The Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 overhauls the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to deliver stronger, transparent and enforceable national environmental standards, ensure net-gain outcomes for protected matters, and streamline assessment and approval processes.

It also establishes a National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), bolsters compliance powers and penalties, introduces bioregional planning, and codifies First Nations engagement.

The Reform Bill implements the core recommendations of the 2020 Samuel Review by amending the EPBC Act in five key areas:

• National Environmental Standards: Provides a framework for legally enforceable standards to set clear environmental outcomes and boundaries for decision-making.
• Unacceptable Impacts & Net Gain Offsets: Defines unacceptable impacts that cannot be offset, mandates net-gain compensation for residual significant impacts, and establishes a Restoration Contributions Special Account managed by an independent statutory office holder.
• Compliance & Enforcement: Increases criminal and civil penalties, introduces environment protection orders (EPOs) for urgent interventions, and expands both directed and compliance audit powers.
• Efficient Project Assessments: Introduces bioregional plans and streamlines approval pathways by replacing six existing processes with a single, faster assessment track, clarifying strategic assessment roles and enabling surrender or variation of approvals.
• Institutional Reform & Transparency: Establishes NEPA and Environment Information Australia to undertake regulation, assessment, monitoring and open data reporting; updates conservation planning, heritage listings, wildlife trade permits, climate-related emissions disclosures and the radiological exposure trigger; strengthens First Nations advisory roles; and refines cost-recovery mechanisms.

Commencement of provisions is staged by proclamation or set timeframes post-Royal Assent, with transitional and application rules in Schedule 1.