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

Nature data chief must now report every two years

This law creates a new official, the Head of Environment Information Australia. The Head gathers facts about nature, runs a public website for them and writes the State of the Environment report. The Minister must then answer each report in Parliament and set goals.

Official name: Environment Information Australia Bill 2025

Who it affects

• The public: You get a national website with facts about nature, and a report on its health every two years.
• The federal Environment Minister: The Minister must answer each report in Parliament within 6 months and set goals with due dates.
• Businesses planning projects: They should be able to find better facts on where protected plants and animals live.
• Groups that hold key nature data: Their data can go on a public list as a national asset. They still own it.
• Public servants and contractors who handle the data: They can be fined by a court for leaking protected facts without permission.

Nature data scattered and patchy

Australia's main national law for protecting nature is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. We will call it the national nature law.

In 2020, Professor Graeme Samuel led a review of it. He once ran the competition and consumer watchdog. People call it the Samuel Review.

The review found that facts about Australia's nature were spread out and patchy. There were big gaps. Without good facts, it is hard for the government and businesses to make quick, sound choices about projects.

In October 2025, the government brought in 7 bills to rewrite the law. This one is the Environment Information Australia Bill 2025. It creates a new official by law, called the Head of Environment Information Australia.

The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. It says the bill is much the same as a 2024 version that was pulled. The main change is that it drops a "nature positive" goal and the way of measuring it. That goal meant leaving nature in better shape over time.

A new environment data chief

The Head will be a senior government worker. The Head will work inside the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. That is the federal department in charge of nature laws.

The Head will run the department's Environment Information Australia team.

The law sets out the Head's jobs. The Head must give good facts about nature to three groups. They are the Environment Minister, the public and the new National Environmental Protection Agency.

That agency is the new nature watchdog. A partner bill sets it up.

The facts will come from many places. These include scientists, unis, companies, nature groups and governments. They will be put together on a public website you can search.

Say you are a farmer, a student or a council planner. You will be able to look up national facts about nature in one place.

Reports every two years

The State of the Environment report is a big check-up on the health of Australia's nature. Under the old law, it came out every 5 years.

Under this law, the Head must publish one by 15 December every second year. The first one under the new law is due by 15 December 2028.

Each report must look at how nature is changing over time. It must check progress toward the national goals for nature. It must use what scientists know.

It must also use what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples know about caring for land and nature.

No one can tell the Head what to put in the report. That includes the Minister and the head of the department. The government says this keeps the report honest and helps people trust it.

Minister must answer each report

A report comes out. Within 6 months, the Minister must give a formal answer to both houses of Parliament.

The answer must set goals for nature and the time to reach them. Those goals become what the next report checks.

The government says this makes a loop. Each report shows how nature is going. The government sets goals. Then the next report checks whether they were met.

Linking nature and the economy

The Head must also set up and keep nature and money accounts. These are sets of numbers that show the state of nature. They also show how nature links to jobs, trade and money. They follow world rules for official numbers.

The Head must ask the Australian Bureau of Statistics for help. That is the national agency that counts things like jobs and prices.

At least once a year, the Head must give the Minister a short summary of one or more accounts. The Minister must give it to Parliament within 15 days that Parliament sits.

Key data as national assets

Some facts are key for choices under the national nature law. The Head can name that data a national environmental information asset.

This could be data held by a federal agency, a state agency, a company or anyone else.

The Head must tell the owner in writing. The Head must also put the data on a public list.

This does not change who owns or controls the data. It gives the owner no legal duties. There is no penalty if the owner does not tell the Head about changes.

Asking for information, keeping secrets

The Head can ask anyone in writing for facts or papers. People do not have to answer. There is no penalty if they say no.

The law sets clear rules on when facts can be shared. The Head can share them with federal, state and territory agencies for their work. The Head can share them with police, to help make people follow the law. The Head can also share them to cut a serious risk to health or nature.

Some facts are protected. They are facts that could break a promise of secrecy or harm police work. They also include facts that could put someone in danger or harm nature if they got out.

The government gives an example. Some facts could lead to damage to a fragile natural area if they got out.

Some people may use or leak protected facts without permission. A court can fine them up to 200 penalty units. A penalty unit is a set dollar amount used to work out fines. This kind of fine is not a crime on your record.

Summaries and numbers can be shared if no person can be named from them.

Staff, reports and reviews

Department staff will help the Head. The Head can also hire contractors. The Head can hand tasks to other senior staff.

The Head and staff cannot be sued for money for things they do honestly under the law.

Each year, the Head must give the Minister a report on the team's work, for Parliament. The Minister must set up an outside review of the law within 5 years. Then there must be one every 5 years after that.

Start date

The bill was brought to the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, on 30 October 2025. The House passed it on 6 November 2025. The Senate, the other house of Parliament, passed it on 27 November 2025.

The Governor-General is the King's representative in Australia. He signed the bill into law on 1 December 2025. It became Act No. 63 of 2025.

The whole law starts at the same time as the National Environmental Protection Agency Act 2025. The Parliamentary Library said that law was due to start on 1 July 2026. If that law never starts, this one does not start either.

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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