Protecting our environment

Safeguarding our remarkable landscapes and species for future generations

Reef 2050 Plan

The Government is investing an additional $1 billion in world-leading marine science to build the Great Barrier Reef's resilience to climate change, remove pest species and improve the reef's water quality. This brings total Government investment in the reef to $3 billion since 2014.

This investment will also protect jobs at the heart of the reef economy and support Traditional Owner and community-led projects.

Conserving Australia's ecosystems

We are investing over $170 million for threatened species and habitat restoration, and tree planting projects, including $53 million dedicated to koala recovery and conservation. A further $26.8 million for our national parks will improve conservation and management. It will also support Indigenous engagement and employment, enhancing preservation of cultural and natural heritage.

Enhancing our scientific capability in the Antarctic

The Government is investing $839.9 million to enable exploration of East Antarctica’s inland and to support research and environmental management. This investment will ensure that the Antarctic remains a place of science and conservation, free from conflict and exploitation.

Improving environmental regulation

The Government is ensuring that Australia's environmental laws are fit for purpose. A $192 million investment in reforms will protect the environment, speed-up environmental law decisions, and improve transparency in project approvals.

ReMade in Australia

Building on the Government's $190 million Recycling Modernisation Fund and the National Waste Policy Action Plan, the Government is spending $83.1 million on Australia's waste and recycling capabilities to help reach our 2030 waste targets.

This includes $60.4 million to develop new plastics recycling technology and advanced recycling solutions. A further $18.2 million will go towards improving awareness of correct recycling techniques and develop a new 'ReMade in Australia' scheme to certify goods that are recycled and remade here in Australia.

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AGL Energy will shut down Australia’s biggest single carbon polluting power plant a decade earlier than planned, changing the closure date of its coal-fired Loy Yang A power station in Victoria from 2045 to 2035.

The company, Australia’s biggest electricity generator and polluter, is accelerating its exit from coal, according to plan released to the stock exchange on Thursday. . The strategy details its transition to renewable energy after opposition from its largest shareholder, billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, forced it in May to ditch plans to demerge.

The company will leave unchanged the plan to shut its Bayswater black coal-fired power station in NSW’s Hunter Valleybetween 2030 and 2033, a statement by AGL to the stock exchange on Thursday showed.

AGL predicted it will have the largest portfolio of renewable energy and storage of any listed company in the country.

“We have the ambition to supply up to 12 gigawatts of renewable and firming capacity up to 2036 to meet our customer demand, estimated to require up to a $20bn investment,” Patricia McKenzie, the new AGL chair, said in the statement.

“Our interim target is to have up to 5GW of new renewables and firming in place by 2030, funding from a combination of assets on AGL’s balance sheet, offtakes and via partnerships – with battery, wind and solar priority investments at this stage,” she said.

Confirmation of the earlier closure of the 2,210-megawatt Loy Yang A in the Latrobe Valley comes days after the Victorian government announced ambitious plans to bring in more storage to the power system.

Under the targets, Victoria would reach 2.6 gigawatts of renewable energy storage capacity by 2030 and 6.3GW by 2035 – enough to power about half of Victoria’s current homes at their peak energy usage.

The Victorian plant, which comprises Loy Yang A and B stations, supplies about 30% of the state’s electricity and is the biggest single carbon polluting plant in the country. Nationally, only Origin Energy’s 2,880MW plant – due to shut in 2025 – is larger.

AGL has already shut one of the four units of its Liddell coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley, and will shut the rest of the 1,680MW plant by next April. Bayswater, at 2,640MW, will operate for another six to nine years after Liddell’s closure.

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  • The government has released a consultation paper on a national electric vehicle strategy, which has been promised to lift adoption of zero and low-emissions cars. About 2% of new cars sold in Australia last year were EVs, compared with 9% globally.


The paper calls for views on introducing fuel-efficiency standards. It makes the point Australia sits with Russia as one of the only major economies that does not have these standards, which would set an emissions target for manufacturers, measured in grams of CO2 released per kilometre and averaged across all new cars they sell. The target would be gradually reduced to zero.

At a press conference today, climate change minister, Chris Bowen, framed the debate about EVs as being one of choice.

To those who say we shouldn’t be encouraging electric vehicles into Australia, they’re really saying they want electric vehicles to continue to be the preserve of those who are well off. We want those choices available to all. And that’s the discussion we are having with the Australian people.

