Page 1848 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 May 1990
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I now turn to a brief explanation of the way the regulations will operate. The draft regulations provide that the Territory plan should prescribe the circumstances in which preliminary assessments will be mandatory. The advantage of this approach is that it will allow the specific requirements of a physical location to determine whether special needs exist for an environmental assessment.
In addition, the revised Bill provides that preliminary assessments be made publicly available. This will further enhance the overall transparency of the planning system by making sure that the community has access to information regarding significant proposals and their environmental effects.
Preliminary assessments will broadly include the kind of information required by a notice of intent under the equivalent Commonwealth legislation. To that extent, the regulations follow a pattern that is well developed and is familiar both to government and the community, including the private sector.
In terms of environmental impact statements and public environment reports, the matters to be included in them draw upon experience gained from both Commonwealth and New South Wales legislation. A feature of the regulations is that a description of the methodology employed in the study and the names and details of the persons engaged in the preparation of the report or statement will be required to facilitate a considered analysis of the overall quality of the document and its conclusions.
In this context, it should be noted that the regulations provide for the contents of environmental impact statements and public environment reports to be identical, with the difference being the extent of public consultation required under the Bill in the preparation of each.
Also, it should be noted that the regulations provide that the Minister may direct that a report or statement be subject to peer review of the adequacy of the methodology employed in the preparation of the report or statement. This is an important and innovative safeguard.
Finally, members should note that the revisions that have been made to the Bill are generally minor and are intended both to complement the draft regulations and to improve the overall structure and ease of interpretation of the Bill. I commend the draft regulations and revised Bill to you and welcome any comments that you may have on them. I present the following papers:
Draft Environmental Assessments and Inquiries Regulations and revised Environmental Assessments and Inquiries Bill 1990 - Ministerial statement, 30 May 1990, together with an explanatory statement, draft Environmental Assessments and
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