Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committees

Commonwealth Environment Powers
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Reference to the Committee and conduct of the inquiry

1.1 On 26 March 1997, on motion of Senator Lees, the Senate referred the question of the powers of the Commonwealth in environmental protection and ecologically sustainable development in Australia to the Senate Environment, Recreation, Communications and the Arts References Committee for inquiry and report by February 1998. The reporting date was subsequently extended to 27 May 1999.

1.2 The Committee advertised the inquiry in capital city newspapers on 9 April 1997, and wrote to State governments and many organisations inviting submissions. The Committee received 367 submissions (see Appendix 1). Copies of non-confidential submissions were made available on request.

1.3 The Committee conducted 9 public hearings as part of the inquiry: in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra in September 1997; Sydney in December 1997; North Stradbroke Island, Townsville and Melbourne in April 1998; and Launceston and Adelaide in July 1998 (see Appendix 2). The Committee also visited the Blue Mountains National Park, near Sydney which was being put forward as a possible site for World Heritage listing and it visited North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay in Queensland.

1.4 The report of the inquiry was delayed by the general election in October 1998, and by other urgent business of the Committee in early 1999, most particularly an inquiry into the environmental effects of the government's proposed new tax system. In the new Parliament following the 1998 election the Committee was renamed Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. The Senate renewed the reference on 2 December 1998, with an eventual reporting date of 27 May 1999.

1.5 Significant initiatives relevant to this report took place during the period of the inquiry. On 7 November 1997 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed in principle a Heads of Agreement on Commonwealth/State Roles and Responsibilities for the Environment. The Agreement proposed a framework for comprehensive reform of Commonwealth-State roles and responsibilities for the environment, aiming to focus the Commonwealth's role on matters of national environmental significance.

1.6 In February 1998 the Minister for the Environment, Senator Hill, released for public comment a consultation paper proposing comprehensive reform of Commonwealth environmental laws. [1] The foreshadowed reforms took concrete shape in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Bill 1998, which the government introduced into parliament on 2 July 1998. The Bill has been the subject of an independent inquiry by the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee and is only addressed in this report where relevant.

Acknowledgement

1.7 The Committee wishes to thank all those who contributed to the inquiry by preparing written submissions, by presenting testimony in public hearings, by providing additional information and material where requested, and by assisting with arrangements for public hearings. The Committee also thanks those people who helped organise and acted as guides to Senators on their visits to the Blue Mountains and North Stradbroke Island.

 

Footnotes

[1] Hill, the Hon. R, Reform of Commonwealth Environmental Legislation - Consultation Paper, 1998