The National EPA was established on 1 July 2026. Since then, we have been responsible for compliance, enforcement and education under Australia's national environmental laws.
These responsibilities include the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and programs that regulate:
- wildlife trade
- sea dumping
- hazardous waste
- waste exports and recycling
- ozone-depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases
- product emissions
- underwater cultural heritage.
The National EPA builds on existing compliance and enforcement work. We continue to focus on the 2025-27 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities, addressing the highest environmental risks.
Our 12-month Progress Report highlights what we achieved over the past year. Data from compliance and enforcement activities, audits, intelligence, operations and related programs was used to measure progress against our priorities.
In line with our priorities we targeted:
- unreferred land clearing
- breaches of EPBC Act approval conditions
- environmental offsets
- unlawful waste exports and harmful emissions
- illegal wildlife trade.
This report shows the action taken to address these issues, the outcomes achieved and how this work in protecting Australia’s environment and heritage.