“The federal governments’ proposed ‘Environment Protection Australia’ is on track to be one of Australia’s costliest government agencies, which will pile more red tape onto our vital industries and will be largely unaccountable,” said Saxon Davidson, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.
In order to operate a federal EPA responsible for enforcing the Albanese government’s Nature Positive agenda, IPA analysis of state-based environment protection authorities finds:
- The proposed Environment Protection Australia will cost taxpayers approximately $1.8 billion.
- This would make the federal EPA the sixth costliest agency in the federal government (based on 2022-23 financial year data).
- Environment Protection Australia would increase the number of bureaucrats in the Department oof Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water by more than 80 per cent, to a total of more than 10,000 full time equivalent employees.
- This would make the DCCEEW the fifth largest federal government department in terms of staff numbers.
- Total staffing expenditure for the proposed EPA alone would be almost $694 million per year.
“Our resources and agricultural sectors are under constant attack by the political class in Canberra, and Nature Positive is their latest weapon of choice. These sectors generate the wealth that gets invested into our roads, schools, and hospitals the entire country benefits from,” said Mr Davidson.
“With red and green tape already at a record high across the country, and economic and productivity growth stagnant, the introduction of this EPA will only increase it further and add more strain on a faltering economy.”
A key component of the federal government’s Nature Positive Plan is to transfer power currently exercised by the Minister of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to the unelected and unaccountable CEO of Environment Protection Australia.
“The transfer of power from a minister, who is elected and accountable to the public, to a bureaucrat represents a seismic shift away from democratic accountability to the unelected bureaucracy,” said Mr Davidson.
“The proposed federal EPA would have power over not just enforcement and compliance matters relating to environment regulations, but also would have explicit power over project approval decisions.”
“The proposed federal EPA would be turned into a one-eyed activist beast, with little to no consideration for the potential economic and social benefits of major resources projects.”
“Rather than pursue this unaccountable and expensive government agency, the federal government should abandon its EPA proposal, as well as its job destroying Nature Positive Plan,” said Mr Davidson.
To download the IPA’s research click here.
