Deputy Speaker,

Caring for and repairing nature is a high priority for the Albanese Labor Government.

Which is why we are delivering on our Nature Positive Plan with the establishment of the nature repair market.

This market will make it easier for businesses, organisations, governments and individuals to invest in projects to protect and repair nature.

The Australian Government has committed to protecting 30 per cent of Australia's land and seas by 2030.

The same goals have been adopted globally under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

These goals reinforce the findings of the 2021 State of the Environment Report and its story of environmental degradation, loss, and inaction.

We need significant investment in conservation and restoration for a nature positive future.

Business and private sector investment can contribute to reversing environmental decline.

This was highlighted in the findings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act review by Professor Graeme Samuel AC.

Private companies, conservation groups, farmers and other landholders are increasingly looking for ways to achieve positive outcomes for nature.

A recent report prepared independently by Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that the market for biodiversity in Australia could unlock 3.82 million commitment was part of Labor's 9.8 million over four years that Labor promised to contain and eradicate dangerous gamba grass infestations in the Northern Territory.

Gamba grass is one of the greatest environmental threats in the Northern Territory.

Part of Labor's $9.8 million commitment is going to scaling up the already successful work of the Northern Territory Gamba Army to remove the grass from public lands which present a high fire risk to lives, homes and infrastructure.

This commitment is helping keep gamba grass out of Kakadu national park as part of federal Labor's ongoing commitment to protecting Kakadu from the threats of invasive species.

With these commitments, as with the nature repair market that will be created if this Bill passes, the Albanese Government is showing that it has a clear Nature Positive Plan and that it is getting on with the job of delivering it.

Finally, Deputy Speaker, I'd like to highlight the great work of Tierra Australia, which has been driving a proposal to deliver a scoping study and pilot project targeted at restoring the natural functions of the landscapes of Timor-Leste.

The proposal aims to deliver the hard evidence to underpin a business case for restoring the natural capital for the whole 1.5 million hectares of Timor-Leste.

This would enable the Government of Timor-Leste to monetise its reserves of terrestrial forest, mangroves, carbon stocks and its marine and terrestrial natural capital.

The objective of this plan is to deliver increased per capita GDP to the people of Timor-Leste, including to Indigenous and underprivileged people, through carbon income.

It aims to create jobs and a new local economy based on natural capital restoration and conservation in Timor-Leste.

This work would begin by employing locals to implement a pilot project in one of the small catchments flowing into Dili before scaling up to the whole country.

I salute Peter Burgess, the CEO of Tierra Australia, and Mike Clark for all their work on this important project.

Thanks Deputy Speaker.