Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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WASTE MANAGEMENT AND POLLUTION CONTROL (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1998


Bills presented and read a first time.

Mr PALMER (Lands, Planning and Environment): Madam Speaker, I move that the bills be now read a second time.

It gives me some pleasure to introduce this important legislation. The purpose of the Waste Management and Pollution Control Bill is to ensure that activities which have a potential to cause pollution are properly managed, and that the environment is protected. The Territory environment is one of our most precious resources, and it is important to the economic wellbeing and quality of life which Territorians enjoy today. However, the quality of life we will enjoy in the future will depend to a large extent on how we manage our wastes now.

As a result of the Northern Territory's brief development history, and partly due to the good management by many Territorians, we do not face the large scale pollution problems which are experienced in other parts of Australia. This provides the Territory with an opportunity to build on its achievements, not a reason for complacency. Prevention is better and cheaper than the cure, and this bill is intended to ensure that sound environmental practices are put in place.

The Territory government foreshadowed the introduction of this bill when the Waste Management and Pollution Control Strategy was released in September of 1995. A draft bill was tabled in the Assembly in November 1996, and it was made available for public comment. The proposed legislation was well received by industry and the community, and the constructive comments received have been used to revise and improve the draft bill.

The bill will address issues which are important to all Territorians, including environmental noise, the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, air quality, contaminated land and the control of pollution. The bill adopts best practice environmental regulation, aimed at providing a regulatory framework which rewards and encourages continuous improvement in environmental performance and fosters the development of innovative and cost-effective approaches to environmental protection without compromising community desires for environmental quality.

The bill will provide an important link between the environmental assessment of new developments, undertaken through the Environmental Assessment Act, and the long-term management of environmental issues once a development is up and running. Where waste management issues arise from an assessment of a new development, those assessment recommendations will be able to be implemented through the provisions in this bill.

The new legislation will apply to non-mining industries and activities. The Department of Mines and Energy will continue to be the one-stop-shop for addressing on-site waste management issues on mining and petroleum tenements. This will occur through the relevant mining and petroleum legislation which is being reviewed and is to be amended, where necessary, to ensure consistency with the provisions of the Waste Management and Pollution Control Bill.

The bill will also enable the Northern Territory to meet its national obligations under the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment by providing a mechanism for adopting and implementing national environment protection measures made by the National Environment Protection Council in accordance with the National Environment Protection Council (Northern Territory) Act.

The bill proposes the repeal of the Northern Territory Ozone Protection Act. Ozone protection will be catered for by provisions under the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act and the development of new regulations. The Territory ozone protection legislation has played a key role in national efforts to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, and the proposed changes will streamline and update provisions consistent with the latest ozone protection strategies. The new regulations are expected to be in place by mid-1998 and the existing legislation will remain in place until then.

I turn now to the bill in more detail. The objectives of the bill are to: protect, restore and enhance the quality of the Territory environment; encourage ecologically sustainable development; and assist in the implementation of nationally-agreed environment protection measures. To achieve these objectives, the bill adopts the principles of best practice environmental regulation. Therefore, the bill is focused on encouraging good environmental performance and achieving real gains, rather than strict adherence to a set of inflexible procedures or rules. The tools present in the bill to enable those businesses, that are committed to achieving best environmental management practice, to decide how best to set about meeting the desired environmental outcomes. In this way, sound environmental practices may be integrated into the general management of a business, rather than being imposed as an additional layer of regulation. Good environmental management should be seen as good business.

Three mechanisms in the bill underpin the philosophy I have just outlined. Firstly, through the declaration of environmental protection objectives, the bill will set the performance benchmarks for environmental management in areas such as air quality, waste management, contaminated land, and reduction and reuse of waste. These environmental protection objectives, or EPOs, will clearly set out the environmental outcomes which need to be achieved or taken into account. EPOs will also provide a mechanism by which the Territory will implement agreed national environmental protection measures.

It is important that the EPOs created under the bill reflect community aspirations for protecting environmental quality, and the bill therefore provides considerable opportunity for public consultation during their development. Consultative committees may also be established under the act to assist in resolving issues of key importance to the community and industry.

The consequential amendments to the Planning Act, which I am introducing today, will ensure that EPOs are taken into account by the relevant consent authority when planning applications are being considered. In addition, the bill will provide traditional control mechanisms, such as licensing and approval requirements for certain activities and facilities. Given the regulatory philosophy behind the bill, such mechanisms will be applied only to activities and facilities which may represent a significant environmental risk and where greater accountability is desirable. Initially, approvals and licensing will be required for a narrow range of activities, including landfills, hazardous waste contractors, and major industrial facilities such as the proposed LNG plant.

