Australia’s federal parliament has passed the most significant overhaul of its national environment laws in 25 years. Under the reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), long-standing exemptions that allowed logging of native forests under Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) will be removed.
A new federal regulator — National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) — will be created to enforce stronger national standards, oversee habitat protections, and monitor compliance across all states.
From 1 July 2027, any native-forest logging that might significantly impact nationally important habitats, threatened species or sensitive ecosystems will require federal assessment under the EPBC Act. This change is expected to curtail logging in many old-growth and high-conservation-value forests, ensuring better protection for species such as koalas, gliders and other wildlife whose habitats were previously at risk.
Environmental groups have welcomed the reform as a “historic win” for nature protection in Australia — a move that could help safeguard biodiversity, prevent habitat destruction and bring native forests under uniform, enforceable safeguards.
