Speech to the 7th North Australia Savanna Fire Forum, Darwin

Introduction
It gives me great pleasure to join you today on Larrakia Country for the 7th North Australia Savanna Fire Forum.

Let me say Kaya – which is how we say G’Day where I come from, Whadjuk-Noongar Country, in Walyalup – also known as Fremantle – some 4,000 kilometres southwest from here.

Let me acknowledge the Larrakia people and pay my respects to their elders past and present and I extend my respects to all First Nations people who are here.

I also acknowledge ICIN Co-chairs Cissy Gore-Birch and Dr Dean Yibarbuk – it was great to catch up with you and the ICIN Board members yesterday.

It is a privilege to be here. It is uplifting at the beginning of 2025 to hear about the extensive and transformative work being done by the 24 Indigenous land and sea management organisations that are managing carbon projects.

The success of these projects is delivering great value across Northern Australia; it is delivering landscape and climate benefits for all Australians.

And the success of these projects should come as no surprise.

The positive economic, social, environmental and cultural outcomes created by these projects are derived from First Nations knowledge – from deep knowledge and deep connection to country.

Over the past 7 years, this forum has established itself as the go-to platform for knowledge sharing within the Indigenous carbon industry.

That’s because of the character and effort and energy of many people in this room.

In its short history, this forum has garnered an enviable track record as a place where modern science and time-tested traditional knowledge converge:
•    Unleashing crucial insights into how we can better manage Australia’s savanna landscapes and therefore achieve much-needed emissions reduction.
•    I want to thank ICIN and Charles Darwin University for your close and effective partnership, which has been a foundation stone of this forum’s outstanding success.

Traditional knowledge supports net zero
On landscapes across Australia, First Nations people are using traditional knowledge to deliver great environmental outcomes through the practise of cultural values.

The Albanese government’s investment in expanding programs such as the Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Rangers is helping to amplify these benefits.

Controlling invasive weeds and feral animals.

Protecting threatened species.

Managing fire in the landscape.

And more.

There’s no doubt that this work – which is literally grassroots work – by First Nations people is both safeguarding biodiversity and reducing Australia’s greenhouse emissions.

That work is entirely consistent with the Albanese government’s work over the last 3 years in pursuing a determined agenda to decarbonise Australia’s economy and to put Australia on a path to net zero as we tackle dangerous climate change. 

Right around this incredible continent and our island communities, we are already experiencing that change and its impacts. 

More extreme heat events, delayed monsoon seasons, longer fire seasons, and more intense heavy rainfall.

And while our work to mitigate against climate change is ongoing, some of these are climate impacts that have already been locked in.

Adaptation to the change we can’t prevent, and to the impacts we can’t avoid will need to be an instinctive and embedded part of what we do while mitigating against severe and prolonged change.

First Nations knowledge will play a critical role in this.

First Nations people’s stewardship of our continent over many centuries is the model of sustainability and adaptation.

That work fits within our First Nations Clean Energy Strategy which we delivered together in December 2024 to make sure we put Country and Culture at the heart of Australian’s net zero transition.

ACCU Scheme helps close the gap
But the path to net zero and the path to a nature positive Australia depend on Australia’s carbon industry.

And that remarkable endeavour, to which this forum is making such a vital contribution, is supporting First Nations people:
•    To earn an income through projects that care for Country, backed by the Australian Carbon Credit framework; 
•    To help Australia cut emissions and meet our emissions reduction obligations;
•    And to practice and extend First Nations culture. 

As Dr Yibarbuk writes in the introduction to this year’s forum: “these projects are not just economic ventures – they are deeply cultural, requiring an understanding of cultural processes and protocols.”

And here in northern Australia, ACCU projects have led to improved Indigenous fire management across more than 24 million hectares of savanna land, delivering 1.2 million tonnes of emissions reduction every year.

As people in this room know very well, almost three-quarters of carbon credits produced by the savanna fire management method are generated by Indigenous carbon businesses.

As a result, we have seen funds reinvested in community priorities like education, ranger programs, cultural site maintenance, and the recording of rock art knowledge.

It is a practical example of how First Nations empowerment is leading positive change within First Nations communities.

And as we reflect on the substantial contribution of the savanna fire management method, we’re also progressing additional reforms that were identified in the Chubb Review.

