Submission – National Environmental Standard for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES)

National Environmental Standards (‘Standards’) are a key component of reforming Australia’s national environment laws. Together with the other National Environmental Standards and bioregional plans, the MNES Standard underpins Australia’s environmental protections under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

The Academy has contributed scientific expertise and advice to Australia's environment law reform process over the past six years. Many of the Academy’s previous recommendations remain unaddressed and must be implemented to achieve better outcomes for our environment and biodiversity.

The main issue with the MNES Standard is that it creates a process-based compliance test through elevating adherence to the Principles and assuming outcomes will be achieved, regardless of whether the environmental outcomes are actually achieved. As drafted, the MNES Standard also only protects “irreplaceable habitat” and does not adequately address monitoring and cumulative impacts.

As drafted, the MNES Standard risks enshrining, rather than reforming, a system that has been independently and widely recognised as broken. The National Environmental Standards should be clear, unambiguous, measurable and enforceable. They must be the clearest possible statement of the government’s responsibility to Australia’s environment.

To achieve this, the Academy recommends the Australian Government:

1. amend the MNES Standard so that compliance requires demonstrated, measurable environmental outcomes rather than consistency with the Principles alone
2. provide clear assessment thresholds and guidance for key concepts such as “residual significant impacts” and application of the mitigation hierarchy
3. refine or remove discretionary language in the MNES Standard to improve clarity, consistency, and enforceability under the EPBC Act
4. clearly define key terms (e.g. “viable”, “net gain”), and ensure these definitions are used consistently and are aligned with current science
5. explicitly require the assessment of cumulative impacts under the MNES Standard, including baseline assessment, compounding impacts across projects, species, landscapes, bioregions and environmental trends over time
6. address key omissions: monitoring obligations and accounting for the impacts of climate change on MNES
7. align the MNES Standard with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and including recognition of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property.