Environment Protection Act 1993

This section sets out the normal procedure to be followed in making environment protection policies.

The Authority may prepare draft environment protection policies.

Before commencing to prepare a draft environment protection policy, the Authority—

must consult with the Minister in relation to the general purpose and intended effect of the proposed policy; and

after consulting with the Minister—

must publish in the Gazette a notice of its intention to prepare the draft policy that includes a description of the general purpose of the proposed policy; and

must also publish a copy of the notice—

on a website determined by the Authority; or

in a newspaper circulating generally in the State, (or both).

Where a committee or subcommittee of the Board is established under this Act to advise the Authority in relation to the preparation or contents of a draft environment protection policy, the Authority must obtain and consider the advice of the committee or subcommittee in relation to the policy.

The Authority must, when it has prepared a draft environment protection policy, prepare a report containing—

an explanation of the purpose and effect of the draft policy;

a summary of any background and issues relevant to the draft policy and of the analysis and reasoning applied in formulating the policy.

The Authority must, after preparation of the draft policy and related report, refer that policy and report—

to any body prescribed for the purposes of this section;

to any public authority whose area of responsibility is, in the opinion of the Authority, particularly affected by the policy.

The Authority must also, after preparation of the draft policy and related report, cause an advertisement to be published in the Gazette and in a newspaper circulating generally in the State—

giving notice of places at which the draft policy and the report, or copies of the draft policy and the report, are to be available for inspection and, if copies are to be available for purchase, of places at which copies may be purchased; and

inviting interested persons to make written submissions in relation to the draft policy within a period specified in the advertisement (being not less than two months from the date of publication of the advertisement);

stating that the submissions will be available for inspection by interested persons as provided by subsection (8); and

stating that the Authority's response to any submissions will be available for inspection by interested persons as provided by subsection (9); and

appointing a place and time at which a public information session will be held by the Authority in relation to the draft policy.

Where written submissions are made in response to an advertisement published under subsection (6), a copy of those submissions must be made available for inspection by interested persons during ordinary business hours at the principal office of the Authority from the end of the period specified for the making of submissions until the Authority reports to the

Where written submissions are made in response to a draft policy, the Authority must, as soon as is reasonably practicable after the end of the period specified for the making of submissions, prepare a response to the submissions and make the response available for inspection by interested persons during ordinary business hours at the principal office of the Authority until the Authority reports to the Minister on the draft policy under subsection (11).

The Authority must then report to the Minister and the Minister may, after taking into account the report and any recommendations of the

approve the draft policy; or

alter the draft policy and approve the draft policy as altered;

decline to approve the draft policy.

A draft policy approved by the Minister under subsection (11) may be referred to the Governor and the Governor may, by notice in the Gazette—

declare the draft to be an authorised environment protection policy under this Act; and

fix a day on which it will come into operation.