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You are here: Home > Legislation > What's new in law > 2006 archive

What's new in law - archive 2006

In 2003 the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Environment Protection Authority, Resource NSW and the Botanic Gardens Trust combined to form the Department of Environment and Conservation. These archives relate to legislation administered by the Department of Environment and Conservation.

December 2006

• Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (No 2) 2006 (assented and commenced 4.12.06) makes a number of minor changes to legislation administered by the DEC, including: (1) amending the return period for site audits commenced or completed by accredited site auditors (required under the Contaminated Lands Management Act 1997); (2) providing that it is not an offence against section 161 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 to drive a motor vehicle to a place to have it inspected for the purposes of s 207; (3) allowing the court to order an offender under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 to pay money to a specified organisation for environmental purposes, rather than only "environmental" organisations; and (4) updating references to the Director General of the Department of Environment and Conservation in the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
• Threatened Species Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Banking) Act 2006 (assented to and commenced 4.12.2006) amends the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 by inserting a new Part 7A to establish a biodiversity banking and offsets scheme. See links below for more information. Although this Act has commenced, there are requirements which must be fulfilled before the scheme can be implemented. Specifically, the Act requires a Joint Committee of Parliament to be appointed to prepare a report that sets out suggested guidelines for the operation of the scheme during a trial period and examines options for applying the scheme to the clearing of native vegetation and that report must be tabled in Parliament within 6 months of commencement. Also before the scheme can be implemented, the Minister for the Environment will need to establish biobanking assessment methodology.

November 2006

• National Park Estate (Lower Hunter Region Reservations) Act 2006 (assented 21.11.2006) revokes dedication of certain land as state forest and transfers them to national park estate.  The Act also makes amendments to the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 and the Hunter Water Act 1991 in relation to special areas that are within national park estate, including provision for the joint preparation and implementation of plans of management. Finally, the Act provides that the Hunter Water Corporation is the owner of all works on land within a special area that is also within national parks estate. The provisions relating to special areas within national park commence on 1 January 2007 and the provisions in relation to the transfer of state forest commence on 1 July 2007.

September 2006

• Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Amendment (Used Packaging Materials) Regulation 2006 (gazetted 1.9.06) inserts a new Part into the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005 which sets out certain requirements that must be met by brand owners of products and certain retailers. The requirements under the new Part are consistent with the obligations placed on signatories to the National Packaging Covenant. The Protection of the Environment Operations (Penalty Notices) Amendment (Used Packaging Materials) Regulation 2006 (also gazetted 1.9.06)prescribes new offences as penalty notice offences.
• Protection of the Environment Operations Legislation Amendment (Control of Burning) Regulation 2006 (gazetted 25.8.06; commenced 1.9.06) amends and incorporates provisions of the Protection of the Environment Operations (Control of Burning) Regulation 2000 (which is now repealed) into the Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2002. Minor amendments to the provisions include: (1) the EPA is now able to grant an exemption to a public authority from prohibition on burning prohibited articles in certain circumstances; (2) now provides for an exemption from some control of burning provisions for certain flares; and (3) some suggested means of preventing or minimising air pollution have been added.

August 2006

• Legislation Review Committee examined and commented on the Threatened Species Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Banking) Bill 2006. This Bill was introduced into the Legislative Assembly on 8 June 2006 and is a Bill to establish a biodiversity banking and offsets scheme. For more information see Legislation Review Digest 9 of 2006 and DEC's Guide to the Threatened Species Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Banking) Bill 2006.

July 2006

• Some legislative amendments affecting Jenolan Caves commenced 1 July 2006. Parts of the National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Jenolan Caves Reserves) Act 2005 have commenced. The Director-General of the DEC now has the care, control and management of the Jenolan, Wombeyan, Borenore and Abercrombie Karst Conservation Reserves, however certain areas of the reserves are being managed by an administrator of the Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust for an interim period. For more information, see What's new in law- archive 2005.

