Explanatory Statement
(Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities)
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development) Act 2012
Proclamation
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development) Act 2012 (the Act) amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to establish an Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development (the Committee).
The Act sets out the functions of the Committee and reflects the agreement between the Commonwealth and the States under the National Partnership Agreement on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development which acknowledges public concerns about the actual and potential impacts of coal seam gas and coal mining activities on water resources and agrees that there is a critical need to strengthen the science that underpins the regulations of these industries.
The table at subsection 2(1) of the Act provides that sections 1 to 3 of the Act commence on the day the Act receives Royal Assent. It also provides that items 1 to 11 of Schedule 1 to the Act commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation. However, if the provision(s) of Schedule 1 do not commence within the period of six months beginning on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent, then those provisions commence on the first day after the end of that six month period.
The Act received the Royal Assent on 24 October 2012.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 9 November 2012 as the day on which items 1 to 11 of Schedule 1 to the Act commence.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Consultation was unnecessary for this legislative instrument as this instrument is of a machinery nature only.
This legislative instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms. This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.