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
53 National Environment Protection Council NEPC Acts Third Review 2012 6 ANNUAL REPORTING AND REVIEW OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION MEASURES Reporting is a key feature of the National Environment Protection Council model. The National Environment Protection Councils role, as well as making National Environment Protection Measures, is to analyse and report on the implementation and effectiveness of National Environment Protection Measures. Under the National Environment Protection Council Act both jurisdictions and the National Environment Protection Council itself report annually on the implementation and effectiveness of National Environment Protection Measures. In addition each National Environment Protection Measure requires jurisdictions to report on specific details of performance or compliance. These reporting requirements are discussed below. 6.1 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT It is not clear that the National Environment Protection Council annual report as it is currently presented provides a clear and cost-effective report to parliaments or the public. Reporting requirements as currently prescribed by the Act do not take into account the new media and public expectations around readily accessible information (for example on the internet). The current approach also requires significant resources to prepare and table a report every year. There is little evidence that the tabled annual reports are of much utility or have a wide audience. The National Environment Protection Council Acts are highly prescriptive regarding annual reporting. Under the Acts, the National Environment Protection Council must produce an annual report that contains a report from each jurisdiction on the implementation and effectiveness of National Environment Protection Measures and the National Environment Protection Councils overall assessment of the implementation and effectiveness of those measures. The annual report must be laid before the parliaments of each participating jurisdiction and is currently the primary accountability mechanism for the National Environment Protection Council system. The annual report also includes the financial statements from the National Environment Protection Council Service Corporation and addresses the requirements of the National Environment Protection Council Service Corporation set by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit. The National Environment Protection Council Act requires reports on the implementation and effectiveness of National Environment Protection Measures. The National Environment Protection Councils practice has been to produce reports on each measure. This means that National Environment Protection Council Annual reports include reports on seven National Environment Protection Measures from the nine participating jurisdictions plus the councils overall report on implementation and effectiveness of each National Environment Protection Measure, a total of seventy individual reports. The National Environment Protection Councils report is a summary of information presented in each of the jurisdictional reports.