‘Take two’: Australia renews and fast-tracks environmental reform agenda to accelerate energy transition and boost productivity

In circumstances where the Albanese Government:

• is targeting 82% of grid electricity coming from renewable energy by 2030;
• has a current legislated emissions reduction target of 43% compared to 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050 (and announced plans on 18 September 2025 to bolster this emissions reduction target to 62% to 70% below 2005 levels by 2035);
• is currently reviewing the National Electricity Market to consider wholesale market settings to promote investment in firmed, renewable generation and storage capacity; and
• has an ambitious $43 billion housing agenda,

it is critical that the hurdles currently presented by the EPBC Act can be overcome to ensure that Australia’s productivity and energy transition – and the projects critical to facilitating this – can be assessed in a streamlined manner to allow for faster decisions, which will assist with promoting investment certainty and progress towards achieving targets. 

Will the second time be the charm when it comes to EPBC Act reform?

The Albanese Government unsuccessfully attempted to overhaul the EPBC Act in its first term, with the key aspects of that attempt set out below (and further detail provided in the hyperlinks to our previous alerts). 

Following the Albanese Government’s recent re-election and the appointment of a new environment Minister, ‘take two’ of EPBC Act reform is now underway, this time heavily underpinned by a focus on accelerating the energy transition and boosting productivity as set out below. 

What’s on the ‘take two’ reform agenda?

While no draft reform legislation or policy has been released yet, we have identified below the types of reforms that are expected based on announcements made by the Minister.

While many of these reforms reflect those pursued by the Government in its last term, it is unclear at this stage how similar or different these reforms will be in ‘take two’ as opposed to ‘take one’. However, the Minister has indicated that ‘an enormous amount of work’ has been done to date and ‘it makes sense to draw on the work that has been done’, subject to further engagement with stakeholders and the community. 

In terms of what is not on the ‘take two’ reform agenda:

• a new ‘climate trigger’ (which would require projects which may significantly impact the climate to engage with the EPBC Act referral and approval framework) appears unlikely – the Minister has pointed to the Samuel Review (which did not recommend a climate trigger) and said that, rather than a climate trigger, the Government is leaning towards a requirement that proponents disclose their emissions and provide an abatement plan;
• the ‘nature positive’ focus of the ‘take one’ reforms does not currently appear to form part of the ‘take two’ reforms - it remains to be seen whether the concept of ‘nature positivity’ will feature in the reforms as things progress and the Government puts pen to paper; and
• retrospective application of the EPBC Act reforms appears unlikely, with the Minister stating he ‘would see these laws acting prospectively, as occurs with 99% of the laws passed by this Parliament’.

Other key commitments made by the Government include fast-tracking the assessment of more than 26,000 homes currently tied up in the EPBC Act process and speeding up the assessment of new EPBC Act referrals for homes. Measures to achieve this include establishing a new ‘strike team’ within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (which assesses and approves EPBC Act referrals) to progress those applications and piloting artificial intelligence to simplify and speed‑up assessments and approvals.

Additional reforms to the EPBC Act to expedite approvals and better protect the environment have also been proposed by the Productivity Commission in its August 2025 Interim Report on its inquiry into ‘Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation’ (as summarised in the timeline above) and we expect EPBC Act reform recommendations will feature in the Productivity Commission’s Final Report due December 2025.

Timing and next steps

As noted above, following the Economic Reform Roundtable in August 2025, the Albanese Government committed to bring forward the introduction of EPBC Act reform legislation from mid-2026 to late-2025. With Parliament’s last sitting dates for this year being 27 November 2025 for the House of Representatives and 4 December 2025 for the Senate, we expect we will see the reform legislation introduced by 27 November 2025 at the latest.

While it is unclear what degree of public and industry consultation will occur before and after the reform legislation is introduced later this year, the Minister has reported holding over 40 meetings, roundtables and forums with environment, resources, energy, property and other business groups between June and August 2025, and has expressed an intention to continue consultation as the reform legislation is developed in the next 2 months.

In the second part of this two-part alert series, we will delve further into the anticipated reforms outlined above and what they may mean for industry going forward. We recommend that industry monitor the development of the reform legislation and participate in any available consultation opportunities as they arise.