How national overhaul of environmental laws could affect farmers

The federal government flagged several changes that could have a significant impact on agriculture, including new National Environmental Standards and a national Environmental Protection Agency to enforce them, along with a simplified application process and a nature repair market.

The changes come in response to the Samuels Review into Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government had outlined "the direction that we're heading in", but the specific details of the policy, such as "species per hectare... are a long way down the track".

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"These are things that will be negotiated over time... this approach of slow methodical transparent engagement with all of our stakeholders is really important to try and keep the incredible consensus that we've had up till now," she said.

National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the devil would be in the details.

"Whether these changes will support or hinder farmers' environmental stewardship will depend heavily on the detail of how they're implemented," Mr Mahar said.

"The NFF has been a vocal critic of the existing EPBC Act.... it has failed family farmers who want to do the right thing by the environment, but don't have a team of lawyers on staff to wade through complex rules and approvals."

In the lead up to the announcement, farmers were wary of changes to the national land clearing laws, which currently require any clearing with the potential to impact threatened species to be assessed by the federal government.

The current legislation is vague, requiring farmers to self-refer and environmentalists argue the laws are never followed, nor enforced, within the agricultural industry.

However, tweaks to the federal land clearing assessments were not specifically mentioned. The Commonwealth did commit to better coordination between federal and state decision making, harmonising threatened species approaches,and removing prescriptive or underutilised assessment pathways.

The nature repair market offers an opportunity for farmers to cash in on their environmental stewardship.

The Commonwealth plans to create biodiversity certificates that will be awarded for restoration activities, such as removing pests and planting trees and improving the condition of remnant native vegetation or degraded land.

It's hoped the scheme will encourage private sector investment, while reducing the need to buy or lease land for offsets and contract environmental services directly. A public register of biodiversity projects will provide information to buyers and sellers and track certificate ownership.

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Although the federal EPA was expected, Mr Mahar said the EPA's new advisory body caught the agriculture sector off guard and was cause for concern.

"We need to understand how the EPA's new advisory body will add value over and above the multiple advisory groups that already exist under the Act, and indeed the role of the proposed EPA," Mr Mahar said.

"We will seek further clarity on the role, power and representation on this group during consultations, but for now it remains a concern. If implemented, it must have appropriate farm sector representation."