Environment Protection Bilateral Agreement

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (14:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation a question about bilateral agreements between the commonwealth and South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: On 19 December last year the federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, issued notice of his intention to develop a draft bilateral agreement with the state of South Australia under section 45 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The purpose of such a bilateral agreement is for the commonwealth to begin the process of vacating the field in relation to the environmental assessment of projects and to hand over responsibilities to the state; in particular, the process of assessing projects.

The public submission period closed on 17 March, and 12 submissions were received. I refer the minister to the submission received from the Conservation Council of South Australia. That submission, in opposing the proposed agreement, stated:

The EIA process provided for by the South Australian Development Act is outdated and outmoded. It should not be given accreditation for the purpose of meeting commonwealth requirements under the EPBC Act in its present form. In particular it does not provide for public consultation on either the level of assessment or the preparation of guidelines. It contains a 'privative' clause excluding all judicial oversight of the procedures. It is administered by a department (DPTI) that lacks the resources and appropriate scientific expertise to undertake the preparation of the required assessment report and therefore depends heavily on the inputs of other government agencies such as the EPA.

My questions are:

1. Will South Australia be signing the proposed bilateral agreement?

2. If so, how does the minister reconcile the inconsistencies in public participation rights between the commonwealth EPBC Act and the South Australian Development Act?

3. Is the government negotiating with the commonwealth in relation to a further proposed bilateral agreement relating to the approval of projects that impact on matters of national environmental significance?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:47): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The federal government has declared that it will reduce environmental red tape through creation of a one-stop shop for state and federal environmental approvals via the state-based system. Under this commitment, the federal government is offering states the opportunity to have state environmental impact assessment processes, which meet commonwealth environmental standards, accredited to undertake assessment and approval processes of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 on behalf of the commonwealth.

On 11 October 2013 Prime Minister Abbott wrote to the Premier seeking the South Australian government’s commitment to participate in these reforms, and to advise that the Hon. Greg Hunt MP, federal Minister for the Environment, will be the lead minister on behalf of the commonwealth. To deliver this one-stop shop the federal government is proposing a staged approach to accreditation, which will involve the signing of a memorandum of understanding to map out the process of what both parties expect, to update or expand the current assessment bilateral agreement, followed by agreement on an approval bilateral agreement within 12 months.

The South Australian government’s consistent position, since the Council of Australian Governments agreed to streamline the commonwealth accreditation of state and territory environmental assessment and approval processes, under the commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, in 2012, has been that it supports accreditation of South Australia's environmental assessment and approval processes, as the objectives are to reduce red tape and deliver a streamlined regulatory environment, and to ensure high standard environmental outcomes are maintained.

Negotiations led by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources have concluded with a memorandum of understanding between the South Australian government and the commonwealth government being signed by the Premier at COAG on 13 December 2013.

The memorandum of understanding is available on the commonwealth Department of the Environment website. I am advised that work on the assessment bilateral agreement is underway to update the current assessment bilateral agreement signed in 2008, which currently accredits the major development assessment provisions of the Development Act, to also accredit eligible environmental assessment provisions of the Mining Act.

The assessment bilateral agreement will allow actions requiring assessment under the commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to be assessed through the relevant accredited state assessment process. The commonwealth environment minister will then use assessment information from the state assessment process to make a decision on the project under the commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The updated draft assessment bilateral agreement has undergone public consultation by the commonwealth, which concluded on 17 March 2014. The commonwealth will respond to any comments received and make amendments to the agreement as deemed appropriate. When final terms are agreed by both parties, the parties will then finalise the agreement, which is expected to be signed on behalf of the state by the Premier, the Minister for Planning and the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy on behalf of South Australia.

Negotiations are also underway, I am advised, between the state and the commonwealth on an approval bilateral agreement to accredit eligible state law to approve actions on behalf of the commonwealth, negating the requirement for approval under the commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

These negotiations are expected to build on work previously undertaken during the 2012 bilateral negotiations to evaluate the state’s mining, petroleum and geothermal energy and development legislation for suitability for approvals bilateral accreditation.

Depending on which South Australian legislation is eligible for accreditation, once an approval bilateral agreement is enacted, it is understood a significant proportion of projects currently referred under the commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act will be progressed at a state government level to gain environmental approvals. It is important to highlight that this change in process will not reduce the environmental thresholds required for approval to occur.

Whilst supportive of reducing red tape and streamlining the approvals process, this government recognises that, in taking over environmental assessment and approval responsibilities from the federal government, there is the potential for the federal government to cost shift to the state. As such, this issue will be an important matter for discussion as part of the bilateral negotiations.

It is of course important that we continue to evolve our approval processes in order for Australia to continue to maintain and improve upon its competitive position. Having regard to the above, I am advised that the Premier has recently written to key industry stakeholders committing this government to continuous improvement in this important area of reform.