I rise today in support of the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023. I was in here listening to the member for Dawson just now talking about farmers. I agree with him that farmers do a lot to take care of the land on which they have their farms. I see that with the farmers in my own family, and I know that's important. But this bill is about making it easier for farmers to invest in protecting the land they use. It's about rewarding people for looking after parts of their land, protecting areas, removing weeds, improving waterways, all those sorts of things. So it's about working with farmers and First Nations communities to improve our land. It's a really important bill.

I want to congratulate the Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, on this bill as well as all the hardworking public servants in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for their efforts in putting it together. I want to commend the minister for her commitment to protect Australia's incredible natural environment and all the work that she has done in just one year since being sworn in.

I've been so impressed by what we have achieved as a government, already, in this space. It builds on a strong Labor legacy of environmental stewardship and protection. We are the party that has delivered every significant environmental reform in Australia's history. Whether it's protection of the Franklin River, the Daintree, Kakadu or K'gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, or the creation of the largest network of marine national parks in the world, Labor has and always will stand up for our environmental heritage.

This government is taking action to bolster that proud legacy. Our nature-positive plan pledges the federal government to protect our land and sea and to leave it in a better state than we found it. That's what nature positive means. Every day in government we want to improve and care for our wonderful natural environment, here in Australia, which we depend on as well.

That's a stark difference to the decade of environmental decline that we saw under those opposite. As the minister points out in the forward of this plan, the equation facing Australia is simple. If our laws don't change, our trajectory of environmental decline will not change either. This legislation is part of those changes. It will help us to deliver on our nature-positive plan. It is just one part of this plan. We're amending our environmental protection laws—incredibly important, and something I discuss with my constituents on a daily basis. People are really keen to see laws that actually protect our environment going forward. It's something that Labor is committed to delivering. We've already legislated strong climate action. Just a few weeks ago, the minister tripled the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park. We have also committed to no new extinctions. That is a really important commitment. It almost goes without saying, but it is a large commitment in terms of the work that is required, and it is something we are really serious about.

The establishment of the nature repair market, a voluntary national market that will deliver improved biodiversity outcomes, is a key reform that will go a long way to leaving a stronger, more resilient environment for future generations. Why are we taking this approach? The Albanese Labor government knows that we need significant investment in conservation and restoration and that business and private sector investment can contribute to reversing environmental decline. This was highlighted in the findings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act review by Professor Graeme Samuel. We also know that private companies, conservation groups, farmers and other landholders are increasingly looking for ways to achieve positive outcomes for nature. A recent report prepared independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the market for biodiversity in Australia could unlock $137 billion in financial flows by 2050. This legislation responds to that incredible demand. By passing this bill we will generate investment, job opportunities and new income streams for landholders, including First Nations native title holders and agriculturalists.

It will also deliver on Australia's international commitments by building a nature-positive economy. It is of vital importance that we protect and repair ecosystems and reverse species decline and extinction. How will it work? Eligible landholders who undertake projects that enhance or protect biodiversity will be able to receive a tradeable certificate that will be tracked through a national register. The Clean Energy Regulator, an independent statutory authority with significant experience in regulating environmental markets, will be responsible for issuing these tradeable biodiversity certificates to Australian landholders. The certificates can then be sold to businesses, organisations, governments and individuals. All landholders, including First Nations Australians, conservation groups and farmers can participate in the market. Projects will deliver long-term, nature-positive outcomes through activities such as weeding, planting native species and pest control. They can be undertaken on land or water, including lakes and rivers as well as marine and coastal environments.

Open participation and extensive opportunity for project locations will support regional Australia through jobs and nature-positive economic activity. The nature repair market will be based on science and enable First Nations Australians to foster their unique knowledge on their own terms. It will promote and enable free, prior and informed consent for projects on their land or waters. It will create opportunities to design projects that reflect the knowledge and connection to country of First Nations peoples and utilise their skills and knowledge for a nature-positive future. This bill is deliberately designed to encourage participation and create employment and economic opportunities for First Nations peoples.

Ultimately, the establishment of the nature repair market will facilitate private investment in biodiversity, including where carbon storage projects have biodiversity co-benefits. By establishing the market in legislation we will ensure its going integrity, encourage investment in nature and drive environmental improvements across Australia.

Something that's important to highlight is that our nature-positive plan presents a different approach to biodiversity offsets. In this bill we are enshrining in legislation that offsets are a last resort. Our government is already designing and consulting on new national standards for matters of national environmental significance and environmental offsets. These will be legislated under the new nature-positive laws. The standards will provide certainty and confidence in the use of biodiversity offsets under Commonwealth laws. They will no longer rely on averted loss but on protection and restoration of ecosystems that provide a nature-positive outcome where avoidance and mitigation cannot prevent a significant impact.

