Report of the Third Review of the National Environment Protection Council Acts (Commonwealth State and Territory) December 2012 National Environment Protection Council Response to the Report of the Third Review of the National Protection Council Acts
Tabled paper 599
Tabled Papers for 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2013-10-17
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C01116
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/275013
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/424650
6 National Environment Protection Council NEPC Acts Third Review 2012 Current priorities of the Standing Council on Environment and Water for which these issues are relevant include: the National Plan for Clean Air and, as part of this, consideration of emission or other controls on products such as wood heaters and non-road diesel engines labelling of certain equipment in relation to noise the Council of Australian Governments Chemical Reform Program, including proposals to establish a national standard-setting body and framework for developing and implementing decisions for environmental controls on industrial chemicals. Such issues are likely to gain priority due to the increasing importance of diffuse impacts on the environment and the association of these with population growth. The review found that there are reform opportunities to enhance the toolkit available to support national action for environment protection. In particular, the opportunities include: broadening the application of the existing National Environment Protection Measures framework amending other legislation or developing new legislation to support action on current Standing Council on Environment and Water priorities (as outlined above). Note that in considering legislative proposals to address current Standing Council on Environment and Water priorities a framework approach should be considered to maximise the future use and application of the tools. This would complement other frameworks for national action on environmental matters such as the Commonwealth Product Stewardship Act 2011. Without such reforms the future use of National Environment Protection Measures is likely to be limited to the existing scope and application. To the extent that new models/tools are required to establish national standards and requirements for areas beyond the scope of the current National Environment Protection Measures framework, the preferred model should be determined as each policy initiative is considered (such as product standards under the National Plan for Clean Air or the Council of Australian Governments Chemical Reform Program). The scope of the National Environment Protection Council Acts should be amended to allow the National Environment Protection Council to make a National Environment Protection Measure on any environmental protection matter as determined unanimously by the National Environment Protection Council.