Changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act include a shift towards bilateral agreements - like Tasmania's Regional Forestry Agreement - meaning Commonwealth approvals would have less emphasis.

The laws have passed the lower house, with a Senate vote ahead.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley said "streamlining" environmental laws would help in Australia's COVID recovery, but Scott Jordan - of the Bob Brown Foundation - said state-based agreements had been disastrous for threatened species.

"The EPBC Act was created because the legacy of state-based environment management was species extinction and decline of species across the nation," he said.

"The EPBC Act put the protection of threatened species above the power of the states."

Ms Ley said the aim was to have "single touch approvals" that would "reduce regulatory burden, promote economic activity and create certainty around environmental protections".

In other news:

Monday is National Threatened Species Day, which Tasmania Zoo saw as the ideal opportunity to commemorate extinct species, such as the Tasmanian tiger, and to highlight the importance of breeding programs.

Handler Bridie Slattery said the day acted as a reminder and a warning.

"It does commemorate the last Tasmanian tiger but it also commemorates the animals that have already gone extinct to raise awareness for endangered animals so we don't see them go the same way," she said.

Tasmania Zoo's breeding program Devil's Heaven is dedicated to reproducing strong devils who have the best genetic diversity possible for surviving the facial tumour.

"They are still working on the research on their immune system and also building up a vaccine for prevention but that's still a long way away," Ms Slattery said.

"It's why captive breeding programs are so important because we do give them that genetic diversity."

This year the Devil's Heaven program was highly successful breeding fourteen devils who will be available to meet when the zoo reopens at the end of September.

Tasmania Zoo normally has a Threatened Species Day event, but this was unavailable in 2020 due to COVID. Instead, the zoo has been involved in producing videos for Threatened Species Day that discusses different endangered species.