Stronger laws against contamination of land and water enacted in Queensland

The State’s Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles has assured farmers and native title holders that they are outside the reach of Queensland's new Chain of Responsibility laws.

Dr Miles said the Palaszczuk Government had ensured the Environmental Protection (Chain of Responsibility) Amendment Bill, passed early today (Friday) in Parliament with bipartisan support, would not have “unintended’ consequences for landholders.

He said his department had worked closely with concerned stakeholders, including the Queensland Farmers Federation, to fine-tune the legislation.

“As part of the government’s consultation process, we heard from farmers and traditional owners, and have ensured they are not unintentionally caught up the new laws,’ Dr Miles said.

“We accepted the parliamentary committee recommendation to exclude landholders underlying a resource tenure and native title holders as these parties do not have the option of excluding activities from their land.

“So unless farmers or native title holders whose land is under a resource tenure have some extra business relationship with a resource company, the Chain of Responsibility won’t apply.”

Dr Miles said the aim of the Chain of Responsibility laws was to protect Queensland taxpayers from multi-million dollar environmental clean-up bills, and to support farmers who fear they'll be left to battle these problems alone.

“Up until now, our regulators have only dealt with the person or the business which directly holds an environmental authority,’ he said.

"These new laws create a legal chain of responsibility for environmental harm.

“The people hiding behind a business which is doing the wrong thing will now be expected to take action, and the people who should make a contribution to clean up and rehabilitate the site  will be called on to do so’.

Lock the Gate president Drew Hutton welcomed the legislation as a "significant step in solving the huge rehabilitation liability facing this State'.

"These new laws will allow the Queensland Government to track down those companies that have caused huge problems in this State,'' Mr Hutton said.

Under the Bill, environmental protection orders (EPOs) can be issued to parties covered by the chain of responsibility.

Previously, the government could only issue EPOs to the holders of the environmental authority.

The Bill also extends the government’s cost recovery, investigation and enforcement powers.

“The Palaszczuk Government is not prepared to wait until a catastrophe occurs before taking action – the cost of which will be at the expense of Queensland taxpayers,’’ Dr Miles said.

“Ideally, I would like this new legislation to sit unused – collecting dust on a shelf somewhere.

“But given the reckless behaviour of certain companies, we will not hesitate to take action and demand that polluters pay,’ he said

Many of the amendments will take effect from the Bill’s introduction on March 15, to ensure companies cannot change control or structures to avoid the impact of the proposed changes.

ENDS

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