What’s happening to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and what could this mean for forestry in Tasmania?

Posted 16 December 2025

Private Forests Tasmania: 16 December 2025

Environmental reform has been a matter present before the Federal Australian Government since 2019, when the Coalition (under Prime Minister Scott Morrison) first commissioned an independent review of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.

That process of environmental reform was broad and applied to all industries which make decisions related to the environment across the country, including mining, energy, water, agriculture and forestry.

The result of the independent review of the EPBC Act commissioned by the Morrison Government in 2019 was a report written by Professor Graeme Samuel. This report was made publicly available and made a series of recommendations about potential updates and amendments to the EPBC Act – some of which were broad, and some were industry specific.

Various federal governments have attempted to take action on the outcomes of this review since it was delivered, and on 28 November 2025, the Australian Parliament successfully passed the Environment Protection Reform Bills.

There is a lot of information still to be decided and released by the Australian government about the passing of the Environment Protection Reform Bills in late November 2025 and what this could mean for different industries across Australia.

For the forestry sector in Tasmania, we are aware the Environment Protection Reform Bill will mean:

The exemption written into the EPBC Act about the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement will be removed;
New National Environmental Standards will be developed, consulted on and implemented;
Tasmania’s forest management and operations will be required to be compliant with the new National Environmental Standards from 1 July 2027 (18 months from now); and
A new national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be established, and part of its role is likely to be administering the National Environmental Standards.

Regional Forest Agreement exemption in the EPBC Act being removed

In the Environment Protection Reform Bills recently passed, the exemption under the EPBC Act for Regional Forest Agreements (including Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreement) was removed.

Previously, Regional Forest Agreements were considered to provide an equivalent level of environmental consideration for forest management and operations. In Tasmania, the Forest Management System in Tasmania and the Forest Practices Code 2020 (administered by the Forest Practices Authority), provided assurance that all forest operations are compliant with Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreement.

The Regional Forest Agreement in Tasmania continues to exist. Currently, until 1 July 2027, the Tasmanian Forest Management System and forestry operations are required to be compliant with it.

From 1 July 2027, Tasmania’s forest management and operations will be required to be compliant with new National Environmental Standards (which are yet to be developed).

New National Environmental Standards

As part of these changes to the EPBC Act, new National Environmental Standards will be introduced, which all industries (including forestry) will need to comply with from 1 July 2027.

Currently, only two of an unknown number of new National Environmental Standards have been drafted, and others are yet to be developed. The two which have been drafted are currently available for public consultation (public consultation closes 30 January 2026). These include:

Environmental Offsets

This part of the draft standard relates to measures taken to reduce impact to protected matters.

Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES)

This part of the draft standard relates to provisions focused on protecting matters of national environmental significance including threatened species and ecological communities.

Tasmanian Forest Management System

The Forest Management System in Tasmania and the Forest Practices Code 2020 (administered by the Forest Practices Authority), previously provided assurance that all forest operations are compliant with Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreement.

Based on information to date, this is likely to continue to be the same for all forest operations conducted in Tasmania until 1 July 2027.

However, from 1 July 2027, Tasmania’s forest management and operations will be required to be compliant with new National Environmental Standards. Because these new National Environmental Standards have not yet been developed, it is unknown how much Tasmania’s Forest Management System and Forest Practices Code 2020 could potentially change to assure compliant operations from 1 July 2027.

National Environmental Protection Agency

A new national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be established, and it is understood that part of its role is likely to be administering the National Environmental Standards. There is very little to no other information about what the new EPA will understand or be responsible for. It is also unknown exactly when this will be established.

This information presented in this article reflects information provided by and made publicly available by the federal Australian Government and is subject to change as new information becomes available (either by the federal Government of the Tasmanian State Government).

For any direct questions or queries, please contact Private Forests Tasmania directly by phoning 1300 661 009.