Where more traditional forms of regulation are necessary, these will be scoped to the scale and nature of the problems experienced in the Territory. The emphasis will be on solving problems, not winning conflicts or creating more bureaucracy. To avoid duplication of licensing requirements, consequential amendments to the Water Act are also being introduced which will have the effect of enabling a single licence to be issued under the new legislation in situations where the licensing provisions of both acts could apply.

Finally, the bill will support and encourage improved environmental management aimed at meeting the performance benchmarks through the use of incentive-based licensing, environmental audits, compliance plans and performance agreements. Better environmental outcomes occur when government and industry work together. For example, existing industries which demonstrate that they cannot immediately comply with the new performance benchmark or a regulatory requirement can use the compliance planning process provided for in the bill. By committing to a phased improvement in environmental performance over a period of up to 5 years, improvements can be better integrated into the financial planning of a business and eventually compliance is secured.

In conjunction with this cooperative approach, the bill seeks to reward excellent environmental performance. For example, a best-practice licence is available to industries that can demonstrate that their environmental performance exceeds that which is required under the bill, that they are reviewing their performance through audits, have proper management systems in place and are informing the community about their environmental management. For industry, a best- practice licence will confer marketing advantages and greater administrative flexibility in fulfilling obligations under the bill. By rewarding and taking account of excellence in environmental performance, government resources can be better focused on poor environmental performance.

Of course, not everyone does the right things and, although I have emphasised a cooperative approach with industry, the government will take tough action where it is needed. For this reason, the bill includes provision for mandatory environmental audits and pollution abatement notices and also includes a safety net of strong penalties that can be applied to poor performers and those who undertake unacceptable practices, such as the illegal dumping of wastes. Penalties recently established under the Environmental Offences and Penalties Act have been incorporated in this bill, providing for penalties of up to $250 000 for an individual and up to $1.25m for a body corporate.

A graded response will be taken when enforcing this new legislation, beginning with education, cooperative problem solving and persuasion and, if these are not successful at resulting the problem, escalating to warnings, directives and, finally, prosecution or licence revocation. Codes of Practice, the recently released environmental management handbook for small business, and other education materials will be used to provide industry guidance on how to comply with the legislation.

The bill makes provision for information to be made available to the public. The legislation creates a public register containing information on licences and approvals, environmental management plans, compliance plans, pollution abatement notices and pollution incidents that have been notified. The results of mandatory environmental audits may also be placed on the register. I anticipate that the register will be made available to the public through the Inernet.

This new legislation is just not about industry. The bill applies to individuals who deliberately cause pollution or environmental damage by improper disposal of waste. Minor offences of a nuisance nature will generally be dealt with as an on-the-spot fine, but more serious offences could attract higher penalties up to and including imprisonment.

Another area of concern to the community which the bill will address is environmental noise. The draft regulations I am tabling in conjunction with the bill will provide a completely new framework to manage environmental noise. Currently, persons aggrieved by noise in their neighbourhood would have recourse to the provisions of the Summary Offences Act. While these enable police officers to take action in relation to noisy parties and other similar activities, the proposed regulations under the new bill will provide additional mechanisms for dealing with other forms of noise annoyance which occur in the neighbourhood and which do not necessarily warrant, or are inappropriate for, the attention of the police. Unwanted noise can cause many problems in our community. While many disputes that arise because of intrusive noise in the neighbourhood could be avoided by people exercising reasonable consideration for their neighbours, unfortunately this is not always the case.

Where people are bothered by noise and they have approached the person or premises causing the noise in an attempt to resolve the matter, and this has not been successful, they need to be able to have recourse to independent mechanisms to achieve some relief. The proposed regulations will make this possible. The regulations are relatively simple in nature, but are nonetheless capable of dealing with complex cases which may arise. They set standards for acceptable sound levels to be received at commercial and industrial establishments and at noise sensitive premises such as residential units, and make provision for the issuance of noise control notices if necessary.

In addition, the regulations establish standard hours of operation for activities that generate noise such as construction work, community activities and sporting and special entertainment events. Other noise sources which may attract attention include faulty domestic equipment such as pool and spa pumps and airconditioners. Exemptions will be allowed for non-complying special events and essential activities. Occupational noise in workplaces and noise from parties, safety equipment, motor vehicles, trains and aircraft are not dealt with in these regulations as they are already adequately, and more appropriately, dealt with under existing legislation.

Finally, the regulations will ensure that noise complaint investigations are objective, consistent and accurate by specifying standards for investigation procedures and for the technical operation of sound level measuring equipment. There will be an opportunity for public input into the draft noise regulations before they are finalised.

In summing up, it is not intended by this legislation to impose unnecessary restrictions or administrative burdens on industry or the community. However, it is important to have in place measures for minimising and controlling pollution of our environment and for rewarding sound environmental performance. The community expects this of government and, with this bill, we are delivering on those expectations. I commend the bills to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

 

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