Page 1399 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 1993
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COMMISSIONER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT BILL 1993
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (10.38): Madam Speaker, I present the Commissioner for the Environment Bill 1993.
Title read by Clerk.
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
The establishment of the Commissioner for the Environment is in accordance with the Government's election policy commitment of 1992 and it demonstrates the Government's commitment to improved and accountable management of the Territory's environment. The commissioner's office will promote greater accountability for environmental outcomes by ensuring that government departments and instrumentalities are meeting their environmental responsibilities through two key mechanisms. The first is accountability in relation to individual environment management decisions, and the second is overall accountability through annual state of the environment reporting.
The Bill provides for the appointment of a commissioner on such terms and conditions as are approved by the Minister. It is my intention that the commissioner be appointed on a part-time basis and be supported by two full-time staff. The appointee to the position of commissioner will be independent of the Government and the bureaucracy. The Government intends the appointee to have a high level of professional standing and a demonstrated ability to comprehend complex environmental issues. To ensure the commissioner's independence, he or she will be required to make a declaration of interest to me and will be disqualified from undertaking consultancies that have the potential to conflict with or prejudice the commissioner's role. This disqualification will encompass consultancies undertaken on behalf of the ACT, the Commonwealth, and New South Wales, particularly where cross-border issues are involved.
The first of the commissioner's two key roles involves acting as an environmental ombudsman on complaints about government environmental management. In this role as the ACT's environmental ombudsman the commissioner will be required to investigate complaints from members of the public regarding the management of the ACT environment and to conduct investigations into ACT government agency actions which could have substantial impact on the environment. The legislation will provide the commissioner with the necessary powers and direction in relation to the handling and investigation of these complaints. Unlike the Ombudsman Act, a claimant will not be required to demonstrate sufficient interest in the subject matter of a complaint. This recognises the fact that the responsible and effective management of the environment is of legitimate concern to the whole community.
The commissioner will also have the capacity to investigate the adequacy of legislation or administration which deals with significant environmental impacts of actions by both the private and the public sectors. The commissioner's office will focus primarily on achieving optimum environmental outcomes, but the commissioner's powers to investigate complaints will not be unrestrained.
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