Bill
Commonwealth Environment Protection Authority Bill 2021
lapsed, as at 2021-11-23. (s) WILKIE, Andrew, MP portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Andrew Wilkie
- Portfolio
- (s) WILKIE, Andrew, MP
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2021-03-22
- second reading — 2021-03-22
- other — 2021-11-23
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2021-03-22.
The bill would create the Commonwealth Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as an independent statutory body.
The EPA would take over routine administration, compliance and enforcement of federal environmental laws from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
The bill would start six months after Royal Assent, but only if funding is approved and paid to the EPA.
- Establishes the Commonwealth Environment Protection Authority as a new independent regulator.
- Transfers the Department's routine environmental regulatory functions to the EPA.
- Creates an Office of Monitoring, Compliance, Enforcement and Assurance within the EPA.
- Appoints a Chief Executive Officer by the Governor-General for a five-year term, subject to Parliamentary Joint Committee approval.
- Requires at least the CEO or one Deputy CEO to be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.
- Prohibits the CEO from holding office if they held political, lobbyist or senior industry or environmental roles in the prior five years.
The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, businesses and individuals seeking environmental approvals, and the community.
Sources
em
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