Ken Henry urges nature law reform after decades of ‘intergenerational bastardry’
- Written by: Phillipa C. McCormack, Future Making Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide
Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has warned Australia’s global environmental reputation is at risk if the Albanese government fails to reform nature laws this term.
In his speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Henry said reform was needed to restore nature and power the net zero economy.
Speaking as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Henry said with “glistening ambition”, Australia can “build an efficient, jobs-rich, globally competitive, high-productivity, low-emissions nature-rich economy”.
The speech comes at a crucial time for nature law reform in Australia. The new Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to prioritise reform, after the Albanese government failed to achieve substantial changes to these laws in the last parliament.
On Wednesday, Henry condemned previous failed attempts to reform the laws. He described delays in improving environmental management as “a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry”.
The need for fundamental reform
The Albanese government abandoned efforts to pass important reforms in its first term.
Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to achieving reforms within 18 months, acknowledging “our current laws are broken”.
In his speech on Wednesday, Henry agreed with this sentiment. He described the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as “a misnomer, if ever there was one”.
Henry is both a former Treasury Secretary and former chair of National Australia Bank. He also wrote Australia’s most important white paper on tax reform.
Henry has previously said environmental law reform could be a template for other essential, difficult law reform, such as fixing Australia’s broken tax system.
He understands Australia’s broken environmental laws. In 2022-23, he led an independent review into nature laws in New South Wales. That review found the laws were failing and would never succeed in their current form.
At the start of his speech on Wednesday, Henry came close to tears when he acknowledged Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s support for those who look after injured and orphaned native animals.
As a bureaucrat in Canberra, Henry also used to rescue injured animals and nurse them back to health.
Big challenges ahead
As Henry noted on Wednesday, Australia faces enormous challenges. These include the need to rapidly build more housing and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
But before building suburbs, wind farms, transmission lines, mines and roads, projects need to be assessed for their potential to harm the environment.
Henry called for sweeping changes, drawing on Graeme Samuel’s 2019-20 review of the EPBC Act. The changes include:
- genuine cooperation across all levels of government, industry and the community
- high-integrity evidence to inform decision making
- clear, strong and enforceable standards applied nationwide
- an independent and trusted decision-maker, in the form of a national Environment Protection Authority
- a natural capital market, which – if well-designed – could provide a financial incentive for nature restoration and carbon storage in the form of tradable credits.
Without the reforms, Henry said, Australia would not “retain a shred of credibility” for two global commitments: reaching net zero emissions, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.
The net zero commitment is at risk because existing laws are not sufficient to protect carbon sinks, such as forests. The roll out of renewable energy is also being slowed by inefficient approvals processes.
Henry said the concept of “ecologically sustainable development”, which seeks to balance economic, social, and economic goals, needs serious rethinking. This concept has been the foundation of environment policy in Australia, including the EPBC Act, for the past 30 years.
Henry wrote the first Intergenerational Report for the federal government in 2002. He has criticised governments for allowing environmental destruction that will leave future generations worse off.
He has variously described Australia’s failure to steward our natural resources as an intergenerational tragedy, as intergenerational theft, and a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry – claims he repeated on Wednesday.
Making money grow on trees
Henry grew up on the Mid North Coast of NSW where his father, a worker in the timber industry, helped log native forests.
Land clearing is the main threat to Australian biodiversity, and preventing native vegetation loss would also cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The foundation Henry chairs advocates for the protection and restoration of Australia’s native forests. Henry has previously backed a plan to store carbon in native forests, which would mean trees were protected and not cut down.
In his Press Club address, Henry lamented ongoing land clearing, poor fire management in remnant forests, and logging of habitat for endangered species such as the koala and the greater glider.
He also called for nature laws that enable projects to be delivered in a way that not only protects but also restores nature. For instance, he said carbon credits could help fund the Great Koala National Park proposed for NSW.
What’s the Australian government doing?
Despite Murray Watt’s stated commitment to nature law reform, there are signs the environment may again come off second-best.
At a recent meeting with key stakeholders, including industry and environment groups, Watt said compromise was needed. He warned environmental protections must come with streamlined project approvals “to improve productivity”.
Henry on Wednesday acknowledged faster approvals were needed, saying:
We simply cannot afford slow, opaque, duplicative and contested environmental planning decisions based on poor information mired in administrative complexity.
But he said faster approvals should not come at a greater cost to nature. In his words:
with due acknowledgement of the genius of AC/DC, there is no point in building a faster highway to hell.
Henry said the current parliament has time to put the right policy settings in place. The remedies also enjoy broad stakeholder support. “We’ve had all the reviews we need,” he said. “All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let’s just get this done.”
Authors: Phillipa C. McCormack, Future Making Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide
