Labor Releases Environment Policy

The Australian Labor Party has committed to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and to increasing the flow of the Murray River by 1500 gigalitres within a decade in its pre-election environmental policy.

Announcing the ALP environment policy, the Leader of the Opposition, Mark Latham, said that by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and joining the international emissions trading regime, Australia would attract investors in projects like the revegetation of the Murray-Darling Basin, and would be able to tender contracts that reduce greenhouse pollution in developing countries like China and India.

Mr Latham emphasised the potential for job creation arising from Labor's policy, particularly in areas such as renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. He said a Labor government would increase the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target from its current two percent to five percent.

Mr Latham said he supported the International Task Force on Climate Change which is being set up by British and American think tanks, plus the Australia Institute, to develop a post-Kyoto regime. The Task Force is arguing that instead of setting targets for carbon dioxide emissions for each separate country, a single target should be set for the whole world. A meeting of this group will be hosted by the NSW Premier, Bob Carr, in November.

To achieve the targeted environmental flow for the Murray-Darling river system, Labor will establish a Murray-Darling Riverbank with an initial capital injection of $150 million, and an Environmental Flow Trust to manage environmental flows along the river. The initial target for increased flows would be 450 gigalitres over the next three years. Labor would also implement a national system for classifying Australia’s major rivers to identify and protect those of high conservation value.

Labor will establish a Heads of Government Commitment through COAG to drive water reform, bring a halt to land clearing, ensure adequate environmental flows for rivers and the protection of Australia’s biodiversity.

A National Sustainability Advisory Council comprised of scientists, representatives of affected communities, including farmers and other stakeholders, will be established to advise COAG on the water reform implementation. This will be complemented by a policy unit within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to drive Federal Government sustainability policy.

Science-based minimum environmental flow allocations will be guaranteed, and a Labor government will work with the states to develop a publicly available set of water accounts for each catchment across Australia to inform water allocation decision making.

Labor has also committed to phasing out the clear-felling of Tasmanian old-growth forests, allowing selective harvesting of old wood to supply the arts, crafts, furniture and boat industries in Tasmania.

Exploration and drilling on and near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park will be banned by a Labor government, and the protected reef area will be extended to the Exclusive Economic Zone boundary. A Labor government would set water quality targets to prevent run off from local agricultural activities harming the Reef.

Labor will also support Senator Bob Brown’s campaign to list Antarctica as a World Heritage site.

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First Ocean Management Plan Released

The South-east Regional Marine Plan - the first ocean management plan to be developed under Australia’s Oceans Policy - has been released.

The $50 million plan encompasses more than two million square kilometres of ocean territory around Victoria, Tasmania, eastern South Australia, and southern New South Wales, as well as the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.

The plan included 90 measures to promote sustainable development as well as two Marine Protected Areas around the Murray Canyons and Zeehan Coast.

Key outcomes of the South-east Regional Marine Plan are: to measure the health of the oceans in the Region to see whether management is working; to encourage industry to plan for future growth with access to better information and advice about management requirements; to support marine based industry to capitalise on their investments, introduce innovative technology and explore new markets, as well as recognise the stewardship shown by these industries; and to support Indigenous communities take an active part in marine resource use and management in the Region.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has expressed disappointment in the content of the Plan, saying that it falls short of the management reform and protection required for the marine life in the region.

A supplement to the Plan will be released next year, containing a complete system of marine protected areas and a more detailed performance management system.

The Plan is available from www.oceans.gov.au

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Stockholm Convention Ratified

The Federal Government has ratified the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, requiring the phasing out of the use and manufacture of twelve toxic pollutants.

The Convention entered force last month, with the Federal Government having already passed the necessary implementation legislation.

The Convention includes measures addressing twelve existing POPs and procedures and criteria for identifying new candidate POPs. POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife.

Production, import and use of a number of POPs addressed by the Convention, including aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, HCB, heptachlor, endrin, and toxaphene are already not permitted in Australia.

Production and import of PCBs are also not permitted in Australia, with phase-out of previous use of PCBs being managed under the National Strategy for the Management of Scheduled Waste.

This strategy also addresses how Australia will manage HCB waste and organochlorine pesticides.

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NSW AND Queensland Dispute Over Water Sharing Plan

The New South Wales and Queensland governments are at loggerheads over the Queensland Government's draft water-sharing plan for the Condamine and Balonne river systems.

In its formal response to the plan, the NSW Government described the draft plan as `completely unacceptable' , criticising the process by which it was developed and elements of the plan itself as being "not consistent with the requirements, objectives or tenor of COAG Inter-governmental Agreements on Water."

NSW claims the planning process "failed to provide appropriate and equitable engagement of all affected communities, resulting in a draft WRP strongly biased towards the interests of Queensland irrigators".

Further, it failed "to fully address scientific uncertainty and has selectively interpreted the Cullen et al Review of the Science", and fails to reverse "the drastic impacts that water resource development has had, and will continue to have, on the flow dependent ecological and economic assets in NSW".

The NSW submission expressed dissatisfaction with the representation of NSW landholders on the Lower Balonne Community Reference Group and highlighted concerns about a perceived conflict of interest of LBCRG Chair/Facilitator, Mrs Leith Boully, who owns an irrigation property in the Dirranbandi region and therefore has a vested interest in the outcomes of the Water Resource Plan.

Mrs Boully has declined to comment on the issue of a conflict of interest, but has stated that the committee was fairly appointed and NSW was not ignored. Mrs Boully is also Chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council’s Community Advisory Committee, and she also sits on the Board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Banksia Awards 2004

Visy Industries has been awarded the highest honour at the recent 2004 Banksia Awards, winning the Gold Banksia Award for its world first initiative that guarantees customers a recycling services for all its products.

The initiative, the “We make it, we take it campaign” provides an all inclusive approach to improving sustainability along the supply chain.

Other award winners include:

Environmental Leadership in the Community: Department of Environment and Conservation, NSW, `Saving the Paroo River’.

Business Environmental Responsibility & Leadership: Visy Industries: "We make it, we take it"

Government Leading by Example for a Sustainable Future: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, ‘The Great Barrier Reef Representative Areas Program: an ecosystem approach to protecting biodiversity’.

Environmental Leadership in the Rural Sector: Riverside Sanctuary, WA

Sustainable Development Leadership in the Minerals Industry: Wesfarmers Premier Coal - ‘Leading Sustainable Mining Practices’, WA.

Environmental Leadership in Protecting Bush, Land & Waterways: Department of Environment and Conservation, NSW. ‘Saving the Paroo River ‘

Leadership in Protecting Coastal & Marine Environments: Markwell's Bait Tackles Killer Plastic Bags, Qld.

Environmental Leadership in Infrastructure & Services: Thiess - Karuah Bypass (NSW)

Leadership in Sustainable Product Design: Charlie Carp Fertilizer (NSW)

Leadership in Sustainable Buildings: Darebin City Council - Leading In Sustainability (Vic)

Leadership in Socially Responsible Investment: Investa Property Group (NSW)

Environmental Leadership in Communications: Watch Every Drop - Drought Marketing Campaign (Gold Coast Water, Qld)

The Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year Award was won by the Founder and Director the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), Che Wall. Mr Wall is Group Director of Lincolne Scott and Director of its Advance Environmental Concepts Division. He also chairs the World Green Building Council.

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Winners of $30,000 Engineers Australia National Salinity Prize

The 2004 Engineers Australia National Salinity Prize of $30,000 has been awarded to the joint winners, Australian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage for their open channel seepage and control project, and to SunSalt, a company based at Hattah in Victoria that produces crude salt from natural salt lakes.

His Excellency, Major General Michael Jeffrey, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, announced and presented the awards at an event, attended by more than 70 guests including many of the 16 entrants, held at Parliament House, Canberra, on Monday 31 May.

The joint winners shared the $30,000 prize and each received a trophy. The prize was open to individuals, community based groups and companies and institutions, which had already developed and implemented an innovative technology, or methodology, to address the salinity issue.

Highly Commended awards went to the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia that has produced a local government salinity management handbook, and to Tempini Orchards that reclaimed saline land near Swan Hill in northwest Victoria.

The prize was co-sponsored by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, who were also members of the judging panel.

This is the second time the Engineers Australia prize has been on offer. The Prime Minister presented the initial prize in 2002 to the WA Tollibin Lakes Recovery Team.

Further Information: www.engineersaustralia.org.au
John Bright - 0407 234 490 - jbright@engineersaustralia.org.au

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2004 Environmental Manager Conference

Thomson 2004 Workshops

Dealing With the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act: the procedures, the pitfalls and tips for success.

Sydney, Friday 27 August 2004.

If you don’t think you’re exposed to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act — Australia’s framework law on environmental protection — then maybe you don’t know enough about it. 

Over one intensive day, find out how to comply and what others are doing to:

• use the Act effectively;
• minimise the costs and time involved in meeting their obligations; and
• minimise their risks of ending up in court.

Hear tips for success from experts who administer the Act, lawyers involved in major court cases, and those with first-hand experience in getting projects through the Act’s requirements.

Speakers include:

• Hon. Dr David Kemp, Federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage
• Nicola Beynon, Wildlife and Habitat Protection Program Manager, The Humane Society International
• Gerard Early, First Assistant Secretary, Approvals and Wildlife, Federal Department of Environment and Heritage

Early Bird Registration 
Book and pay by Friday, 1 July 2004 and save!

Click here to register your place or for more information, email Robyn Clark on cpdseminars@thomson.com.au

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Odour Management / Implementing & Optimising an EMS

Gold Coast, July.

IWES Gold Coast 2004 features 15 courses in wastewater, environmental management and air quality.  Earlybird registrations close 25th June.

Odour Assessment and Management - (more info)

• Fundamentals - human response to odours • quantification methods • how much odour is too much?
• Sampling - problems of area sources and different methods • which approach to choose • stack sampling • sample storage, transport
• Planning & Assessment - estimating emissions • odour modelling • assessment criteria • exposure analysis • uncertainty
• Management - licence conditions • understanding and managing odour sources • dealing with complaints and community and regulatory pressures
  

Presented by:

Robin Ormerod

• Chair, Odour Special Interest Group in the Clean Air Society of Australia & New Zealand
• 21 years consulting experience
• Frequent expert witness for court and tribunal hearings in Australia and New Zealand

Implementing an Environmental Management System - (more info)

• Develop an understanding of EMS and ISO 14001
• Learn how leading Australian companies implemented their EMS programs
• Links between EMS and other corporate management systems
• Identify, scope and execute tasks required to implement a structured EMS
  

Optimising an Environmental Management System - (more info)

• Alignment of existing EMS with corporate objectives
• Changing EMS focus – cultural change challenges
• “Due Diligence” systems, compliance-based EMS
• Internal drivers for performance improvement, continual improvement objectives
• Fine tuning specific EMS elements
• Training and resourcing
• Minimising burdensome documentation and records systems
  

Presented by:

Ken Holmes

• twenty years professional experience in chemistry, environmental engineering and environmental management
• key environmental advisor for the Australian news printing industry

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Mastering the Future of Our Lands - University of Sydney

Rise to the challenge of making food production sustainable. Learn about, and help deal with, the natural resource, economic and social issues critical to food and fibre industries.

We offer you the opportunity to join our Master of Sustainable Agriculture program, which you can study from home by distance education (with on-line support) and complete in just two years.

Topics covered include:

• Alternative agriculture
• