Delay of the Environment Protection Amendment Act 2018 (Vic)
Yesterday, the Victorian Government introduced and passed the COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 (the Omnibus Bill), without amendment from the Upper House.
The Omnibus Bill implements a range of temporary emergency measures in response to COVID-19, which includes delaying the commencement of all of the provisions of the Environment Protection Amendment Act 2018 (Vic) (EP Amendment Act 2018) which have not yet commenced, from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2021, or earlier by proclamation.
During the Second Reading of the Omnibus Bill in the Upper House, the Victorian Government stated that its intention is to proclaim an earlier commencement date of 1 July 2021. This means that the EP Amendment Act may be delayed by 12 months, rather than the 18 months actually allowed for in the Omnibus Bill. Notably, the change to the EP Amendment Act is one of the very few changes implemented by the Omnibus Bill that will have effect for longer than 6 months.
As you may be aware, the EP Amendment Act 2018 effects a complete overhaul of environmental laws in Victoria. We have discussed various aspects of these new laws in our previous articles (which are linked at the bottom of this page). The delay will give members of the community, businesses and industry more time to consider and prepare for these changes. In turn, it will also give the EPA and Victorian Government more time to prepare and finalise the Environment Protection Regulations and other key subordinate instruments which will support the new environmental laws which were due to be released in May. It is possible the release of these additional documents will also be delayed. We will update you once we know the Government's intentions with more certainty.
In the meantime, should you wish to discuss anything in relation to the proposed new laws, and how they will affect your organisation, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Changes to inspection of documents and planning hearings
The Omnibus Bill also introduces temporary changes to the Planning & Environment Act 1987 (Vic) (P&E Act), which will operate for six months from commencement of the Omnibus Bill. The changes will allow panel hearings, and the physical inspection of documents, to occur by electronic means, again to reflect social distancing requirements as a result of COVID-19. We discuss each of these changes in further detail below.
Planning panels conducted via electronic means
Current section 160 of the P&E Act requires planning panel hearings to be conducted in public (except in relation to confidential submissions).
The Omnibus Bill introduces a new section 205B into the P&E Act which provides that this requirement is taken to be satisfied if the panel makes the hearing available to be viewed by the general public by electronic means (e.g. through the internet).
If a person has a right to be heard by a panel, or is called by a panel, the panel is no longer required to hear the person or their representative in person, but may instead require them to appear or be heard at a specified time by electronic means.
Based on our recent experience, we understand that panels have been generally willing to continue to conduct hearings via electronic means in light of the social distancing measures required to address COVID-19. The explanatory memorandum for the Omnibus Bill indicates that the changes to the P&E Act are to ensure that panel hearings remain publicly accessible and panels continue to provide a reasonable opportunity to those entitled to be heard under the P&E Act.
In our view, the changes to panel hearing requirements indicate the Government's desire for approval processes to proceed in the current environment. We hope this will encourage the re-commencement or continuation of existing hearings to ensure that proponents can continue with proposed developments without unnecessary delays.
Inspecting documents on the internet
New sections 205 and 205A of the P&E Act provide that where a designated entity (such as a Minister, planning authority or council) is required by the P&E Act to:
- provide a document for inspection at its office; or
- specify the place at which a notice issued by the designated entity may be inspected,
that requirement is taken to be satisfied if the document is made available on the designated entity's internet site.
Authors: Rob Jamieson, Jeff Lynn, Jane Hall, Sophie Osborn, Sophie Westland, Sean McKeon
Previous articles regarding the EP Amendment Act
