Federal Government proposes 671,500 km² marine park expansion around Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands

Overview of the Lord Howe and Norfolk Marine Park Expansion

On 31 July 2026, Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt and Minister Tanya Plibersek jointly announced a proposed expansion of Australia’s Marine Parks Network, adding 671,500 square kilometres of new highly protected “no-take” green zones around Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island in the South-West Pacific. The proposal would push Australia past its national commitment under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 3, the 30×30 goal to highly protect 30 per cent of the marine environment, well ahead of the 2030 deadline.

For environmental professionals working across marine and coastal infrastructure, this is not a symbolic announcement. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and Parks Australia opened statutory public consultation on the same date to prepare six new ten-year management plans covering 44 Australian Marine Parks, a combined area of 2.37 million square kilometres spanning the Temperate East, South-west, North-west, North and Coral Sea regions, plus a standalone Norfolk Marine Park plan. These plans will set the operating rules for offshore activity for the next decade.

Clients with marine or coastal interests, offshore energy developers, subsea cable and pipeline proponents, commercial fishing operators, and tourism operators near Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands need to understand what this proposal changes on the ground, and what it means for environmental approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) over the coming decade.

Key details of the proposed green zones and draft management plans

The headline figure is 671,500 square kilometres of proposed new highly protected zones around Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. These are typically National Park Zones under the IUCN Category II classification, shown as green zones on Parks Australia mapping, and they prohibit extractive activities including commercial fishing and seabed disturbance. Achieving this expansion allows Australia to exceed its 30 per cent highly protected marine target under the Global Biodiversity Framework more than three years before the 2030 deadline set at the international level.

Separately, but concurrently, DCCEEW and Parks Australia opened statutory consultation on six draft management plans covering 44 Australian Marine Parks across five network regions: Temperate East, South-west, North-west, North and Coral Sea, together totalling 2.37 million square kilometres of Commonwealth waters, plus a standalone plan specifically for the Norfolk Marine Park. These are ten-year management plans, meaning the zoning, permitting conditions and environmental impact assessment thresholds settled through this process will govern offshore activity in these waters until at least the mid-2030s.

Public submissions on the draft plans are open until 4pm AEST on 30 September 2026. This is a hard statutory deadline. Submissions made through the DCCEEW consultation portal will feed directly into the finalisation of the management plans, and this is the primary window for proponents, consultants and affected stakeholders to raise concerns about zoning boundaries, permitted uses, and monitoring requirements before the plans are locked in for a decade.

The regulatory backdrop has also shifted. The National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) commenced compliance and enforcement operations on 1 July 2026, roughly a month before this announcement. NEPA now exercises statutory enforcement powers under the EPBC Act framework, and offshore project referrals that trigger Matters of National Environmental Significance in or adjacent to marine parks will face this new enforcement architecture rather than the prior departmental arrangements. This changes the practical experience of referral, assessment and compliance monitoring for any offshore proponent operating near these zones.

Australian context

This development sits within Part 15 of the EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), which governs Commonwealth marine reserves and protected areas. The 671,500 square kilometre expansion and the six draft management plans are administered under this Part, and the management plan framework itself, covering the Temperate East, South-west, North-west, North and Coral Sea networks, has existed since earlier tranches of marine park declarations. What is new here is the scale of the green zone expansion and the fact that it is being finalised alongside NEPA’s first full year of enforcement operations.

For practitioners more accustomed to terrestrial contaminated land frameworks such as the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure 1999 (as amended 2013), the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan, or state EPA guidelines under frameworks like the ANZG water quality guidelines, this marine expansion is a reminder that Commonwealth environmental regulation now runs on two parallel enforcement tracks: NEPA for compliance and enforcement, and DCCEEW for policy and management plan development. Any project with a marine or coastal footprint that also has a terrestrial contamination or discharge component, such as a port redevelopment, coastal outfall, or dredge disposal project, may now need referrals assessed by NEPA while sitting adjacent to a marine park whose ten-year management plan is only just being settled.

The early achievement of the 30 per cent highly protected target also signals the direction of biodiversity offset expectations more broadly. Australian jurisdictions have been progressively tightening biodiversity offset and nature positive requirements, and a Commonwealth marine estate that exceeds its international 30×30 commitment ahead of schedule sets a benchmark that state-level marine and coastal planning frameworks are likely to reference when reviewing their own protected area targets.

Practical implications

Proponents with planned or existing marine infrastructure near Lord Howe Island or Norfolk Island should review the draft zoning maps against their project footprints as a first priority. Subsea cable and pipeline routes, mooring arrangements, and vessel transit corridors that pass through or adjacent to proposed National Park Zones may face new restrictions or permitting conditions once the plans are finalised, and rerouting or renegotiating access after the plans commence will be considerably harder than raising the issue during consultation.

Commercial fishing operators in the affected waters should assess which grounds fall within the proposed no-take zones and quantify the operational impact ahead of the 30 September 2026 submission deadline. Historical catch data, existing licence conditions and evidence of economic reliance on particular grounds will carry more we

References and related sources

• Primary source: minister.dcceew.gov.au
• tanyaplibersek.com
• dcceew.gov.au
• minterellison.com
• minterellison.com
• EPBC Act

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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.

Published: 01 Aug 2026

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