The Climate Council says the Federal Government has closed the political year having shown progress towards some of its climate goals, but shelved promised changes to federal environment laws.
Climate Councillor Greg Bourne said: "We welcome the Albanese Government passing legislation that supports clean energy and industry, including the Future Made in Australia initiative that provides billions in tax incentives for green hydrogen and processed critical minerals.
"It is also pleasing to see from the annual Climate Change Statement that progress is being made in cutting climate pollution from Australia's energy sector. Now is the time to build on this momentum - indeed, we need to accelerate building clean solutions across all sectors of our economy to better protect our families from worsening unnatural disasters driven by pollution from coal, oil and gas.
Mr Bourne said that the need for a national environment law that embeds strong climate and nature protections for our natural wonders had not gone away, even if political will has evaporated.
"Despite promising to strengthen national environment laws, something that Australians have consistently supported, the Albanese Government came up short. The government can and must deliver a strong national environment law that protects nature from damage today, and escalating climate harm in the years to come. It will now have to do it in 2025.
"Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our landscapes and our wildlife. It is not going away so cutting climate pollution and fixing our broken environment laws should be a key priority for all political parties in 2025."