Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, National Environmental Protection Agency Bill 2025, Environment Information Australia Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Excise Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (General Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Restoration Charge Imposition) Bill 2025

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (19:05): I seek leave to move the amendment on sheet 3538 at the request of Senator Thorpe. Leave granted. Senator DAVID POCOCK: At the request of Senator Thorpe, I move: (1) Schedule 1, item 571, page 316 (after line 15), at the end of section 514YD, add: First Nations Engagement and Participation Standard (7) For the purposes of subsection (1), the Minister must, within 6 months after the commencement of this section, make a national environmental standard providing for, and relating to, engagement with First Nations (to be known as the First Nations Engagement and Participation Standard).

(8) The First Nations Engagement and Participation Standard must: (a) recognise and uphold the inherent rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as First Peoples and sovereign custodians of Country; and (b) ensure that environmental decision-making processes provide for the free, prior and informed consent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples where an action is likely to affect their rights, interests, cultural heritage, knowledge systems, lands, waters or skies; and (c) provide for decision-making processes that are transparent, culturally appropriate, and led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative organisations and knowledge holders; and (d) require that consent processes occur early, prior to project design finalisation or approval pathways commencing; and (e) establish clear, accountable procedures for withholding consent, and for resolving disputes in a manner respectful of cultural authority and self-determination; and (f) require that management of environmental information complies with principles relating to Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property and Data Sovereignty.

(9) A bilateral agreement, environmental approval, or accreditation under this Act must not be granted, renewed or varied unless the First Nations Engagement and Participation Standard is in force. The CHAIR: The question is that the amendments on sheet 3538 and sheet 3551 be agreed to. Senator Thorpe's circulated amendment s to the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 — SHEET 3551 (1) Schedule 1, page 5 (before line 8), before item 2, insert: 1A After paragraph 3(1)(ca) Insert: (cb) to recognise, protect and conserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultural heritage, sacred sites and culturally significant entities, and uphold their rights as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to maintain and strengthen sovereign relationships with land, waters, and resources, and the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent; and (2) Schedule 1, page 98 (after line 20), after item 235, insert: 235A After paragraph 136(2)(e) Insert: (ea) the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including whether Free, Prior and Informed Consent has been obtained; and (eb) the potential impact of the action on indigenous heritage value; and (3) Schedule 1, item 608, page 362 (after line 33), after paragraph (h), insert: (ha) the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; or (4) Schedule 1, item 618, page 370 (after line 32), after the definition of unacceptable impacts, insert: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples means the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as General Assembly Resolution 61/295 on 13 September 2007.

Note: The text of United Nations General Assembly resolutions could in 2025 be accessed through the United Nations' website (https://www.un.org). Question negatived.