Page 3744 - Week 12 - Thursday, 21 October 1993
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Except for some similar administrative provisions, there is little consistency between them. There are no stated objectives for environmental management and most management is directed towards "end of pipe" control. In addition, there are currently few controls over the environmental fate of hazardous chemicals and their wastes.
The current pollution control legislation has, in effect, compartmentalised the environment. It takes little account of the relationships within and between the various parts of the environment and does not recognise links between environment protection and economic and social development. There is no facility to enable environmentally advantageous trade-offs between different parts of the environment or for the pollution control authority to require the undertaking of environmental audits or the preparation of management plans, all of which can provide opportunities to achieve improved environmental and community outcomes.
There are also some administrative difficulties in relation to existing legislation which make monitoring and enforcement time consuming and not always effective. One example is the demand on resources required to secure prosecutions under the Water Pollution Act. Against this background, integrated environment protection legislation is intended to provide the basis for achieving improved environmental outcomes through a holistic approach which takes account of ecologically sustainable development principles and modern environmental management concepts such as cleaner production and waste minimisation.
This approach is intended to consider environmental impacts in terms of the activities that cause them and to manage these activities in order to minimise harm to the environment. This involves a broader perspective, recognising the interactions between the various environmental components. Such an approach also implies a high degree of flexibility in applying control measures to specific sites and circumstances. In this context it should be noted that industry is also recognising the need for improved environmental performance, together with more efficient and effective environmental regulation. For example, through the concept of best practice environmental regulation the Australian Manufacturing Council supports more flexible and cooperative approaches, with control mechanisms tailored to specific circumstances.
I now turn to the scope and coverage of the proposed integrated legislation. It is proposed to develop legislation which is complementary to the Land (Planning and Environment) Act 1991, the Land Act, and which will replace existing pollution control legislation. Under the Land Act, developments are approved where they are consistent with the Territory Plan and seen as unlikely to produce significantly adverse environmental impacts. The integrated environmental protection legislation is being designed to ensure ongoing environmental protection while permitted activities are being carried out. It will provide the operational framework to address the way things are done, while the Land Act focuses on what is done and where.
In this context, the integrated legislation is intended to encompass controls over hazardous chemicals and their wastes and the prevention of site contamination, both of which currently have few controls. In view of the close relationship between land degradation and water quality, it is also proposed to include aspects of soil conservation. However, it is not intended that environmental
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