The Federal Government has tabled its Climate Change Bill 2022 (the Bill) which – if passed – will enshrine into law the Government’s emissions reduction targets. A second bill, the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022 (the Amendments Bill) would define these targets as objectives of a range of government agencies and programs. 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

The Victorian Supreme Court has found that intermittent noise from Bald Hills Wind Farm at night was a nuisance, and awarded damages, aggravated damages in light of the past management of the complaints, and an injunction (stayed for 3 months) to prevent further noise nuisance. The case is significant in confirming that intermittent noise may be a nuisance even if compliant with the regulatory regime, although the specific permit conditions for Bald Hills and different regulations that now apply to wind farms in Victoria mean that this decision cannot be directly translated to other circumstances. Uren v Bald Hills Wind Farm Pty Ltd [2022] VSC 145 (25 March 2022) Read more

Australia has made significant strides in its offshore wind industry in recent weeks, with the regulatory regime expected to commence on 2 June 2022. Victoria has announced Australia’s first offshore wind energy targets, and the Commonwealth Government released the exposure draft of the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Regulations 2022 for public comment. These are important steps in the development of Australia’s offshore wind regulatory framework. Read more

DWER recently published the WA Environmental Offsets Calculator and associated guidelines (Environment Offsets Metric: Quantifying Environmental Offsets in Western Australia), creating WA’s new environmental offsets metric. We provide an overview of the key points to note about the offsets metric. Read more

The Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia has released the much anticipated ‘Final report into the destruction of Indigenous heritage sites at Juukan Gorge’. In this post, we provide an overview of the key findings and recommendations of the report. Read more

The Victorian Government’s second Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) renewable power and LGC offtake reverse auction is expected to deliver at least 600 MW of large scale renewable energy projects, marking a significant contribution toward reaching Victoria’s renewable energy target of 50% by 2030. Read more