Submission to the EPBC Act Review: ANON-K57V-XFUB-2

Abstract

<p><b>Some have argued that past changes to the EPBC Act to add new matters of national environmental significance did not go far enough. Others have argued it has extended the regulatory reach of the Commonwealth too far. What do you think?</b></p> <p>The national loss of biodiversity documented in the national State of Environment Report 2016, and the significant additional impacts likely with climate-related drought, fires and flood, demonstrate that environmental governance arrangements, at all levels of government, are not effective. This is for many reasons, including the relative weakness of national and state protections, the problems of non-feasibility of implementation given the available public and private resources; and the lack of a credible system to monitor and discipline effective implementation. A robust system of meta-governance of biodiversity protection is essential to provide (1) independent and scrupulous oversight of the implementation and performance of biodiversity protection at all levels; (2) a viable business model for the efficient implementation of biodiversity protection, to ensure sufficient public and private resources are deployed efficiently; (3) proper addressing of Australia's obligations under the Convention on Biodiversity to a comprehensive biodiversity governance system that does provide strong public and private economic incentives to implement protective regimes, and which does fully engage all stakeholders in effective protection and restoration.</p>