This is the first report in a series, Monitoring Victoria’s Environmental Laws.
It investigates how effectively the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is implementing and enforcing the Environment Protection Act 1970. It shows that publicly available information on the EPA’s implementation and enforcement activity is lacking. It makes a number of recommendations about what the EPA should do to continue becoming a modern and effective regulator and also about the type of compliance and enforcement data that we consider should be made publicly available by the EPA each year.
View report Walking the Talk? (PDF, 446KB)
About this report series:
The reports examine the extent and effectiveness of government’s implementation and enforcement of key environmental laws in Victoria.
We have has witnessed how Victoria’s environmental laws are implemented and enforced for over 20 years through our advice to and representation of the community on environmental law issues. Over that time we have become aware of countless environmental laws that are in force but are not effectively used by government to protect or improve the environment. These reports use all publicly available data on each Act to expose the lack of implementation and enforcement of key environmental laws.
The second report, Rigour or Rubber Stamp?, examines the Environment Effects Act. The third report Where's the Guarantee? examines the Flora & Fauna Guarantee Act and the Wildlife Act. The final report A Framework for Action? is on the native vegetation framework under the Environment and Planning Act.
View report #2: Rigour or Rubber Stamp? (PDF, 475KB)
View report #3: Where's the Guarantee? (PDF, 550KB)
View report #4: A Framework for Action? (PDF, 823KB)
Read our Director of Advocacy and Research's blog post on the motivation behind these reports and the difficulties the EDO had in accessing data from the government to compile the reports.