Federal Budget: $128m to slash farming red tape

A $128.5 million Federal Budget reform package for environmental law is set to cut red tape and give Australian farmers greater certainty around what they can do on their properties.

A modernised environmental offsets policy, clearer information surrounding which plants and animals are protected and a regional planning scheme are among changes to be made to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in this month’s Federal Budget.

Federal Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said the changes would get rid of “inefficient regulation” and give primary producers new ways to grow, creating more jobs in rural and regional Australia.

The $128.5m package will be broken down into three areas, with the lion’s share — $62.3m — put towards delivering plans to protect areas of environmental significance, streamline assessments and manage impacts in up to 10 areas.

A further $37.9m will be put towards streamlining assessment processes, including a single touch approval process, while $28.4m is set aside for modernising the environmental offsets policy, improving compliance and the knowledge base of protected species, as well as scoping a new advisory committee.

Mr Littleproud said the changes would help farming communities thrive.

“Modernising the environmental offsets policy with a revised calculator will deliver greater transparency and more flexibility, and there will be dedicated support to assist farmers understand the requirements,” he said.

“Clear and consistent environmental offsetting arrangements also provides confidence for developers and better environmental outcomes.

“We are reviewing the plants and animals that are protected making sure we provide clearer data to reduce complexity and uncertainty for farmers to enable sustainable development.

“And delivering an accelerated regional planning scheme in up to 10 regions supports pre-approved activities, fast-tracking developments, providing greater investor confidence and ensuring strong environmental protections.”

Mr Littleproud said the changes would cut red tape while providing more certainty for the agricultural industry into the future.

By removing the need for a project-by-project approval under national environment law, Federal Water Minister Keith Pitt said the regional plans would streamline development approvals.“This will boost investor confidence by identifying areas within a particular region where development activities may be undertaken while ensuring that strong environmental protections are maintained,” he said.

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said they would support economic recovery in the regions while protecting the environment.

“This is a package that will improve the quality and reliability of data used in assessments and decision-making, ensure greater transparency and flexibility around environmental offsets and reduce duplication and delay in the assessment and approval process,” she said.“It represents another important step in delivering much needed environmental reform that reduces unnecessary delay and duplication, while strengthening safeguards.”