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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 490 asked in the Legislative Council on 19 May 2022 by Hon Dr Brad Pettitt

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

ENVIRONMENT — REDUCED REPORTING BURDEN PILOT PROJECT

490. Hon Dr BRAD PETTITT to the minister representing the Minister for Environment:

I refer to the media statement ''Reducing the reporting burden on industry'' of 16 May 2022.

(1) What is the intended period of the reduced reporting burden pilot project?

(2) On what basis will the success of the pilot be evaluated?

(3) How will the reduced reporting burden project encourage licence holders to achieve ''good environmental performance'' and how will this be monitored given the reduced reporting requirements?

(4) Could the minister please list the categories of prescribed premises that are eligible under the pilot program for reduced reporting requirements?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Minister for Environment.

(1) The reduced reporting burden pilot project is complete.

(2) The project was initiated to reduce environmental reporting requirements for lower-risk industry licences, allowing the department to focus on higher-risk matters. More than 60 per cent of existing licence holders are no longer required to submit an annual environmental report. All other environmental performance requirements remain in place.

(3) The department's monitoring of environmental performance is undertaken through various compliance and enforcement activities, which includes incident reporting, complaints monitoring, pollution response and intelligence gathering. When a licence holder does not achieve the required performance, the department has various mechanisms under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 to achieve environmental performance. It would be likely under these circumstances that more frequent reporting would be required.

(4) All categories of prescribed premises listed under schedule 1 of the Environmental Protection Regulations 1987 are eligible to be considered for reduced reporting requirements. To identify the appropriate level of reporting for each licence holder, the department applies a risk-based approach informed by recent monitoring and compliance performance.