**Check against delivery**

What a fantastic two days. I hope you’ve all had a great time and made some valuable connections.

I want to close off the conference with some exciting announcements from the Albanese Labor Government.

We all have a role to play in driving a nature positive future.

And Australia is playing its part.

Yesterday, to kick off the Summit, I announced that our Government is signing off a massive expansion of Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Park.

Australia now protects more ocean than any other country on earth. It means more than half (52 per cent) of Australia’s oceans are now under protection.

Today, I’m proud to announce another huge win for our oceans.

Our Government is proposing to strengthen protections for 73,000 km2 of seas in Australia’s south-east – an area bigger than Ireland.

The South-east Marine Parks Network, made up of 14 marine parks off the coast of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, is home to rare and protected species, like the pygmy blue whale and the golden kelp forests.

We’re proposing to bring the entire South-east network to 86 per cent in highly protected, or ‘no-take’ zones.

We’re proposing to prevent new oil and gas titles in these areas.

We’re proposing to prevent new deep-sea mineral mining and other industrial developments.

And much more.

Just a few weeks ago, I met with Dhimurru Rangers who travelled from the northeast of Arnhem Land down to Parliament House to talk to me about their experiences and the impacts of plastic pollution washing up on their Country.

To talk about the stress of watching turtles and another precious species entangled by nets.

So today, I’m also proud to announce that Australia has joined the Global Ghost Gear Initiative and that we will invest $1.4 million to reduce the amount of abandoned fishing gear in the Arafura and Timor Seas.

Working with Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to tackle this issue in our shared waters.

These discarded fishing nets can stretch more than six kilometres and weigh several tonnes – entangling, lacerating and even strangling birds, turtles, cetaceans and other wildlife.

Most lost nets remain adrift in the world’s ocean for years and decades.

The Initiative is the world’s largest marine alliance committed to tackling ghost nets.

Since the agreement in Montreal to the Global Biodiversity Framework, no other country has done more to advance the commitment to protecting their marine estate than Australia.

But we know that meeting this 30 by 30 target internationally requires concerted global attention.

Sixty per cent of the world’s oceans are in the high seas – but only one per cent is protected.

And after two decades of effort – from governments and environmental organisations – last year, I was delighted to see the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty agreed.

This Treaty sets up for the first time a framework for marine protections in international waters.

I am proud that Australia signed on to the Treaty the day it opened.

That we have provided $3 million to assist Pacific countries ratify the treaty.

I acknowledge the leadership from many in this room in advancing this work.

In June this year, I tabled the Treaty in the Australian Parliament to formally start Australia’s domestic ratification process.

I call on all countries to ratify the treaty as soon as possible.

As part of this global effort, today I am announcing that Australia will accept Chile’s invitation to join the Leadership for High Seas: Marine Protected Area Collaborative Initiative.

This new grouping seeks to champion high seas marine protected areas through the treaty.

And recognises Australia’s international ocean leadership.

And to further demonstrate this leadership, I am announcing $100,000 for a research symposium on the South Tasman Sea and Lord Howe Rise – in partnership with the High Seas Alliance, Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative, and WWF.

From what we already know, the Lord Howe Rise is called ‘a volcanic lost world’.

In the waters of the South Tasman Sea, there is another world of mountains and abysses, and a vast plateau – the Lord Howe Rise.

A unique landscape a mile below the surface.

This symposium will bring together scientists, fishers, environmentalists, Indigenous representatives and government to identify areas that biologically and ecologically significant.

So we’re ready when the Treaty comes into force.

This is also special to my heart because – as many of you might know – Lord Howe Island is in my electorate. It’s my favourite place in the world for a holiday.

Australia is leading on marine estate protection.

And I look forward to this continuing this leadership in the high seas as well.

To wrap up day two of this terrific conference, on behalf of Summit participants, I want to summarise what I think have been the shared conclusions and agreed outcomes from our two days together.

We haven’t attempted a communique from this conference because we didn’t want to spend our short time together focused on negotiating details, but rather to genuinely share our experiences.

The successes, the frustrations, the challenges and opportunities.

I’ll release a statement summarising these outcomes as I see them.

I’ll be asking my officials – and all of you attending – to take these outcomes forward, to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Colombia later this month.

Summit participants highlighted the value of collaboration and partnership.

Solutions to the most difficult problems can be found when communities, environmentalists, investors and businesses work together with governments.

The Summit has showcased the innovation, traditional knowledge and on-ground work underway in Australia, the Pacific and around the world to restore and repair nature.

We know how to repair nature and it’s great for jobs, businesses and communities. Participants identified the following shared principles and next steps.

It seems to me that a number of themes have emerged;

Nature needs to be factored into economic and business decisions.

To make good decisions, we need to understand, measure and report on our economic dependence on nature, our impacts on nature and the value of ecosystems services that our communities and economies rely upon.

Clear and consistent metrics are important.

Environmental metrics used to talk about impacts on nature and the condition of natural assets should be standardised – so everyone is speaking the same language when they report on nature and it’s easier to make progress towards nature positive goals.

Indigenous leadership is key to sustainability.

Traditional knowledge plays a vital role in looking after nature, and Indigenous leaders have significant opportunities to influence economic outcomes and have a seat at the table.

Nature-positive and net-zero objectives work together.

Nature-based solutions should be used to achieve both environment and climate goals.

On closing, I want to acknowledge the First Nations people who contributed to this Summit, and all delegates and special guests who have contributed to making this Summit a success, especially the Australian Government and NSW Government officials who have worked so hard.

My thanks especially to the organisers of the first ever Global Nature Positive Summit – my department and the NSW Government who co-hosted the Summit here in Sydney.

I hope you’ve had a great time.

For me, it’s been wonderful to have had the opportunity to meet and talk with so many of you.

I loved the buzz walking around – seeing new collaborations and networks emerge, sparks of conversations and insights igniting from things heard from a panelist or overheard lining up for coffee.

When I became Environment Minister, about two and half short years ago, one of the first things that stuck me was that we needed to do for nature what the campaign for ‘net zero’ has done for climate change.

To have an overarching goal.

A simple, compelling way to explain opaque concepts – targets, baselines and sub targets – all important stuff.

But explained in a way that intuitively makes sense to people.

A campaign for nature.

That’s why ‘nature positive’ and this Global Nature Positive Summit is so important.

So today I’m echoing Marco Lambertini (and echoing the speakers we have just heard from) when I say – how fantastic is it to be in a space where the words “nature positive” are on everybody’s lips?

It’s been great to hear from the NSW Treasurer, First Nations people, governments from around the world and businesses about what they are doing for nature.

To reaffirm our commitment to the Global Biodiversity Framework.

To get serious about changing our economic settings – our accounting, our reporting and our laws – so we do less damage in the first place and start driving investment into nature repair.

Nature positive is not a campaign. It is not just a slogan. It represents how we are approaching nature repair – and driving action underpinned by measurement.

And importantly we are doing this together.

I am pleased that at this Summit, my international counterparts from Fiji, Timor Leste, Niue, Guam and Singapore have contributed Nature Positive Statements outlining their national ambition. I would like to thank them for this contribution - for their interest in and commitment to this important agenda.

Summits like this are important for clarifying shared goals.

They align us. They inspire us.

They help us develop a shared vision of an economy that is net zero and nature positive.

A campaign for nature.

A shared language. A shared understanding of what’s possible and how. I can’t wait to see what you all do next to advance our shared goals for Nature Positive.

Thank-you for attending the Summit – and best wishes for your work to protect and repair nature.