1.3 Our plan

Our Powering Australia plan sets out how we will meet our climate targets. It includes our commitment to develop Australia’s first national electric vehicle strategy.

The National Electric Vehicle Strategy will:


  • Build on the strong platform that governments and industry have already started
  • Deliver a nationally consistent, comprehensive and overarching framework
  • Enhance existing actions to ensure greater alignment to the Strategy Raise the pace and scale of change
  • Address national gaps so all Australians can access the benefits of EVs
  • Be dynamic and adapt over time to reflect the rapidly evolving nature of the sector
  • Make sure we are on track to meet our emissions and transport electrification goals and proposed objectives.


The Strategy will also include our commitment to consider:


  • Further possible measures to increase EV sales and infrastructure
  • Policy settings to encourage Australian manufacturing of EVs, chargers and components
  • Ways to address the implications of future declining fuel excise revenue.


The Strategy will also include measures to speed transition across all road transport segments. This includes measures relating to micro-mobility, motorbikes, light and heavy vehicles.

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Victorian Labor will legislate the largest renewable energy storage targets in Australia if it secures a third successive term in office.

Just under two months before the state election, Premier Daniel Andrews has set targets for the state to reach 2.6 gigawatts of renewable energy storage capacity by 2030 and 6.3 GW by 2035.

The latter storage target would be enough to power half of the state's households.

"We will set and legislate Australia's largest energy storage targets," he told reporters in Bayswater on Tuesday.

"This is all about giving certainty to industry, underwriting private sector investment. This important change will see some 12,700 jobs created, and will underpin $1.7 billion worth of investment in storage projects right across our state."

Victoria has legislated a renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030 and aims to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Andrews said the storage targets would be legislated sometime in 2023, if Labor is granted another four years in government.

Advocacy group Environment Victoria described the targets as a "groundbreaking step" and another example of the state leading the nation on energy policy.

It is urging the federal government and other states to work with Victoria to develop a national storage target and for the Victorian coalition to commit to implement and improve on the goals if it returns to office.

"Sensible environmental policy shouldn't belong just to one side of politics," Enviromental Victoria chief executive Jono La Nauze said.

In addition to the targets, the Andrews government has allocated $119 million towards a 125-megawatt battery and grid-forming inverter between Bendigo and Red Cliffs, along with $38 million for battery and renewable projects in Terang, Gippsland, Barwon and Wollert.

Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said some renewable storage batteries can discharge power for up to eight hours, dispatching energy when the sun isn't shining or wind isn't blowing.

"The more storage we have in our system ... the cheaper power bills will be," she said.

Unlike Labor, the Victorian coalition has vowed to legislate the state's 2030 emissions reduction target and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy questioned how effective the storage targets would be.

"It's not a bad suggestion but, at the end of the day, Victorians need cost of living relief today. They can't afford to wait until 2035," he said.

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The coalition has moved to strip a ban on nuclear energy in Australia.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called for a discussion on whether nuclear power can become part of the energy mix as the nation faces higher electricity prices.

His Nationals colleagues have gone further, calling for an overturning of the current ban.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has moved to repeal the ban in the Senate with a private bill co-sponsored by coalition colleagues.

Senator Canavan said the repeal doesn't mean nuclear power would start tomorrow, with significant regulatory frameworks still in place.

But the industry needed to be given the green light so it could be operable before Australia faced a similar energy crisis to Europe, he said.

"You don't want to ... be making these decisions at the same time you're facing a massive crisis," he told Sky News.

"That's why we should do this today."

The Queensland senator said there was a much larger appetite in Australia for nuclear energy after the government signed on to buy nuclear-propelled submarines.

"When we announced nuclear submarines last year, there was basically zero controversy," he said.

"People realised, given the geopolitical situation we faced, whatever hang-ups we had on nuclear energy, we needed them in our submarines.

"Likewise here given the energy situation we face ... we cannot afford to take options off the table."

Energy Minister Chris Bowen laughed at the suggestion, saying it was the most expensive form of power Australia could invest in.

Mr Bowen said industry groups had stated Australia would need about 80 nuclear plants to produce the electricity it needed.

"That is one (for) every second MP. Put your hand up if you would like one," he told the parliament.

"You get a nuclear power plant. You get a nuclear power plant and you get a nuclear power plant. There is plenty to go around!"