A draft Construction Noise Guideline has been released by the NSW Environment Protection Authority for public consultation. Private and public construction proponents, contractors, engineers and other stakeholders are encouraged to make a submission on the draft guideline by 15 March 2021. Read more

Victoria joins New South Wales and Queensland in decentralising the path towards “Net Zero”, setting out a roadmap for development of its renewable energy zones (REZ), including the establishment of VicGrid to oversee planning and development, and allocating a $540 million REZ Fund in the State Budget. Read more

The NSW Government has gazetted a new regulation which will ban the use of per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from 26 September 2022. NSW follows Queensland (in 2016) and South Australia (in 2018) in seeking to address the cause of this fast growing environmental risk issue. Read more

The Commonwealth Government has introduced the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Standards and Assurance) Bill 2021 (Bill) to establish a framework for making National Environmental Standards (NES) and establishing an Environment Assurance Commissioner (Commissioner). Read more

The High Court has upheld an appeal against New Acland Coal’s applications to extend the New Acland open-cut coal mine. The applications must now be determined afresh as a result of apprehended bias in the Land Court of Queensland. Read more

A number of provisions of the Environmental Protection Amendment Act 2020 (WA) came into operation on 3 February 2021, following proclamation on 2 February 2021. We briefly touch on some of the noteworthy changes. Read more

Professor Graeme Samuels has released the Final Report on the Independent Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act), finding that Australia’s ‘current environmental trajectory is unsustainable’ and that the ‘EPBC Act is ineffective’. The Final Report proposes wide-ranging reforms, including the introduction of legally enforceable National Environmental Standards (NES), … Read more

On 2 February 2021, President Kingham made orders reducing a mining company’s estimated rehabilitation cost (ERC) by $46 million, after determining that the Department of Environment and Science (DES) ERC calculator is not binding. Read more