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This environmental bulletin provides information about selected Australian national and state legislation, and New Zealand national legislation, that is upcoming and under review. It also offers information
on draft publications and a
selection of recent fines and prosecutions.
This bulletin has been collated by Environment Essentials
from selected Australian and New Zealand government and other websites.
It is published every two months - it is therefore recommended that you do not rely solely on it for upcoming information.
Exclusions.
Legislation
- Upcoming changes
Australia – Biodiversity – Draft Biodiversity Policy released – Open for comment until 21 Oct
The Australian Government has released a consultation draft of the Australian Government Biodiversity Policy for public comment. The policy describes the role of the Australian Government and the principles that will guide the design and delivery of its biodiversity policies and programs. Comments close 21 October 2011. More.
Australia – Biodiversity – Draft Environmental Offsets Policy released – Open for comment until 21 Oct
The Australian Government has released a consultation draft on the use of environmental offsets under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, including when they can be required, how they are determined and the framework under which they operate. Comments close 21 October 2011. More.
Australia – Biodiversity – Draft Bioregional Plans released – Open for comment until 28 Nov
The Australian Government is using the marine bioregional planning process to establish new marine reserves. They will represent and protect examples of all the different marine ecosystems and habitats found in the oceans around Australia. Draft Marine Bioregional Plans for the North Marine and North-west Marine Regions have been released for public consultation. Commonwealth marine reserve network proposals for both regions have also been released. Comments close 28 November 2011. More.
Australia – Chemicals – NICNAS review commences
A review of the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) is commencing. The review will investigate how the regulatory settings may be improved to enhance the competitiveness of the Australian chemical industry, public health and the environment. The community and industry will be consulted. More.
Australia – Climate change – Discussion paper on National Carbon Offset Standard released – Open for comment until 12 Oct
The Australian Government has released a discussion paper on the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) and a draft revised version of the NCOS. As part of this review, the Government is proposing to make some key changes to the list of eligible offsets. Comments close 12 October 2011. More.
Australia – Climate change – Exposure draft on carbon farming regulations released – Closed for comment
The Australian Government is seeking comments on the draft Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Regulations, which deal with the positive and negative lists of activities. Comments have closed. More.
Australia – Vehicle emissions – Light vehicle CO2 emission standards discussion paper released – Open for comment until 30 Nov
A discussion paper has been released that examines how to implement carbon dioxide emissions standards for new light vehicles, starting in 2015. The CO2 standards aim to complement the intended carbon price and reduce carbon emissions from light vehicles. Comments close 30 November 2011. More.
Australia – Waste – Exposure draft of TV And PC recycling regulations released – Open for comment until 10 Oct
The exposure draft of the Product Stewardship (Television and Computer) Regulations, which will underpin the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme, has been released for public comment. Comments close 10 October 2011. More.
VIC – Heritage – Discussion paper on Aboriginal Heritage Act review released – Open for comment until 25 Nov
The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 is required to be reviewed by 28 May 2012. The review process is now underway and a discussion paper has been released for comment. Comments close 25 November 2011. More.
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Bills before Parliament
The Bills (draft Acts) listed below are being considered by Parliament. Only major environmental Bills are listed.
Commonwealth
Clean Energy Bill 2011
Clean Energy (Charges—Excise) Bill 2011
Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011
Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011
Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011
Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge—General) Bill 2011
Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge—General) Bill 2011
Climate Change Authority Bill 2011
Customs Tariff Amendment (Clean Energy) Bill 2011
Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment (Clean Energy) Bill 2011
Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment (Clean Energy) Bill 2011
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011
NT
Heritage Bill 2011
Mining Management Amendment Bill 2011
QLD
Waste Reduction and Recycling Bill 2011
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Publications - Draft
QLD – Climate change - Climate change adaptation issues paper released - Open for comment until 20 Oct
A paper on climate change adaptation for Queensland, which covers issues such as water management, ecosystems and primary industries, has been released for public comment. Comments close 20 October 2011. More
QLD – Coal seam gas - Draft Recycled Water Management Plan and Validation Guideline released – Closed for comment
The Department of Environment and Resource Management has released a draft coal seam gas (CSG) Recycled Water Management Plan and Validation Guideline. It outlines the proposed content and criteria for the development of an exclusion decision, interim Coal Seam Gas Recycled Water Management Plan and Full Coal Seam Gas Recycled Water Management Plan. More.
