The Northern Territory Government has introduced a bill to Parliament that will establish a 10-cent container deposit regime for bottles, cans and cartons – the first in the nation since South Australia launched its scheme in 1975 – and will also ban plastic bags.
Operations at the Montara oilfield did not come within a 'bull's roar' of sensible oilfield practice, scrutiny by the NT Department of Resources was 'totally inadequate' and the EPBC Act is 'deficient', says the long-awaited report of the commission of inquiry into the spill.
Development proponents in the NT wil be able to opt-in to a process under which Territory Government personnel will quantify environmental impacts of new projects and their ministers will then specify offsets via licence and approval conditions, under a policy to be trialled for two years.
The latest environmental incident at an NT mine could add further weight to the argument that the territory's environment department should have responsibility for environmental assessment of mining operations, says an EPA spokeswoman.
Polluters can be fined up to $2.5 million under amending legislation passed by the NT Parliament, while Territory Environment Minister Karl Hampton has extended consultation on Environmental Assessment Act changes and has specified the containers to be covered by a new deposit refund scheme.
The Northern Territory government will overhaul its Environmental Assessment Act and end inconsistent arrangements for regulating on-site and off-site effects of mining, Environment Minister Karl Hampton has announced.
