Consensus-building for next generation Australian environmental laws

摘要

The centrepiece of the Commonwealth's suite of environmental laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act), must be reviewed again by 2019. Public engagement with the 5-yearly review of the National Environment Protection Council Act 1994 (Cth) (NEPC Act) is overdue. Many other Acts also need to be improved to better respond to Australia's sustainability challenges. The 2016 State of the Environment Report (SoE) identified the need for national leadership, an overarching sustainability policy to 2050, strengthened legislation at all levels of government, better policy coordination and collaboration, and improved monitoring and data collection, particularly in relation to cumulative impacts. These assessments are broadly consistent with many of the consensus recommendations of the nonpartisan, independent and volunteer Australian Panel of Experts on Environmental Law (APEEL) that collaborated during 2014-17 to develop a blueprint for the next generation of Australian environmental laws.