QLD – Land – Draft cropping SPP released - Closed for comment
A draft State Planning Policy (SPP) for protecting and managing strategic cropping land (SCL) has been released. The SPP aims to ensure that all development that is assessable under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, local government planning schemes and regional plans includes appropriate consideration of SCL. It does not address the impacts of resources exploration and resources development activities, including mining, gas and petroleum developments, on SCL. Comments have closed. More.
VIC – Compost – Composting facilities discussion paper released – Closed for comment
The EPA has released a discussion paper which provides operators of commercial composting facilities and regulating bodies with updated buffer distances, rating criteria and tonnage groups for sites that receive over 100 tonnes of feedstock per day. This paper is the first step in reviewing EPA Publication 508, Environmental guidelines for composting and other organic recycling facilities. Comments have closed. More.
WA – Water services – Regulations issues paper released – Open for comment until 11 Nov
The Department of Water has released a water services regulations issue paper for comment. Comments close 11 November 2011. More.
WA – Water – Leschenault Estuary water quality improvement plan released – Closed for comment
The Department of Water has released the draft Leschenault Estuary water quality improvement plan. Comments have closed. More.
NZ – Conservation – Regional strategies open for consultation
The Department of Conservation has released a range of regional conservation management strategies for comment. More.
NZ – Reporting – Environmental reporting discussion document released – Open for comment until 18 Oct
The Ministry for the Environment has released a discussion paper regarding the Environmental Reporting Bill. Comments close 18 October 2011. More.
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News
Fines and prosecutions
NSW – Spills - Spill costs nearly $250,000
A resin spill has led to a company incurring nearly a quarter of a million dollars in costs, more than five times the cost of prevention. The plywood manufacturer pleaded guilty to polluting waters. The incident cost the company nearly $130,000 in clean-up costs, $67,000 in fines, nearly $60,000 for the EPA’s investigation and prosecution costs, as well as its own management and legal costs. After the incident, it implemented prevention measures costing $43,500. More.
NSW – Spills - Spill, and failure to notify, costs $130K
A food processing company has been fined $80,000 for failing to notify the EPA of a spill, plus $50,000 for the spill itself. Untreated abattoir effluent polluted a creek over a distance of approximately 1 km. The company didn’t notify the EPA until four days after the incident. Had the EPA been notified earlier, it might have been able to reduce the environmental damage. More.
VIC – Water – Concrete company fined for creek pollution
A Fairfield concrete batching plant has been fined almost $6,000 after allowing cement sludge to enter Darebin Creek in Alphington. More.
VIC – Water – Scrap metal company fined
A Sunshine scrap metal company has been fined nearly $6,000 after oil was washed into a stormwater drain. The EPA has previously approached the company for a similar incident. It is now requiring the company to improve staff training and prevent a recurrence. More.
VIC – Air – Offensive odours cost company more than $30K
Allowing offensive odours to go beyond its premises has led to a Brooklyn meat rendering company being fined $20,000, plus the EPA's costs of more than $13,000 . More.
VIC – Air – Man fined for tyre fire
A Bendigo East man has fined approximately $1,500 for burning tyres in a bonfire on his property. More.
VIC – Land – Illegal transport of contaminated soil leads to fines
Two Bendigo-based companies have been fined approximately $6,000 each after they illegally transported contaminated soil from an old service station in Strathfieldsaye to two residential properties being built at Junortoun and Emu Creek. More.
VIC – Waste – Serial environmental offender loses nearly $70,000
A Geelong man has fined more than $40,000 and ordered to pay nearly $20,000 in costs for the large scale dumping of asbestos and industrial waste in Geelong.
In a second matter, the man was caught burning industrial waste, including construction and demolition waste, timber, plastic, carpet, bricks and metal. This matter cost him more than $8,000.
In addition to the fines, the man was required to publish a notice in newspapers about his convictions. The man’s co-defendants, a Geelong demolition company and one of its owners, were convicted and fined on similar charges in December last year (see February 2011 News Bulletin). More.
VIC – Spill – Fine for jet fuel spill
An aeroplane engine testing company has been fined almost $6,000 for causing an environmental hazard at Tullamarine airport. Approximately 3,000 L of jet fuel was released when a rubber gasket seal from a fuel pump base plate blew out. More.
VIC – Waste – Council exposed over waste
A Victorian council has been fined almost $6,000 for breaching its environmental licence after
not properly covering waste at the council-operated Seymour landfill. More.
