EPBC Act Reforms – what’s changed

The Australian Government’s reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act are one of the most significant changes to Australia’s system of environmental protection since the laws were established. 

On balance, these changes represent an improvement and will benefit local governments, which have critical roles such as environment stewards, planners, and in navigating referrals, assessments and approvals. 

Under the EPBC Act previously, councils have had to navigate unclear definitions, multiple assessment pathways, and inconsistent and slow decision making. Old laws were also not set up to work effectively with state and territory laws, creating further administrative burden. The reforms were informed by several reviews on the EPBC Act, which found that old laws were incapable of effectively protecting Australia’s biodiversity. 

Now the reforms have been legislated, ALGA will seek to work with the Government on how the transition to a new system can be made as simple as possible for councils and best protect local biodiversity values. This includes how local government can contribute to new elements of the legislation like national environmental standards and to defend against potential cost shifting to councils. 

What’s Changing in the EPBC Act? 

National Environmental Standards 

The reforms will allow the Minister to set national standards for environmental protection. ALGA supports environmental standards and is emphasising the need for ongoing engagement with local government to ensure these standards account for local biodiversity values, priorities and to avoid cost-shifting. 

The first two draft National Environmental Standards policy papers and legislative instruments have been released for consultation:  

• Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES)  

• Environmental Offsets  

 Consultation closes 30 January 2026. 

 Assessment Pathways 

The reforms simplify old assessment pathways, which aim to make it quicker and easier to refer projects for assessment and get an answer. The new system provides the following: 

• A new streamlined assessment pathway will be available for applicants who provide sufficient information at the referral and assessment stage. This pathway will replace three existing ones—Assessment on Referral Information, Assessment on Preliminary Documentation, and Assessment on Public Environment Report. 

• The Environmental Impact Statement pathway has had minor amendments and will remain for more complex referrals that are not suitable for streamlined assessment. 

Regional and Strategic Planning 

The reforms encourage greater use of landscape-scale assessments, allowing eligible projects to be approved under a class of actions, rather than requiring individual project-by-project approvals. 

Reforms also enable the development of regulatory regional plans, meaning the Commonwealth, state, and territory governments will be able to plan at a landscape scale. The new assessment pathway will allow some developments to register to comply with a regulatory regional plan, as an alternative to seeking project-level EPBC Act approval. 

ALGA will be pushing for councils’ strategic, environmental, economic and land use planning to be included in these processes to ensure that local values are appropriately incorporated and that local government functions are not overwritten. 

Bilateral Agreements 

Reforms intend to make bilateral agreements with states and territories more flexible to reduce the risk of agreements ‘breaking’ due to changes in state laws. While states and territories will now be able to be accredited to do assessments, the new National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) will monitor and audit decisions to ensure national environmental standards are being upheld. 

Environmental Offsets and Restoration Contributions 

Councils will benefit from clearer guidance on offsets and net gain requirements. ALGA is cautioning that safeguards are required to ensure offsetting is used where necessary, and that restoration payments are transparent and locally relevant.  

Accountability and Transparency 

The reforms establish a National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), aiming to deliver more consistent and independent compliance and decision-making. There will also be much higher penalties for significant breaches.  

Environment Information Australia was also created, which collects environmental data on a consistent basis to enable the Government to more consistently monitor environmental trends and outcomes. 

National Interest exemptions 

Reforms sought to clarify the process for granting an exemption on ‘national interest’ grounds, namely, for emergency situations. ALGA is concerned that expanding ministerial discretion over what constitutes a ‘national interest’ could lead to inconsistency in how exemptions are applied which can contribute to biodiversity loss or potentially override local government powers and roles. Greater safeguards are required and we welcome consultation. 

Next steps 

As the EPBC Act reforms are implemented, there is ongoing need for the government to have: 

• Genuine consultation with councils, particularly in the design of new national environmental standards, and regional and strategic plans, to ensure that local strategic, economic and land use planning is appropriately incorporated into decisions. 

• Create a transition to a new environment protection system that does not shift costs or administrative burdens onto local governments without adequate funding and support.  

• A plan to enable environmental data sharing between local and federal governments to support best possible decision making. 

• Strengthen national interest exemption definitions, to reduce the risk that ministerial discretion contribute to biodiversity loss. 

ALGA will provide further information as it becomes available.