Lawyers warn new environment laws could spark court challenges
Environment lawyers say they expect both businesses and environmental groups to challenge the government’s new reforms in court once they take effect.
Lawyers who have reviewed new draft environment laws say they expect court challenges until the legislation is better understood, pointing to key definitions they believe lack detail.
Speaking to Capital Brief as the Environment Protection Reform Bills were tabled in parliament, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer partner Peter Briggs said he had expected to see more clarity on how an unacceptable impact would be defined in the new National Environment Standards (NES).
“The concept of what is an unacceptable impact is going to be applied to more decisions across the whole Act. Currently, unacceptable impacts are applied only at the [assessment] referral stage, so it's going to be built into the whole assessment process,” he said.
An example of an unacceptable impact would be an action that resulted in the loss of a species or occurred near a World Heritage site.
