Business faces potentially significant regulatory risks on carbon at state level, with many environmental agencies equipped to impose more stringent requirements.
A Federal Government report, issued today, reveals plans to 'streamline' federal hazardous waste laws and to use mutual recognition arrangements to manage federal, state and territory threatened species lists.
A Northern Territory inquiry has concluded shale gas can be safely extracted and there is no need for a moratorium, while Tasmania has extended until 2020 its temporary ban on fracking.
A high-level meeting between senior state environmental bureaucrats and representatives of Australia's largest companies has discussed a range of issues that could be regulated more consistently across the nation.