres of a waterway in the Great Barrier Reef catchment is no longer exempt under the EPBC Act. This means that if clearing bushland is likely to have a significant impact on threatened species or other things protected under the law, referral and assessment is now required before the bulldozing can occur.
As Minister Watt has explained, these changes help bring agriculture in line with every other industry that needs to comply with our national nature protection laws.
But changes to the law on the books are not enough to deliver better protections for nature in the real word.
Image: Deforestation of koala habitat in Scenic Rim Region. Reported as potentially illegal under the EPBC Act in late 2025. Cleared for cattle.
Nature laws and the agricultural sector
For a long time, Australia’s national nature law hasn’t been strongly enforced and compliance has been low. This is particularly true for the agricultural sector which, primarily for beef, is the biggest driver of deforestation in Australia.
With this longstanding problem in mind, we have been working to ensure that the government implements these changes as an immediate priority.
We know that most farmers are good custodians of nature and that rampant bulldozing is being carried out by a small number of property owners.
The Albanese government needs to support land holders to comply with the updated laws by providing information and education about the changes that affect them. They also need to be ready to respond when it seems the law may have been broken and, where necessary, take enforcement action to send the clear message that the rules must be followed.
We have been pleased to see that, so far, the government has been updating information and advising some landholders on the changes, but more work is required to ensure all landholder and state departments are across how the law applies to the agricultural sector.
Rolling out the reforms; Environmental Standards and a National EPA
While tightening the deforestation loopholes under the EPBC Act is well underway, other important changes will kick in progressively over the next year. Work is already underway on new National Environmental Standards. These will be key to securing better protection for nature. The devil really is in the detail here, and there’s a big question mark over whether these standards will deliver., but It's clear that current proposals fall short of what is needed.
We know there will be lots of vested interests like native forest loggers, miners and housing developers, content with the historic failures of the EPBC Act who will be agitating for the new standards to be as weak and non-committal as possible. With a promise to get these standards in place by mid 2026, whether Minister Watt resists this pressure and delivers standards with substance and teeth looms as a key test for the Albanese government over the next few months.
Another important test for the government will be establishing the National Environmental Protection Agency. ACF has advocated for an independent NEPA, sometimes referred to as an EPA, for many years, and we’re pleased to see that its establishment from 1 July 2026 is locked into legislation.
We’re also pleased that the NEPA will have new enforcement powers and significantly increased penalties to deal with those who breach our national environmental laws. Stronger enforcement of these laws is critical to dealing with Australia’s deforestation issue.
Although this is all locked into legislation, critical decisions like the budget allocated to the NEPA are still to be decided by the government. It will be essential that the Albanese government allocates substantial new funding to allow the NEPA to work as the trusted, independent and authoritative regulator that can protect nature.
While the reforms to Australia’s national nature law passed in late last year were a huge win, there is still a lot of work to be done. We’re working hard to ensure that these laws go from words on a paper, to real positive change for Australia’s precious wildlife, forests and reefs, and the communities that need them.