Now lawEnvironment & Energy Introduced in the House of Representatives, 30 Oct 2025

Nature check costs can now be charged as excise

This small law is one of 7 bills that rewrote Australia's national nature law in 2025. It lets the government charge businesses a fee to pay back the cost of checking their projects. The fee can be no more than the real cost.

Official name: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Excise Charges Imposition) Bill 2025

Who it affects

• Businesses with projects or goods covered by the national nature law: They may have to pay a fee to cover the government's work, once the rules set one.
• State and territory governments: They can be charged too, but their property cannot be taxed.
• The federal environment department: It can get back the cost of its checking work, but no more than that cost.
• Everyday people: Nothing changes for you directly.

Seven bills overhaul nature law

Australia's main national law for protecting nature is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Big projects that could harm protected plants, animals or places need approval under it. The federal environment department does a lot of work checking these projects.

In October 2025 the government brought in 7 bills to rewrite this law. They answer a 2020 review of the law led by Professor Graeme Samuel. It is called the Samuel Review. It found Australia's natural world was getting worse and the law was out of date.

The main bill in the package is the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025. It makes most of the big changes. Three small bills let the government charge fees to pay for running the law. This article is about one of those three.

The government cannot charge some of these costs as a simple fee for a service. So it needs a law that treats them as a tax. The money can only be used to pay back costs.

Why three charging bills

Australia's Constitution is the country's founding rule book. It says a law that creates a tax can only deal with one kind of tax. Taxes on goods coming in or going out need their own law. Taxes on goods made in Australia need their own law too. All other taxes go in a third law. So the government wrote three matching bills, called General, Customs and Excise.

This bill covers any fee that counts as an excise duty. That means a tax on goods made or grown in Australia.

Each fee can only be valid under one of the three laws. The government's notes on the bills say this stops anyone paying twice for the same work.

What charges cover and cost

The bill lets fees be set for things linked to running the nature law. The bill itself does not list any fees or amounts. These will be set later in detailed rules. The government writes these rules without a new vote, and the Governor-General signs them.

A fee can be a flat amount. It can also be a way of working out the amount, such as by volume or by the hour. One task can have several fees. One fee can also cover several tasks.

There is a limit. Before a fee is set, the Environment Minister must be sure it will get back no more than the likely cost to the federal government. The fees are only for paying back what the work costs.

Say a business makes a product in Australia that the nature law covers. The department does some work on it. If the fee for that work counts as a tax on goods made here, this law is the one that allows it.

The rules can also say that some people or activities do not have to pay. The government says this lets it act in special cases. It also lets it give a group a let-off when policy says so.

Who the law covers

The law covers state and territory governments, so they can be charged too. It does not cover the federal government itself.

It does not tax any property that belongs to a state. The Constitution does not let the federal government tax state property.

It applies in Australia's outer territories, the small offshore lands Australia runs, such as the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The main bill holds the power to actually collect the money. It also says who has to pay.

Start date

The bill was brought into the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, on 30 October 2025, with the rest of the package. The House passed it on 6 November 2025. The Senate, the upper house, passed it on 27 November 2025.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 1 December 2025. It became Act No. 65 of 2025. Its formal name is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Charges Imposition (Excise) Act 2025.

The first two sections started the next day. The parts that allow fees start on a date the government sets. If no date is set, they start 12 months after the law was signed, whichever comes first. No fee applies until the rules set one.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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