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Environmental reform architect hails end of ‘torturous’ years, hits out at Greens and Coalition
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Environmental reform architect hails end of ‘torturous’ years, hits out at Greens and Coalition

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The author of an independent review that sparked Australia’s biggest environmental reform in a generation says he is “satisfied after five torturous years” to finally see his work realized.
Professor Graeme Samuel delivered his landmark review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in October 2020, finding that the country’s core environmental legislation was ineffective and inadequate to tackle current or future environmental challenges.
Five years later, when the Albanian government presented its long-awaited replacement law in parliament, Samuel said that the proposed reforms faithfully implement the “whole” of the recommendations.
“You’ll have to excuse the look of satisfaction on my face,” the former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission told SBS News.

“There has been no significant or even minor deviation from the review’s recommendations. That is why I am satisfied… after five torturous years.”

‘Not a zero-sum game’

The reforms mark an important turning point in a debate that has spanned several governments.

The EPBC Act, passed in 1999 under the Howard government, was intended to protect endangered species and nationally important ecosystems; However, critics have long argued that it has failed to halt environmental degradation.

The 2020 review recommended a new system that focused on national environmental standards, greater transparency and an independent regulator to enforce the rules.
After years of political deadlock, Environment Minister Murray Watt on Thursday introduced the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, promising faster approvals for housing, mining and renewable projects without compromising environmental safeguards.
“Reforms can and will be made,” Watt told the National Press Club (NPC) on Thursday.

“We have one shot at this. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make reforms that move our environment and business forward, just as Professor Samuel recommended five years ago today,” Watt said.

For Samuel, the bill represents a moment of vindication.
“I think we have achieved efficiency and effectiveness with this legislation, and we have met the aspirations of everyone who embraced this legislation in 2020,” he said.

“I say to the Greens, and I say to the Coalition… please stop your political games and get on with this legislation, because this is a way for our children, our grandchildren, our great-great-grandchildren, for future generations, to finally get effective environmental protection.”

A political battle is looming

Despite Samuel’s overwhelming support, it remains an uphill battle in parliament. This is thought to be one of the biggest tests of the government’s bargaining power.
Neither the opposition nor the Greens are happy with the legislation – both rule out support in its current form.
The Senate voted Thursday to subject the reforms to an investigation with a reporting date of March 24, 2026.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley, who led the previous review process in 2020 as then environment minister, has called the reforms an “environmental approvals disaster”.

“It ties up red tape around every single process; it doesn’t give project proponents the confidence they need to move forward,” Ley said last week.
Greens leader Larissa Waters described the proposal as “1,400 pages gift-wrapped for big companies”, arguing it contains loopholes and no “climate trigger” to stop high-emissions proposals.
“What we’ve seen from the government today is 1,400 pages gift-wrapped for the big corporations, gift-wrapped for the mining lobby, gift-wrapped for the big loggers, gift-wrapped for the big parts of the city,” she said Thursday.
Samuel rejected both criticisms and emphasized that the law faithfully reflects all 38 recommendations from his review.
“I just don’t think they read the legislation properly and understand what the minister has achieved with this,” he said.
“They have put a very, very careful set of guardrails around actions by regulators and the minister… This is very carefully guided by national environmental standards.”

Speaking to the NPC, Watt said: “No one gets 100 percent of what they want. If everyone gets 100 percent of what they want, we get nothing.”

‘Urgent for decades’

While the government is hoping for a short, month-long Senate inquiry so the bill can be passed before Christmas, the expansion of reporting means passage this year is unlikely.
Samuel said any further delay would be unacceptable.

“This has been urgent for decades, honestly for two and a half decades,” he said.

Samuel said the bill reflects years of negotiations between scientists, conservationists, industry and farmers, and represents a “giant leap forward” for both business security and conservation.
‘Take it, this is a big step forward, and then we can move on and deal with issues of substantial importance, and issues that are fundamental to our future generations in this country, in dealing with nature.
“When you have this report that has satisfied the ambition of all major stakeholder groups… What are we waiting for?”

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