VIC – Air – Brooklyn clean up campaign continues
The EPA continues to clean up Brooklyn with $18,000 of fines issued and companies required to conduct close to $2M of works to fix problems.
Pollution Abatement Notices have been issued to a Brooklyn tallow company and a logistics firm to address odour and dust issues, respectively.
In other recent enforcement in the area, a number of companies have been fined $6,000:
- a waste management company, for breaching its EPA licence by allowing nuisance dust beyond the boundary of its landfill site
- a logistics company, for failing to comply with an existing notice
- a chemical company, for discharging contaminated water to stormwater.
More.
WA – Waste – Perth man fined $10,000 for waste dumping
The DEC has fined a Perth man $10,000 for dumping demolition wastes onto a service road within a Karragullen water catchment area. More.
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Other news
Australia – Buildings – Handbook on renewable energy published
The Australian Building Codes Board has produced an Information Handbook to raise awareness of the opportunities to use on-site renewable energy sources and reclaimed energy sources, as part of complying with Volume One and Volume Two of the Building Code of Australia (BCA). More.
Australia - Mining - Environment Essentials at SD2011
Environment Essentials will be at the Sustainable Development Conference 2011, in Mackay between 24 and 26 October. Free demonstrations of our various legal compliance services, including EnviroLaw, HSE LawGuides, AspectLink, RoleLink and our online EMS, will be available. Please come by and see us if you're attending the conference. Conference details.
NSW – Audits - OEH commences audits of high risk premises
Between September and December, the Office of Environment and Heritage will be auditing 42 licensed premises that pose a high environmental risk, predominantly in Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle. The audits will include facilities that store toxic, hazardous or dangerous substances in large quantities such as oil refineries, chemical processing plants, large chemical and gas storage depots and large chemical warehouses. The audits will focus on environmental risk management, including incident and emergency response management and reporting. Audit inspections will be completed by mid-December and audit reports will be finalised by March 2012. More.
NSW – Coal mining – Particulate emissions minimisation study published
The Office of Environment and Heritage has published a benchmarking study on preventing and minimising emissions of particulate matter during coal mining. View study.
NSW – Coal mining - Clean Coal Council renamed
The Clean Coal Administration Act has been renamed the Coal Innovation Act. As part of this, the Clean Coal Council is now known as Coal Innnovation NSW and ‘clean coal’ is known as ‘low emissions coal’. More.
NSW – Land - Soil maps published
The NSW Government is publishing soil and landscape maps, to assist in the sustainable management and development of land. More.
NSW – Pest management - Regional pest management strategies being prepared
The National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) is developing new regional strategies for controlling pests in NSW parks and reserves. The strategies also apply to pest management outside NPWS land . The new draft strategies will be available for comment in December 2011. More.
NT – Waste – Plastic bags ban now in place
The phase-out period for plastic bags mentioned in the August 2011 Bulletin has ended and the ban on plastic bags has commenced. Territory retailers can no longer supply lightweight, “checkout” style plastic bags, including degradable bags. More.
NT – Waste – Container Deposit Scheme Approvals now open
Approvals for the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), developed under the Environment Protection (Beverage Containers and Plastic Bags) Act 2011, are now open. Requirements for approval affect CDS Coordinators and Collection Depots, as well as manufacturers and importers of regulated beverage containers. More.
WA – Planning – Development processes to be streamlined – Open for comment until 7 Oct
The WA and Commonwealth governments have announced a strategic assessment of the developmental processes in the Perth and Peel regions, focusing on matters of national environmental significance. Public comment is currently being sought on draft terms of reference. Comments close 7 October 2011. More.
NZ - Local government - Environment Essentials at SOLGM 2011
Environment Essentials will be attending the 2011 NZ Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM) Annual Conference, in Rotorua, from 6 to 8 November. Free demonstrations of our various legal compliance services, including SafetyLaw, EnviroLaw, HSE LawGuides, SafetyLink, AspectLink, RoleLink and our online OHSMS and EMS, will be available. Please come by and see us at Stand 16 in the networking zone if you're attending the conference. Conference details.
NZ – Recycling – New Auckland recycling initiatives announced
The Environment Minister has announced new initiatives, including additional funds for the Paper4Trees program, to encourage and expand recycling and waste reduction in Auckland. More.
NZ – Water – Proposals invited for irrigation fund
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has invited proposals for access to the Irrigation Acceleration Fund. The Fund will support regional scale rural water infrastructure proposals that address:
- regional rural water infrastructure
- community irrigation schemes
- strategic water management studies. More.
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