Environment to-do list: five ministerial priorities for Tanya Plibersek

Here are five that Plibersek will face as she gets up to speed in her new role.

An official review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act by Graeme Samuel, the former consumer watchdog chief, found the laws were failing and the environment was in unsustainable decline. The auditor general has twice come to similar conclusions.

The framework of the act, which leaves decisions on what qualifies as a minimum level of protection almost entirely to the environment minister of the day, was questionable when the legislation was introduced in 1999 and makes less sense in 2022. Australia is the global leader in mammal extinction, and the number of at-risk species has grown significantly while the law has been in place.

The new minister has no shortage of advice to draw on when she decides how to respond. First and foremost, there are 38 recommendations from Samuel that the previous government did not respond to, including introducing national environmental standards against which major developments must be assessed..

Past environment ministers often spoke about the need to strike the right balance between protecting the environment and permitting sustainable development, but the evidence shows governments have rarely made nature a priority.

There are several steps Plibersek could take quickly. They include reversing a decision by her predecessor, Sussan Ley, to abolish recovery plans for 176 threatened species and habitats, restoring lost funding and cultural status to the environment department and its programs after years of it being devalued, and tackling the threat posed by invasive species.

Scientists and environment groups estimate between $1.5bn and $2bn a year, a relatively small commitment in terms of the overall budget, could help endangered wildlife recover. For some of the most imperilled animals, the extra conservation work required would not amount to much at all.

This became a point of focus last year when, in a landmark ruling, the federal court found the minister had a common law duty of care to protect young people against future harm from the climate crisis when she considered a proposed coalmine expansion.

Approval of coal and gas mines will almost certainly receive renewed attention in this term of parliament, as the Greens will hold the balance of power in the Senate and have made stopping new coal and gas developments their main priority.

In one of its last commitments before election day, Labor promised to establish an independent environment protection agency to enforce national conservation laws and collect data on the health of wildlife.

Plibersek will have the job of working out how the new agency will work.

An early question for Plibersek will be whether an EPA will be independent in name only, or be created as a stand-alone statutory authority protected under law. There will also be questions about funding and the extent of its powers.

At the moment, the default policy is to approve projects using environmental offsetting, meaning developers must compensate for the habitat destruction they cause.

In practice, offsets have been poorly monitored. An investigation by Guardian Australia uncovered several cases where offsets were never implemented or were carried out on land that was already protected.

It would be reasonable to expect an EPA would be empowered to address this. A key related question is whether it will be asked to consider if the heavy reliance on offsets is delivering what the country needs or, as the auditor general found, their management is worsening the plight of threatened species.