VCEC inquiry Environmental Regulation Vic
January 25, 2010 | No Comments | News
VCEC inquiry into Environmental Regulation in Victoria is now complete.
Take a look at the final inquiry report: A Sustainable Future for Victoria: Getting Environmental Regulation Right, together with the Overview and Recommendations Report, Government Response and Treasures media release of 22 Jan 2010.
It estimated that five major Victorian environmental Acts (environmental assessment, environmental protection, native vegetation, earth resources, environmental reporting) impose administration and compliance costs on business of between $185–$431M per yr of which it is estimated $30-$48M are unnecessary costs.
Unnecessary costs to business from these regulations can be reduced by:
- providing greater clarity about key strategic and regulatory objectives
- extending risk-based approaches to regulation in some areas
- replacing some prescriptive regulations with outcome-based approaches
- improving assessment and approval processes to reduce timeframes
- removing duplication and overlap in areas such as environmental reporting.
Improved environmental outcomes can be achieved through:
- more effective compliance, including performance reporting and evaluation
- improved accountability and transparency about outcomes in some areas
- greater use of incentive-based arrangements
- better aligning regulation with ecologically sustainable development principles.
More information www.vcec.vic.gov.au
