Stormwater Australia reposted this
In July, we shared the recent changes to the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld), providing some examples of how those changes may affect the stormwater industry. View the Act here https://lnkd.in/g4ddys3Y We noted that the changes include a new ‘General Environmental Duty’ (GED) offence which can be applied if someone fails to take ‘reasonably practicable’ (previously ‘reasonable and practicable’) action to prevent or minimise material or serious environmental harm. So what does the GED actually mean? The General Environmental Duty means that, "a person must not carry out any activity that causes, or is likely to cause, environmental harm unless the person takes all reasonably practicable measures to prevent or minimise the harm". A ‘person’ may include an individual person or an entity such as a company or Council. The GED therefore applies to everyone. Matters that may be taken into account include whether a person fails to: • Install, use and maintain plant, equipment, processes or systems in a way that minimises risks of environmental harm. • Use and maintain systems for the identification, assessment and control of risks of environmental harm and the evaluation of the effectiveness of controls. • Use and maintain systems to ensure that all substances are handled, stored, used or transported in a way that minimises risks. • Use and maintain systems to ensure that information, instruction, supervision and training is provided to any person engaging in the activity in a way that minimises risks of environmental harm. The penalty is currently up to $725,850 or 2 years in prison for a wilful contravention or $266,952 otherwise (current from 1 July 2024). The risk of causing harm increases for asset owners managing multiple systems. Multiple systems can be considered either collectively or individually as causing harm, and in the latter case, multiple instances of harm (and penalties) can occur. Stormwater quality treatment asset owners can minimise the risk of causing harm by ensuring stormwater assets are correctly designed, constructed/installed, established (where relevant), registered on asset databases, train staff in maintenance and appropriately fund and undertake maintenance activities. New stormwater management assets should be designed in accordance with current State Planning Policy objectives for the relevant development thresholds. Other initiatives may be required for minimising harm to waterways and ensuing compliance with receiving water quality objectives. Stay tuned for later this week as we share what is meant by ‘reasonably practicable’. Disclaimer: The above is not legal interpretation and readers are advised to seek their own legal counsel.
