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1
Environmental Protection Amendment
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AMENDMENT BILL (No.2) 1996
EXPLANATORY NOTES
The Environmental Protection Amendment Bill (No.2) 1996 has been
drafted to be consistent with current legislative drafting practice and in
modern language. As a consequence particular sections, clauses and
sub-clauses require little or no further explanation and in these Explanatory
Notes those parts will be repeated or summarised in general terms only.
Short Title
The short title of this Bill is the Environmental Protection Amendment
Act (No.2) 1996.
Policy Objectives of the Bill
There are two main objectives of this Bill. Firstly, this Bill deals with
matters arising from the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory
Committee. This committee was established to review the Environmental
Protection (Interim) Regulation 1995. The review required amendment of
the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and these amendments are the
subject of this Bill. Secondly this Bill clarifies other matters which have
arisen during the implementation of the Environmental Protection Act 1994.
How the Policy Objectives will be Achieved
The Bill implements the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory
Council and clarifies other issues which have arisen since the
commencement of the Environmental Protection Act 1994. As these issues
are legislative in nature, an Act of Parliament is the only option available to
address them.
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Environmental Protection Amendment
Administrative Cost of the Bill
In most cases, the amendments proposed in this Bill will have little or no
effect on costs. In the main the amendments are of an administrative nature
to clarify issues which have arisen as a result of the implementation of the
Environmental Protection Act 1994. For example, the amendments to
environmental management programs allow the holder of an approval for
an environmental management program to apply for an amendment to take
advantage of new technology which may reduce their costs.
Consistency with the Fundamental Legislative Principles
The Bill is consistent with fundamental legislative principles.
Consultation
Comments have been sought from the following organisations; The
Queensland Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, all Government
Departments (through Cabinet Submissions relating to the Ministerial
Advisory Committee Report) and the Ministerial Advisory Committee
representing local government and industry.
Notes on Provisions
Clause 1 states the short title of the Act.
Clause 2 indicates when this Act commences.
Clause 3 indicates that this Bill will amend the Environmental Protection
Act 1994 (The Act).
Clause 4 amends the provision which establishes the application dates for
licences and environmental management programs. The new provision also
establishes an application date for amendments to environmental
management programs provided for at clause 11.
Clause 5 amends section 65 of the Act to allow an administering
authority to extend the time for deciding an application for an environmental
authority.
Clause 6 amends section 70 of the Act to provide that it is an offence to
breach the conditions of an approval. This is consistent with the existing
offence of breaching the conditions of a licence.
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Environmental Protection Amendment
Clause 7 merely inserts a new heading in relation to environmental
management programs.
Clause 8 replaces the word "objects" in section 81 with the word
"objectives" in order to provide consistency throughout the Act.
Clause 9 merely inserts a new heading in relation to the submission and
approval of environmental management programs.
Clause 10 amends section 85 of the Act to provide that where the length
of an environmental management program is longer than five years, public
notification of the application is required. This requirement was previously
three years.
Clause 11 inserts a new division in the Act which allows for
amendments to approvals of environmental management programs
New subsection 94A(1) prescribes the process for amending
environmental management program approvals to be the process for the
approval of an original program, with any necessary changes.
New subsection (2) is a consequential amendment to clause 10 of this
Bill which provides that where an amendment to an approval of an
environmental management program extends the term of the environmental
management program to longer than five years, public notification is
required.
New subsection (3) provides that the administering authority may only
amend an approval for an environmental management program if it
provides for a better environmental outcome than the original program.
New subsection (4) provides criteria the administering authority must
consider in deciding to amend an approval of an environmental
management program.
Clause 12 inserts a new division heading before existing sections 95 to
100.
Clause 13 inserts a two new transitional provisions dealing with
applications for environmental authorities which have been deemed to be
refused between the commencement of the moratorium on licensing (1
March 1996) and the commencement of these provisions on 1 January
1996.
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Environmental Protection Amendment
New section 236B provides where a deemed refusal has occurred and the
applicant did not apply for a review of the decision, the application is
deemed to be resubmitted with the appropriate fee on 1 January 1996.
New section 236C provides that where a deemed approval occurred
during the moratorium on licensing (1 March 1996 to 30 June 1996) and
the application is deemed to be resubmitted under new section 236B, then
the person does not commit an offence under the Act for carrying out an
environmentally relevant activity without an environmental authority until
the "new" application is decided.
Clause 14 amends Schedule 1 of the Act to add five new original
decisions. Original decisions are those decisions of an administering
authority which may be appealed. The five new decisions relate to
amendments of approvals of environmental management programs, and
parallel the decisions for an original application for approval of an
environmental management program.
� The State of Queensland 1996