Contaminated Land Management Amendment Bill 2008

The Contaminated Land Management Amendment Bill 2008 has been introduced into Parliament and if proclaimed will make significant amendments to the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (Act). 

The proposed amendments include the following:

  • Clarification of the position that more than one person may be responsible for contamination.
  • Imposition of a higher obligation on a person's duty to report contamination. 
  • The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) will be able to regulate contaminated land if the EPA considers that the contamination is significant enough to warrant regulation (previously the threshold was whether the contamination presented a significant risk of harm). 
  • The EPA is given the power to order certain persons to carry out preliminary investigations in respect of contamination.
  • In the event that a person provides false and misleading information in compliance or purported compliance with the Act, they can be charged with an offence. 
  • Changes to the approach of managing the remediation of contamination. 

The differences between the current regime and the proposed regime in respect of two of the key changes are outlined below:

 

Responsibility for Contamination

Current Regime Proposed Regime

Under the current regime, an appropriate person is chosen as being responsible for the contamination in the following order:

  1. Polluter of the land
  2. Owner of the land  
  3. Notional owner of the land

Under the proposed regime the EPA is only required to follow the hierarchy in the current regime as far as is practicable. 

A possible consequence is that the person with the highest financial capability could become the one responsible to comply with a management plan to remediate land. 

 

Duty to Report

Current Regime Proposed Regime

Under the current regime, a person who becomes aware that the person’s activities have contaminated the land in such a way as to cause a significant risk of harm, must notify the EPA that the land has been contaminated. 

Under the proposed regime a higher duty to report is imposed.  A person whose activities have contaminated land must notify the EPA that the land has been contaminated.  This duty is extended to persons who ought reasonably have been aware of the contamination.

 

Written by Emma Napoli, Associate