Stop the devolution

Last year, we won a historic fight. The loophole that let native forest logging avoid national environment laws was finally closed.

But before the ink is even dry, the Albanese government wants to hand federal environment approval powers to the states, starting with Tasmania.

This state-managed system has been failing forests for decades, and this time it won’t stop at forests. By mid-2027, approvals for mining, energy, agriculture and industrial projects across the country could be handed over too.

Federal environmental decision making is behind some of Australia’s most cherished environmental wins, including the Franklin, the Daintree and the …

Last year, we won a historic fight. The loophole that let native forest logging avoid national environment laws was finally closed.

But before the ink is even dry, the Albanese government wants to hand federal environment approval powers to the states, starting with Tasmania.

This state-managed system has been failing forests for decades, and this time it won’t stop at forests. By mid-2027, approvals for mining, energy, agriculture and industrial projects across the country could be handed over too.

Federal environmental decision making is behind some of Australia’s most cherished environmental wins, including the Franklin, the Daintree and the Great Barrier Reef. Handing environmental approval powers to the states puts future protections like these out of the question.

Tell Environment Minister Murray Watt: stop the devolution.

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Email Minister Watt today!

Email Environment Minister Murray Watt today. Stop the devolution.

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Dear Minister Watt,

In November 2025, your government reformed our national nature laws. Australians want those laws to protect nature!

In fact, YouGov polling in October 2024 found 7 in 10 voters say the federal government needs to do more to protect and restore nature, and 86% support stronger national nature laws. Yet on 9 June 2026, your government announced plans for an approval bilateral agreement with Tasmania.

Under this deal, logging approved by Tasmania would no longer need federal approval. I am asking you not to hand your approval power to the states.

Federal approval is the only national check on projects that could seriously harm World Heritage areas, threatened and migratory species, and internationally important wetlands.

That check has saved places before. In 1983, the federal government stopped the Tasmanian government from damming the Franklin River. In 2024, the then federal Environment Minister moved to reject a development at Toondah Harbour in Moreton Bay, a wetland the Queensland government had marked for development.

State governments often support the very projects that harm nature, due to state interests, or under pressure from vested interests.

The swift parrot shows what is at stake. They are critically endangered and breed only in Tasmania, and scientists estimated about 750 mature birds were left in 2020. Your department’s recovery plan names the loss of breeding habitat to native forest logging as a significant threat.

Bringing native forest logging under national law was a hard-won change. Handing approval straight back to the Tasmanian government, which owns the state logging business Sustainable Timber Tasmania, would undo it.  This is one example but every state and territory has its own version.

Please keep nature protection in national hands and rule out approval bilaterals across every state and territory.

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