Our government is fighting climate change head-on, with a concrete agenda and a conviction to drive better outcomes for our precious, unique environment. Over the last two years the Albanese government has dramatically increased renewables in the energy grid, committed to more protections for Commonwealth marine parks, invested in new recycling ventures that reduce waste and is acting to remove feral animals from significant environmental landscapes—and so much more. Importantly, this legislation before us today includes groundbreaking reform, with the establishment of a national EPA that will provide greater protection for our natural assets and significant heritage sites, with significant penalties for breaching our environmental laws. Under the Albanese government, we are setting our nation up for a nature-positive future.
The bills before us today will play a key role in securing that future. These bills—the Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024, the Nature Positive (Environment Information Australia) Bill 2024 and the Nature Positive (Environment Law Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024—comprise one of the most significant steps taken by a federal government in more than a decade. They will establish two organisations that are set to reshape how we protect our environment and tackle climate change: firstly, the independent, national environment protection agency, and, secondly, Environment Information Australia. Together these two agencies will strengthen our nation's ability to address climate change. The EPA will be a tough cop on the beat. It will be able to issue environment protection orders or stop-work orders to anyone breaking the law. It will also be able to audit businesses to ensure they are compliant with environmental approval conditions. These laws will bring maximum fines for breaches of environmental laws into line with punishments for serious financial offences such as insider trading and market manipulation. For extremely serious breaches of environmental law, courts will be able to impose fines of up to $780 million or send offenders to prison for up to seven years.
The new EPA will provide better guidance and education to make sure that businesses are clear about the rules. We know that under the current arrangements mistakes are made and breaches do occur, and that's why our environment minister ordered the department to conduct an offset audit last year. The audit found that around one in seven developments could be in breach of its offset conditions, and, as a result, for the first time, a dedicated team has been set up to proactively audit offsets for projects approved under national environmental law. These results underscore the need for urgency to strengthen enforcement, because stronger enforcement means better outcomes for our environment. The EPA will be able to play an important role in monitoring issues related to offsets. In addition, the EPA will be responsible for enforcing other federal laws relevant to recycling, hazardous waste, wildlife tracking, ozone protection and, importantly, air quality.
When it comes to meeting our ambitious goals like protecting 30 per cent of our land and oceans by 2030, we need to ensure the EPA has all the data it needs to get the job done. That's where the EIA comes in. It will provide reliable, consistent data to track Australia's progress against our international obligations and ensure Australians have a clear picture of how we're tracking in our push to protect more of our country's environment. Of course, we have access to data now, but the crisis we face demands more resources, and that's what the EIA will be able to provide.
The data we do have, which comes from various sources, makes clear that our environment can't withstand an opposition which stands in the way of environmental reform—an opposition that is happy to gamble with our environment, with climate change and with our energy and economic security by pausing the delivery of renewables and instead promising untested, uncosted and unreliable nuclear reactors across Australia. Meanwhile, the Albanese government is delivering on its reliable renewables plan, which is the only plan supported by experts to deliver the clean, cheap, reliable and resilient energy that Australians deserve. It's a plan that makes sense. It's a plan that delivers green jobs and that will strengthen our energy security, drive down emissions and play a massive role in addressing climate change. As part of our work to address climate change and better protect our environment, we're delivering on our commitment to protect more of what's precious—our amazing native species, our coastline and our bush.
All of us on this side of the House recognise that, for too long, we've seen the devastating consequences of a changing climate, with extreme heat and devastating floods forever changing Australia's environment and how we live. It's a challenge that was ignored by the former government, and it's a challenge that demands action now. And that's what these bills are all about.
Passing this legislation will mean that we get on with the job of setting up the national EPA. It will allow a smoother transition of responsibilities from the department to the agency and underpin the establishment and administration of new environmental laws and penalties. With this considered, everybody agrees that the current regulatory system just doesn't work. Our government is committed to fixing these laws to make sure they improve nature, protect our unique native animals and plants and prevent extinctions. That's what my communities expect, and it's what we are delivering.
Importantly, the bill outlines that the minister will retain the power to make decisions when required and in practice with advice from the EPA. It should be noted that the EPA will play an important role in advising the minister and the government of the day on how Australia's environment laws can be improved. The bill also defines, for the first time, the term 'nature positive' and introduces a requirement to report on Australia's national progress towards that outcome. This will be the first time that any country has defined 'nature positive' in legislation and put in place national reporting against this objective. In short, 'nature positive' means improving our ecosystems, including the species that rely on and form part of our ecosystems. Creating a nature-positive Australia means that, across Australia, nature is repairing and regenerating rather than continuing to decline. Requiring reports to be prepared and published online every two years, instead of every five years, will allow us to get onto the front foot and better apply and track protections which are most needed. That's why the State of the environment report includes a new requirement to report on the progress of the government's national environmental goals. The bill makes it a requirement for government to commit publicly to national environmental goals.
Last year Labor passed legislation to establish the world's first Nature Repair Market. We also increased the reach of our environmental laws so that the minister for the environment must assess all unconventional gas projects, including shale gas, which trigger our environmental laws. Our government will continue consulting on the broader reforms to our environmental laws so that we can get them through the parliament. I encourage the opposition, the Greens political party and the rest of the crossbench to engage in this process in good faith.
On top of this, our recent budget also provides $19 million to process assessments for priority renewable energy related projects and $65 million for extra research into threatened species so sensitive areas can be more easily avoided and suitable projects can be more quickly approved based on robust, existing, publicly available data. The budget also secures Australia's position as a global scientific leader, investing $371 million to rebuild and upgrade our research station on World-Heritage-listed Macquarie Island. This will boost our capacity to monitor climate and greenhouse gas emissions and accurately forecast droughts and rainfall. We've also locked in $35.6 million to continue developing the processes and systems needed to administer our world-first Nature Repair Market. This builds on our more than $500 million investment to better protect our threatened species, as well as to crack down on feral animals and weeds. We're also driving Australia's transition to a circular economy, investing $23 million to develop a new national circular economy framework; continuing to tackle problematic waste streams, such as packaging; and getting on with the development of much-needed new recycling schemes for solar panels. This comes on top of the $1 billion state, federal and industry investment to increase Australia's recycling capacity by over one million tonnes.
In closing, with our budget measures and through the nature-positive reforms, we will continue the fight to protect our native species, our amazing coastal environments and our expansive hinterlands that can be enjoyed into the future. This is a responsibility that our government accepts without question, and it is a responsibility that underscores our mission to act as stewards of our precious natural assets for the sake of generations to come.
