South Australia's new Biodiversity Act: Key changes and next steps
What you need to know
- South Australia's new Biodiversity Act 2025 (SA) is intended to consolidate and strengthen State biodiversity protections.
- Although many features of the new Act mirror the existing biodiversity protection framework, the Act will also make a number of notable changes. These include broader protections for flora and fauna, a new "general biodiversity duty", increased penalties and expanded enforcement powers, and measures seeking to achieve greater First Nations involvement in decision-making.
- The general biodiversity duty is the first of its kind in Australia, requiring duty holders in South Australia to implement reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise harm to biodiversity from their activities.
- The Act has not yet commenced and will be implemented in stages over the next two years. Until then, the existing biodiversity protection frameworks continue to apply.
What you need to do
- Although the Act is yet to commence, organisations should give early consideration to how the new Biodiversity Act may affect their operations in South Australia.
- Consider integrating assessment and management of risks to biodiversity into project planning, in preparation for commencement of the general biodiversity duty.
- Monitor for further updates about the commencement of the Act and opportunities to participate in consultation on regulations, standards and policies.
After more than two years of development and public consultation, South Australia passed the Biodiversity Act 2025 (SA) in June 2025. Once it commences, the Act is intended to consolidate and strengthen existing biodiversity protections under the Native Vegetation Act 1991 (SA) and the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 (SA), creating a more streamlined approach to conserving, restoring and enhancing biodiversity in South Australia.
This article outlines what will change and what will remain the same under the new framework, and the practical implications as the Act moves towards commencement and implementation.
Compliance with the new general biodiversity duty will be required
Under the Biodiversity Act, all activities will be subject to a "general biodiversity duty", requiring implementation of reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise harm or potential harm to biodiversity. The duty is proactive and is intended to encourage duty holders to take steps to minimise risk of harm from their activities before they commence.
Compliance will be supported through biodiversity policies made under the Act (providing guidance on what is "reasonable and practicable") and through provisions allowing compliance and repatriation orders, as well as civil (but not criminal) proceedings.
The first of its kind? This duty is the first of its kind in Australia, although it mirrors occupational health and safety and environmental general duties in other Australian states. There is also international precedent for this type of duty. For example, under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (UK), public authorities are required to consider what actions they can properly take to further the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity.
Regulated activities will still require authorisation
Activities such as clearing, taking and dealing with native plants or protected animals are referred to as "regulated activities" and will continue to require authorisations (consents and permits) under the Biodiversity Act. However, under the new Act, applications for consent to clear native plants will now need to describe how the "mitigation hierarchy" has been applied to the activity in question. The mitigation hierarchy prioritises actions in the following order: avoiding impacts, minimising impacts, rehabilitation or restoration, and offsetting. This is somewhat similar to the recent statutory entrenchment of the "avoid, minimise and offset hierarchy" in the NSW biodiversity law, although the new SA Act specifically integrates an additional express step of "rehabilitation or restoration".
Biodiversity offsets will need to achieve an "improvement of biodiversity"
The Biodiversity Act includes a similar offset scheme to the existing offset scheme under the Native Vegetation Act, whereby an offset for clearance of native vegetation must achieve a significant environmental benefit or "SEB".
However, the Biodiversity Act now expressly defines a SEB as being achieved by taking restoration actions that "result in an improvement of biodiversity over an ecologically meaningful timeframe". Further, offset payments will only be available where it is not "reasonable or practicable" to achieve a SEB.
It is not yet entirely clear what it means to achieve a SEB, with the Act to be complemented by a new SEB policy, which is yet to be developed and will be the subject of extensive consultation.
Species and habitat protections will be strengthened
The Biodiversity Act expands the definition of native plants and protected animals to recognise algae, fungi, and threatened invertebrates, amphibians and fish. It also extends protections beyond threatened species and ecological communities to "ecological entities" (to be defined in forthcoming regulations). In relation to those protected species, communities and entities, it:
- establishes a new listing process, based on eligibility criteria to be developed in consultation with the Scientific Committee of technical and scientific experts; and
- introduces a process to identify and declare critical habitats that contribute to their conservation.
Stronger protections and tougher penalties will be introduced
The Act will be enforced by compliance or repatriation orders aimed at abating and/or remedying harm, or through civil proceedings in the ERD Court. The Minister for Climate, Environment and Water will also be empowered to accept enforceable undertakings, which are enforceable by the ERD Court.
