The Property Council of Australia Group Executive Policy and Advocacy Matthew Kandelaars has appeared before the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee today, arguing the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is broken and urgently needs reform.
"The current system is broken. It is not working for the environment, and it is not providing business with the confidence or certainty to invest. It is letting Australians down," Mr Kandelaars said.
"Professor Samuel's 2020 review provides a sensible blueprint for change. The time for talk about reform of this broken system must end. A better framework is urgently needed to improve certainty for our natural environment, make this nation more investable and to streamline the assessment of new homes.
"The reforms before the Committee are not perfect, but they are far better than the status quo. Our written submission includes targeted amendments to improve the legislation but not to delay it."
Opening statement from Property Council Group Executive Policy and Advocacy Matthew Kandelaars
Good afternoon, Chair and Senators, and thank you for the invitation to participate in this important inquiry.
My name is Matthew Kandelaars, and I am the Group Executive, Policy and Advocacy with the Property Council of Australia. I am joined by my colleague Eleanor Sondergeld, who is the Property Council's National Policy Manager, Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs.
Acknowledgement of Country
To begin, I acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land from which I join you today: the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. I acknowledge their connection to country, formed over many tens of thousands of years; and also, the connection of other First Nations peoples to country right across this magnificent place we all now call home.
About us
Our members pursue ecologically sustainable development to build Australia's cities and provide the vital pipeline of housing supply so critical to support affordability. They include Australia's largest greenfield residential, industrial and commercial developers. Our members regularly engage with the EPBC referral and assessment process on projects across the country.
By volume, the property sector is the largest user of the EPBC Act referral system. Based on this experience, the property sector recognises the critical importance of reforming the Act to better deliver environmental outcomes and enable sustainable development.
Comments
Following its Economic Reform Roundtable in August, the Government announced the streamlining of the assessment of around 26,000 homes that had been stuck in the system for years.
We warmly welcomed that announcement.
Our members tell us that this has had a materially positive impact on their experience in navigating the system.
Greater certainty, greater confidence and a culture of "why not?" rather than "why?".
In considering the legislation before this Committee, our starting position is as follows:
- The current system is broken. It is not working for the environment, and it is not providing business with the confidence or certainty to invest. It is letting Australians down.
- Professor Samuel's 2020 review provides a sensible blueprint for change. The time for talk about reform of this broken system must end. A better framework is urgently needed to improve certainty for our natural environment, make this nation more investable and to streamline the assessment of new homes.
- The reforms before the Committee are not perfect, but they are far better than the status quo. Our written submission includes targeted amendments to improve the legislation but not to delay it.
Those proposed amendments largely speak for themselves, although I do draw the Committee's attention specifically to the following aspects.
Definitions
There is a need to clarify key definitions for unacceptable impact criteria and net gain.
Unacceptable Impacts
In relation to unacceptable impact criteria, while we agree it is essential the minister has the power to disallow a project where the impact on a protected matter is unacceptable, this bill proposes lengthy and complex tests to determine this.
In relation to protected species and ecological communities, the concepts of "irreplaceable habitat", and "seriously impacts the viability of a protected matter" are not adequately defined.
Net Gain
In relation to net gain our members agree that restoration activities, whether involving onsite repair or environmental offsets, should deliver restoration - i.e. a benefit to an impact matter. Our concern with the inclusion of the net gain test in the bill is that there are important definitions that will feature in the National Environmental Standards for Offsets which are yet to be developed.
Embedding Efficiency
The legislation must also give new administrative arrangements the best chance for success by embedding efficiency into the assessment process. Decision making should be accountable and transparent with respect to statutory timelines.
Treasury data released on 7 October confirmed that 4,641 new homes were approved through national environment laws between August and the first week of October. This is due to the newly established housing taskforce within the Department to process the backlog of referrals.
We are already seeing the benefits of a simple change, and the injection of focussed resources and a specialist team to process referrals. We support lasting change and reform should seek to minimise disruption to the approval of new homes that are finally coming through under the current system. Reforms should retain this specialist resourcing for housing referrals for the duration of any transitional period and at least until the end of the National Housing Accord period in 2029.
Structural Changes
Many components of the proposed reforms are clearly a step in the right direction.
We welcome:
- improvement that will make landscape scale approach including regional plans and strategic assessments more workable
- commitments to improve the quality and availability of environmental information through the new Environmental Information Australia and ministerial power to make protection statements
- the inclusion of a new process for restoration contributions, a feature that could mobilise significant private sector money into strategic environmental restoration projects.
With our suggested amendments, these legislative reforms will form the backbone essential for developing and implementing National Environmental Standards that establish a fairer and faster system for everyone and that balance pro-environment and pro-investment outcomes.
We look forward to your questions and are happy to clarify further the feedback we have provided in our written submission.
