As the floods and fires of the past year have reminded us, Australia is a harshly beautiful country: one with a rich array of flora and fauna, but also one in which the forces of nature are not to be underestimated.
In response to increasing calls for environmental protection, 2010, and indeed the first decade of this new millennium, have witnessed a growing national approach to environmental regulation. State, Territory and Commonwealth Governments are moving towards greater co-ordination and co-operation. Nowhere is this more notable than in climate change – but it is also occurring in the traditional environment and planning fields. Does this represent a shift in power from the States to the Federal Government? It would appear so, but we wait to see the final outcome.
2010 was a turbulent period for environmental legislation and initiatives at the Commonwealth level. From the announcement that the Government would delay implementation of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) until after the conclusion of the Kyoto Protocol, to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's post-election establishment of a Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, climate change swung from being Australia's greatest moral challenge, to being low on the priority list, to being yet one more of the many challenges facing the country. The 2009 Montara oil spill led to a Commission of Inquiry, and the recommendation of dramatic new oil field procedures. And, the recommendations from the 2009 Hawke review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) were initially accepted, then put on hold.
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