The Act provides for broader standing to bring proceedings than existing biodiversity protection legislation. In addition to the Minister, landholders and Aboriginal persons will be able to initiate proceedings in some circumstances.
Penalties for biodiversity offences will increase substantially. Businesses that commit more serious offences—including undertaking a regulated activity or disturbing or damaging critical habitat without consent, or breaching a condition of consent—may incur penalties of up to $1 million.
Greater First Nations participation to be embedded
The objects of the new Act recognise First Nations people's role and knowledge in caring for Country and protecting biodiversity. The Act seeks to give effect to these objectives through:
- requirements that Aboriginal knowledge be sought, considered and applied in administering the Act;
- the creation of an Aboriginal Biodiversity Committee to advise the Minister and co‑develop biodiversity policies (including on Culturally Significant Biodiversity entities, which are native species or ecological communities that are of cultural value to First Nations people and which are critical to their relationship with Country); and
- requirements that other bodies established under the Act, including the Biodiversity Council and the Scientific Committee, include First Nations members.
The Act also introduces wider standing for First Nations people to make an application to the Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Court for civil enforcement of a breach of the Act if they are affected by a breach that relates to a Culturally Significant Biodiversity Entity, or have a cultural or spiritual connection to land affected by the breach.
In the latter case, the Act identifies specific matters of which the ERD Court must be satisfied before granting permission to a person to bring an action, including if the person has requested in writing that the Minister bring a proceeding and the Minister has failed to do so within a reasonable time.
These reforms reflect a growing emphasis in Australian environmental law on embedding mechanisms to promote greater First Nations participation in biodiversity protection into legal frameworks, as evidenced by the expanded role of First Nations knowledge holders in the Federal Government's EPBC Act reforms. For more about this, see our article "EPBC Act reforms: most significant change to Australia's environmental law in decades".
A new era of biodiversity protection?
The Biodiversity Act shares a number of features with its Commonwealth and State counterparts, including the use of plans and authorisation requirements to achieve biodiversity protection objectives, and provision for use of the "Common Assessment Method" to the listing of threatened species and ecological communities.
However, there are some features of the Biodiversity Act that arguably go beyond the scope of protections seen in other Australian jurisdictions.
In particular, the SA Biodiversity Act is the first legislation of its kind to expressly frame the protection of biodiversity as a responsibility shared across all of society, underpinned by a general biodiversity duty that has no current equivalent at the Commonwealth or State level. The SA Biodiversity Act also goes beyond the protection of listed species and ecological communities, introducing a new category of "ecological entities" (which may include, for example, intact landscapes of outstanding conservation value).
The SA Biodiversity Act outlines certain activities that must offset "any residual negative impacts or hindrance to positively impact on the recovery of the threatened species". This is somewhat similar to aspects of the NSW biodiversity law, which generally recognises that residual impacts may be dealt with via offsets (but noting that the NSW biodiversity law currently contemplates that the existing biodiversity offsets scheme is to transition to net positive). For more details about the NSW biodiversity act changes, see our article "NSW implements 'net positive' Biodiversity Conservation Act reforms".
How these changes will take effect in practice, and whether they will be reflected in other Australian jurisdictions remains to be seen. However, they may well set a benchmark that other States look to as community expectations around environmental stewardship continue to evolve.
Implementation and next steps
The Biodiversity Act has not commenced, and a commencement date is yet to be set. However, the Department for Environment and Water has indicated that the Act will be implemented in stages over the next two years. In the meantime, the Native Vegetation Act and the National Parks and Wildlife Act will continue to operate.
To support the operation and implementation of the new Act, the Department will consult on and establish regulations, standards and policies. This will include development of guidance to clarify requirements and obligations under the Act.
To prepare for the Act's commencement, businesses with operations in South Australia should:
- take steps to understand the potential risks of harm to biodiversity from their activities, and consider if operational changes may be required to meet your obligations under the new Act (for example, integrating consideration of biodiversity outcomes into the early stages of project planning);
- monitor for further updates about the commencement of the Act and consultation on regulations, standards and policies; and
- once the Act commences, be aware of the increased enforcement risk arising from greater penalties and wider standing for civil enforcement under the Act.
Other author: Dina Sabeta, Lawyer.
Want to know more?
- NSW implements 'net positive' Biodiversity Conservation Act reforms (14 May 2026)
- EPBC Act reforms: most significant change to Australia's environmental law in decades (14 May 2026)
