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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

Details:

Title

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

Other title

Tabled paper 599

Collection

Tabled Papers for 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT

Date

2013-10-17

Description

Deemed

Notes

Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Language

English

Subject

Tabled papers

File type

application/pdf

Use

Copyright

Copyright owner

See publication

License

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C01116

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/275013

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/424650

Page content

47 National Environment Protection Council NEPC Acts Third Review 2012 prescriptive detail and references. This can obscure the purpose or intent of the measure. The nature and form of the National Environment Protection Measures, particularly the inclusion of detailed technical information, has contributed to the time taken to review and update them. This has also led to criticism about some technical information being out of date. Lack of dedicated resources and oversight of reviews has also contributed to this. Consideration could be given to simplifying National Environment Protection Measures to focus on goals, key performance indicators, standards and high-level protocols, and referencing detailed technical information in a manner that allows it to be more readily updated. For every National Environment Protection Measure the object to be achieved, the desired outcome sought, the key performance indicators, reporting requirements and review/evaluation mechanisms should be specified. Detailed processes or complex methodologies should be left to other instruments. However, it is important that in the move to streamline National Environment Protection Measures and improve/streamline approaches to varying National Environment Protection Measures the National Environment Protection Council is mindful of the potential for perverse outcomes. A risk-based approach to developing and varying National Environment Protection Measures should be adopted to optimise the balance between being sufficiently detailed to provide guidance to stakeholders and yet enabling rapid/cost-effective amendment to respond to changed circumstances and/or knowledge. 5.2 EFFICIENCY OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION MEASURES PROCESSES AND STREAMLINING CONSULTATION PROCESSES The Act prescribes in detail the consultation processes for development of a National Environment Protection Measure and the requirements for developing impact statements. Since the National Environment Protection Council Act came into force in 1994, legislative processes have evolved, and in particular the Council of Australian Governments has determined principles for consultation and the requirements for regulation impact statements. There are some inconsistencies between the National Environment Protection Council Act and the Council of Australian Governments requirements which have resulted in the need for repetitive processes (for example the need to prepare a regulation impact statement that meets the Council of Australian Governments requirements and also meets the requirements of the National Environment Protection Council Act). The Act prescribes consultation processes around making and varying National Environment Protection Measures. A specific example of the process focus of the Act is the requirement in section 16 to publish a notice of intention to prepare a draft measure, which specifies that it be in a newspaper for at least two days. This is unduly prescriptive and also out of step with the way many Australians now receive