It's important to note that projects under the nature repair scheme won't be used as offsets unless and until they meet the new standards. The nature repair market will be an opportunity to create a supply of projects certified through purpose designed offset methods and it will operate in parallel with the carbon market, facilitated by having the same regulator. This alignment will encourage carbon-farming projects that also deliver benefits for biodiversity. There will administrative efficiencies in this approach and, more importantly, clear and accurate oversight of claims made in both markets.

Our government acknowledges the recent review of carbon crediting led by Professor Ian Chubb. Lessons learned from the carbon market have informed the bill and will continue to be reflected upon as environmental markets develop. Overall, alignment between the carbon and nature markets will help ensure that investments in land sector carbon projects deliver biodiversity co-benefits. The new register proposed by this bill will be a comprehensive and public source of information on these projects and the biodiversity they're protecting. Ensuring transparency and integrity in the market is vital, and that's what we'll do. The Nature Positive Plan reflects our commitment to restoring public accountability and trust. We want buyers to be able to invest in the market with confidence, knowing that the biodiversity certificates have integrity and represent an actual environmental improvement.

There are a number of key methods in this bill which achieve this outcome. First, the bill establishes an independent expert committee which will be responsible for ensuring that projects deliver high-quality nature-positive outcomes underpinned by a consistent approach to the measurement, assessment and verification of biodiversity. The bill also establishes a public register and citizen oversight facilitated by the Clean Energy Regulator, which will regularly publish relevant data from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Comprehensive information about projects and certificates will be available on a public register, additional information will be regularly published by the regulator and there will be an active release of relevant data by the department. This will enable parliament and the public to monitor the scheme and will provide an opportunity for citizen oversight. And it will support certainty and value to the market. The Clean Energy Regulator will be responsible for monitoring, reporting and notifying stakeholders on the delivery of project activities and progress on the environmental outcomes. The regulator will also have enforcement powers to ensure that projects are conducted in accordance with the rules.

The bill also establishes the Nature Repair Market Committee. The committee will be responsible for providing advice to the minister following public consultation. It will be made up of experts with substantial experience and significant standing in one or more areas of expertise, including agriculture, science, environmental markets, land management, economics or Indigenous knowledge. The bill also mandates public consultation on methods and the instrument for measuring and assessing biodiversity, as well as conducting ongoing consultation and engagement on our environmental reform agenda. We'll work with the ACCC and ASIC to ensure that certificates issued in the nature repair market are not subject to greenwashing. It is of vital importance that the statements made about certificates accurately reflect the projects and investments they represent, and that projects in the carbon and biodiversity markets are not affected by misleading claims. Transparency will be a core element of the scheme.

In the time remaining to me, I just want to comment on the Conservation Council ACT Region's World Environment Day dinner here in Canberra, which I attended recently. It was a night to gather with all the environment movement here in Canberra, to celebrate and support the incredible work that they do. Significantly, they do mostly volunteer work through Landcare groups, friends of grasslands and friends of waterways here in Canberra. They volunteer to improve those areas. I'm not sure of the awareness out there of how much of that work is done by volunteers. I think that's why I am so proud that we have this Nature Positive Plan, that we're able to say we're working every day to leave the environment in a better state than when we came into government. When I see all those people who work so hard and fight so hard for this, I'm really proud that we in this place have the opportunity to vote on, and deliver, this one part of that plan.

There was an incredible speech given at that event by Richard Swain, who is an ambassador for the Invasive Species Council. He's an Indigenous man from the Snowy region, and he is a river guide in the Kosciuszko National Park. He talked about what modern Australia has to learn about respecting country and caring about country and how really the problems that we have created and the damage that we have done to our environment are because of these modern ways. He talked about the very significant changes that we need to make if we really are to change that attitude and to care for country. We have so much to learn from First Nations peoples about the way that they cared for this country for 65,000 years. This bill, importantly, supports First Nations landholders and communities to look after land. It specifically creates opportunities to bring that knowledge into this process, and I think that is really important. I'll pick up on what the previous speaker, the member for Dawson, said about farmers and people in agriculture. They do work every day on the land, and they do care about the land, and this is about helping them and supporting them to look after it through these methods. It is a really important bill, and it is part of an incredibly important plan to protect Australia's environment that is long overdue, and I'm very proud of this work.

I commend this bill to the House.