Following the Independent review of powers and penalties under the EP Act, the Queensland Government is seeking consulting on proposed amendments to the EP Act. Read more

The Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 (Qld) (EPOLA Bill) was passed yesterday. The EPOLA Bill amends the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) with wide ranging implications for Queensland operators, in particular for the resources sector. It also makes minor amendments to the Waste Reduction and recycling Act 2011 (Qld) and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Protection and Management Act 1993 (Qld). Read more

Going into the recent Federal election, the Australian Labor Party committed to establishing an independent Environment Protection Agency and providing a full response to the review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). With the new Ministry now sworn in, we look at what changes these commitments might bring. Read more

The recent Australian Federal election has resulted in a change of government. While the government is settling in, our Environment, Planning and Communities partners set out their top 5 predictions for coming change on environmental matters, and where the priorities should lie. Read more

Directors and related bodies corporate that benefit from environmental offences committed by a corporation are subject to new liabilities and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) now has stronger enforcement powers. Due to the changes, environmental compliance and risk management practices should be reviewed and updated as required to minimise risks for corporations, their directors … Read more

On 24 February 2022, the NSW Parliament passed a Bill to amend five key pieces of environmental legislation. The amendments are wide-ranging and will have significant impacts on the liability of directors and businesses for environmental offences. The amendments also strengthen the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s ability to hold offenders to account. Read more

The New South Wales Land and Environment Court has granted a development consent subject to conditions requiring PFAS-contaminated material be removed and impacted land remediated. The PFAS-contaminated material had been placed for soil improvement and was discovered during a site view for the proceedings. 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