Federal environmental reforms are set to pass parliament after Labor struck a last-minute agreement with the Greens, but ACT politicians question whether the deal delivers the protection nature needs.

The overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act passed the Senate on Thursday night and are expected to be signed off by the House of Representatives on Friday.

The Albanese Government says the package will speed up approvals for renewable projects and deliver clearer national standards. Critics warn emissions will still not be considered when assessing environmental impacts, despite climate change being a major driver of species loss.

The changes tighten loopholes on native forest logging and land-clearing; exclude new coal and gas projects from streamlined assessment pathways, meaning they cannot be fast-tracked; introduce bioregional planning to assess environmental impacts at landscape scale rather than project-by-project; and speed up approvals for renewables.

The deal follows months of fraught negotiations between Labor and the Greens, with the government under pressure to meet a self-imposed deadline to legislate by the end of the year.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the package marked a “new era for the environment and productivity”. The changes respond to Graeme Samuel’s 2020 review of federal environmental laws, which found the existing system slow, inconsistent and failing to protect nature.

Pocock: Nature ‘only a partial winner’

ACT Independent Senator David Pocock backed the final bills, but said they fell short of delivering the “once-in-a-generation” reform promised, criticising both the substance of the laws and the rushed parliamentary process.

“Nature was only a partial winner in today’s deal,” he said. “As a parliament we have failed to update our national environmental laws in a way that fully protects the places and species we love. Political considerations have prevailed over policy… More nature-destroying projects will continue to be approved under these bills.”

Senator Pocock said many of his proposed amendments were not completed in time for debate, as the government “rammed” the bills through the Senate “with almost no time for scrutiny”, denying more than 20 senators — including himself — the chance to speak.

Senator Pocock had proposed 15 key changes to the bills. The final agreement included six of those.

He warned the final package still leaves “nature-destroying projects” capable of approval, and highlighted major concerns, including:

• no requirement to consider a project’s emissions or climate impact
• an offsets scheme allowing “pay-to-destroy” arrangements (the Audit Office of NSW found a model in that state was poorly designed, lacking integrity, transparency, and sustainability)
• sweeping new ministerial “rulings” powers
• subjective statutory tests that could fuel legal uncertainty
• vague “national interest” powers allowing ministers to override protections
• a national environment agency that is not fully independent

He welcomed some concessions — including closing the native forest logging loophole from 2027, narrowing land-clearing exemptions, carving fossil fuels out of fast-tracking, and strengthening safeguards around offsets and assessments — but said federal environmental governance remained too vulnerable to political influence.

ACT Greens claim major wins and turn fire on ACT Labor

ACT Greens deputy leader Jo Clay said the Greens, who hold the balance of power in the Senate, had secured “new environmental protections for all Australians”, including stopping Labor from fast-tracking coal and gas and strengthening forest protections.

But she used the federal breakthrough to criticise the ACT Government’s own record, saying Canberra’s local environment laws are “broken and weak”.

“Canberra’s dodgy offset policy makes it easy for developers to pave over precious habitat — the main driver of the biodiversity crisis in the Territory,” Ms Clay said.

She accused ACT Labor of stalling reforms that would protect grasslands and critically endangered species such as the Canberra Earless Dragon; of prioritising developments over habitat; of failing to meet legislated climate targets and taking the ACT off track to meet net-zero by 2045; of letting the climate strategy expire; and lacking ambition to take meaningful climate action.

“Canberra deserves better,” she said. “The ACT Greens will keep pressuring Labor to put nature before vested interests.”

Conservation groups: Improvements welcome, but ministerial powers ‘dangerous’

Australia’s state and territory conservation councils also praised several Greens-secured wins, particularly the end of fast-tracking for coal and gas projects, retention of federal control over water resources, and closing deforestation loopholes.

But they warned the reforms still hand significant power to states and territories and to the environment minister, who can override scientific advice and determine approvals under broad “national interest” grounds.

“The elephant in the room is the huge power these laws vest in the Minister,” said Conservation Council ACT director Simon Copland. “This unacceptably undermines key wins.”

The groups also oppose the new streamlined pathway for mining, housing and land-clearing projects, arguing it could reduce community rights and weaken protections.

Industry groups remain cautious. The Business Council of Australia said ambiguity remained around the new “unacceptable impact” test that could block developments. CEO Bran Black warned some projects that can currently be assessed “will no longer be capable of being assessed under the new system”.

With AAP.