And I’d like to acknowledge Professor Karen Hussey, appointed in September 2023 as full-time chair of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee and our first ever First Nations member of the committee, Suzanne Thompson. 

Thank you both.

I look forward to working with ERAC on one of the reforms, the new proponent-led method development process, noting that late last year Minister Bowen announced the first four methods which will now be progressed. 

In that cohort I particularly want to call out:
•    the Extending savanna fire management to the Northern Arid Zone proposal, led by the Indigenous Desert Alliance, and 
•    the proposal to reduce disturbance of coastal and floodplain wetlands and associated emissions by managing hooved animals like water buffalo and pigs. This is led by the Northern Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance and the University of Queensland.

Both of these methods will involve the hard, smart work and dedication of many people in this room, and I want to thank you for those efforts.

Of course, we’ve also updated the Environmental Plantings method which I signed last November.

In the first half of this year, exposure drafts of 4 government-led methods will be delivered following comprehensive design work with stakeholders and experts.

This includes 2 new savanna fire management methods:
•    One that will credit emissions avoidance
•    And the other that will credit carbon sequestered in biomass in addition to crediting emissions avoidance.

We are also working on a new Integrated Farm and Land Management method, the first to credit abatement from regeneration and plantings of native vegetation, alongside improvements to soil carbon on the same property, and an updated landfill gas method.

Supporting information access
By itself, the improvements we’re making to both method development and to the range and quality of available methods will not be enough to lift the scheme’s integrity unless we also improve the quality of project information.

For that reason, last December, we amended the Scheme’s rules to require the Clean Energy Regulator to publish more ACCU project information.

Enhancing transparency will help First Nations project operators, other businesses, and the broader community to better understand how the ACCU Scheme works.

And because the government rightly recognises that early and genuine engagement with First Nations people is crucial to the success of projects on Country, I’m pleased to announce today that we will remove the ability to conditionally register projects on Native Title lands.

We will introduce a requirement to secure upfront consent from Native Title holders prior to project registration.

I want to thank ICIN for running a dedicated First Nations consultation to help inform these changes – which of course were shaped through proper engagement with industry, community groups, businesses and experts.

To help progress this work, we’ve allocated $11.4 million to support First Nations parties to engage with statutory consent processes for ACCU projects on native title land.

Carbon Farming Outreach Program
And I want to note that our work to increase ACCU transparency builds on information, transparency and access improvements that are being made through our Carbon Farming Outreach Program, which your network kindly helped to develop in partnership with the University of Melbourne and Indigenous Professional Services.

In my home state of WA, I know the program has provided $2 million dollars to help the Aboriginal Biodiversity Conservation Foundation to deliver training and advice on carbon farming to Native Title holders and other First Nations land managers. The program is also being delivered here in the NT under the $8.2 million National Industry-Led CFOP project.  

Conclusion
Friends, we’re here today because we want a better future for Australia and for all Australians.

We want to contribute to Australia’s emissions reduction imperative.

We want to contribute to our nation’s steady and timely transition to net zero.

But we also want to tackle the climate emergency with a clear-eyed focus on broad and shared economic opportunity.

Much of the action we take to address climate change is happening on land with significant First Nations interests.

That means with the right policies and programs; with the right commitment and collaborative efforts, First Nations people can shape and secure the economic prospects that rightly flow from their land.

At the beginning of 2025, at a time when there are plenty of things to feel concerned about, I’m heartened and encouraged to be here with you and to learn about how the very best of contemporary science and traditional knowledge come together to better manage our precious savanna landscapes.

Age-old traditional practices like savanna burning, backed by the ACCU Scheme, is already helping reduce Australia’s emissions and helping protect and restore our incredible environment.

But this world-leading approach to carbon farming is also boosting the economic prosperity and the social and cultural wellbeing of First Nations people.

It is helping to close the gap.

And I want to assure you, the Albanese government will continue to support carbon farming opportunities for First Nations people through our ongoing reform of the ACCU Scheme.

But I finish by acknowledging that it is the vision and effort and initiative of organisations like ICIN and Indigenous land and sea management groups that are driving substantial and sustainable progress at the grassroots level, and that will help improve the lives and wellbeing of all Australians. 

Our government could not have better partners – or better leaders – to walk alongside on the journey to net zero.

Thank you.