Australia's peak farm body The National Farmer's Federation (NFF) has labeled commentary by The Greens on the Nature Repair Market Bill as 'unhelpful,' warning it threatens to delay or derail much-needed private sector investment in the nation's rural land. 

The proposed legislation establishes a scheme to incentivise investment in nature restoration by creating tradable certificates for projects that protect and restore biodiversity - one of the most likely scenarios that would come from this would allow farmers and landholders to be able to sell trade certificates generated from their nature restoration to big businesses and developers in an offset-type scheme. 

Labor still needs to specify which activities might generate tradeable certificates. Although it is likely that tree planting and not re-clearing remnant vegetation are likely candidates, weed control to protect native species or fencing off certain areas are also flagged as possibilities. 

The Bill passed the House of Representatives last week, but now the Greens and the Coalition look set to block the legislation in the Senate. 

The NFF like many business and agricultural groups wants the bill made the law – and it's the Greens approach in ruling out any support for the proposed laws that has prompted the peak body's criticism of the party.  

In so doing, NFF President Fiona Simpson has joined the calls of the so-called Teal Independents to asking the Greens to take "a more constructive approach" to the Bill. 

Image: Fiona Simson. 

"Farmers have been calling for this sort of partnership-based approach to invest in the health of our landscapes for years. We've partnered with two successive governments over the past decade to make this a reality. 

"To see it fall over at the final hurdle would be heartbreaking, not to mention a huge loss for the environment," Simson said. 

The Coalition tried to introduce similar types of laws three years ago.  

Now the shadow environment minister, Jonathon Duniam, said the Coalition was responding to "more and more stakeholder dissatisfaction with the legislation." 

"In Government, our Bill for a biodiversity market was deliberately confined to agricultural land. By contrast, Labor's bills cover all land tenure and water," he said. 

Not unexpectedly, the Greens criticise the laws from a different angle. 

The Greens' environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, says that "Green Wall Street is not what nature needs." 

"The free market will not save our koalas." 

"An environment plan that doesn't stop logging and stop pollution is not a real plan for the environment." 

Consequently, the Greens have called the legislation "irreparable".

However, Simson from the NFF said that claims the Bill was 'irreparable' were simply not true. 

"We're not seeing a genuine attempt by The Greens to improve the Bill or ensure this new market succeeds. Their zany ideas about climate triggers or native forestry entirely miss the point. 

"That's in contrast to the Coalition, who are engaged on the substance and wanting to make this market work. They're zeroing in on practical concerns that we're confident can be resolved through constructive negotiation." 

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has said that creating a system of tradable biodiversity and nature repair "credits" would be a world first. 

"We're supporting landholders, including farmers and First Nations communities, to do things like replanting a vital stretch of koala habitat, repair damaged riverbeds, or remove invasive species," Plibersek said. 

The Government has pointed to a 2022 PricewaterhouseCoopers report that found a biodiversity market could unlock A$137 billion to repair and protect Australia's environment by 2050. 

But because big businesses and developers - not the Government would be the ones paying for the certificates, it has been viewed by conservation groups as a way of outsourcing the Government's responsibility to directly fund nature conservation projects - and potentially creating the opposite incentive, providing a basis for the destruction of habitat.  

In a statement, Tim Beshara, manager of policy and strategy of the Wilderness Society, said the scheme would "only deliver increased environmental repair through capturing the existing biodiversity offset schemes and hoping that the destruction delivering those offsets will increase." 

The NFF said the Bill is an essential building block as agriculture in Australia is trying to work toward a model where farmers are rewarded for their conservation efforts. 

"Once we have a mechanism to develop a biodiversity product, we can continue to develop a marketplace for the product for multiple purchasers, including governments. 

"At the end of the day, nobody should want to see this Bill die in the Senate. It's a rare win-win-win for landholders, the environment, and business – and stakeholders from each of those camps have worked too hard for too long to see it fail." 

Farmers for Climate Action said that it supports the Federal Government's Nature Market Repair Bill providing it is amended to scrap the biodiversity offsets. 

CEO Dr. Fiona Davis said: "It's nearly impossible to recreate the biodiversity and land cleared in one area exactly as it was in another area. Experts have made this clear. So biodiversity offsets mean less biodiversity. 

"Allowing offsets also gives big companies the green light to buy essential food-producing farmland and clear it to produce offsets."