June 2006

• Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Amendment (Waste Reduction) Regulation 2006 (gazetted 30.6.06) (1) establishes the waste performance improvement scheme, which allows payments to be made to local councils that meet waste performance goals, (2) increases the waste levy paid by scheduled waste facilities, and (3) makes minor changes to waste tracking and record keeping requirements.
• Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 (assented to 20.6.06) makes a number of minor changes to legislation administered by the DEC, including: (1) clarifying that only the Minister, regulatory authority or public authority that issued a notice under Chapter 4 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 can amend or revoke that notice; (2) making provision for the EPA to approve places and persons to carry out inspection and testing of vehicles and other articles under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997; and (3) adding to the Scientific Committee's ability to make minor amendments to the relevant schedules to the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 by allowing it to add or omit a description of a species or population from those schedules.
• National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Marine Mammals) Regulation 2006 (gazetted 2.6.2006) relates to the conservation and protection of whales, dolphins, porpoises, dugongs, seals and sea-lions ("marine mammals"). The Regulation prescribes the distances for approaching marine mammals and regulates swimming and the use of vessels and aircraft in the vicinity of marine mammals. See Approaching whales and dolphins in NSW for more information.  

May 2006

• Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Waste Reduction) Act 2006 (assented to and commenced 15.5.06) inserts a regulation-making power into Schedule 2 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 to enable the establishment and administration of the local council waste reduction scheme to facilitate recycling, resource recovery and other reduction of waste.
• The Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment Act 2005 commenced on 1 May 2006. The Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment Act 2005 ("the Amendment Act") makes a number of amendments to the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 ("the POEO Act"). For a summary of the amendments made to the Act see Review of the POEO Act. Two regulations which make amendments that are consequential to the commencement of the Amendment Act also commenced on 1 May 2006. These regulations are the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Amendment Regulation 2006 ("the POEO (General) Amendment Regulation") and Protection of the Environment Operations (Penalty Notices) Amendment (Pollution and Other Offences) Regulation 2006 ("the POEO (Penalty Notices) Amendment Regulation"). The POEO (General) Amendment Regulation prescribes the meaning of words and expressions used in the land pollution defence in s 142D of the POEO Act, contains provisions in relation to the evaluation of green offsets schemes and works, and prescribes the administrative fee for preparing and giving a noise control notice. The POEO (Penalty Notices) Amendment Regulation allows penalty notices to be issued for new offences under the POEO Act and some offences under the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985. A third consequential amending regulation commenced on 5 May 2006. This regulation is the Protection of the Environment Operations (Savings and Transitional) Amendment Regulation 2006 and contains savings and transitional provisions consequent to the commencement of the Amendment Act.
• Commencement of National Parks and Wildlife Act amendments on 1 May 2006. Parts of the National Parks and Wildlife Amendment Act 2001 commenced  on this date and relate to the insertion of definitions into and the removal of various references from the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, including removal of references to wildlife management areas, protected archaeological areas and wildlife districts.

April 2006

• National Parks and Wildlife (Adjustment of Areas) Act 2006 ("the Act") (assented to 11.4.06, commenced 21.4.06) revokes reservation under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 of certain land in Bargo State Conservation Area and vests that land in the Minister administering the Sporting Venues Management Act 2002. The Act also reserves certain Crown land as Bargo River State Conservation Area and as part of Yengo National Park.

March 2006

• Protection of the Environment Operations (Noise Control) Amendment (Motor Cycle Noise Control) Regulation 2006 (gazetted 17.3.06) repeals clause 19 of the Protection of the Environment Operations (Noise Control) Regulation 2000 so that a motor cycle is no longer prohibited from being used on a road or road related area where the motor cycle does not comply with certain labelling requirements for noise related equipment.
• Waste Regulation provisions commence on 1 March 2006. The Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005  (gazetted 26.8.05) repeals and replaces the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 1996 and makes some changes to the management of wastes. Included in the changes are a new system for tracking waste and changes to some requirements relating to the waste levy contribution, waste storage and transport. The Regulation also incorporates the new provisions relating to residue wastes that were introduced by the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Amendment (Residue Wastes) Regulation 2005.