Australia news live: Albanese heads to Vanuatu to sign $500m deal aimed at countering Chinese influence

<p>‘Nakamal’ agreement has been under negotiation for months and covers security and economic ties. Follow today’s news live</p><ul><li><p><strong>Get our </strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl"><strong>breaking news email</strong></a><strong>, </strong><a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3"><strong>free app</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl"><strong>daily news podcast</strong></a></p></li></ul><p>The planned re-write of federal nature protection laws will provide for development “no-go” zones under a new regional planning regime for major projects, the environment minister, <strong>Murray Watt</strong>, will confirm today.</p><p>The minister will use an address to the same <strong>Smart Energy Queensland</strong> conference <strong>Larissa Waters</strong> is speaking at to sketch out the first details of his overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), which he plans to introduce to federal parliament before the end of the year.</p><p>Regional planning improves environmental outcomes by better managing threats to nature, identifying areas of high environmental sensitivity that should not be developed and guiding restoration activities in areas that have been degraded.</p><p>Regional planning also benefits business by providing better information on local environmental values, to enable informed planning and decision-making, identifying areas where development will simply not be allowed, and areas where individual project assessment and approval would not be required.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/sep/09/australia-news-live-anthony-albanese-vanuatu-china-pacific-forum-murray-watt-nature-protection-laws-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>

Read the full article at: The Guardian World →