The draft National Environmental Standard for Community Engagement is one of a suite of standards being developed under reforms to Australia's national environmental laws.
Background
These standards are intended to guide decision-making under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The Community Engagement Standard proposes requirements and principles for how governments, proponents and decision-makers engage with communities on environmental proposals and decisions.
ALCA's recommendations
Our key recommendations are to:
- Ensure the Standard's outcomes support the broader Objects of the EPBC Act, including Objects relating to community participation and cooperation, so that community engagement is not framed as a mechanism to support development outcomes
- Remove provisions that allow alternative or equivalent approaches to meeting the Standard's requirements, to provide greater consistency, clarity and integrity in how community engagement obligations are applied
- Increase the minimum consultation period from 10 to 15 business days to provide communities with more time to consider complex proposals and provide informed feedback
For more detail, including detailed legislative amendments to the Standard, download our full submission.
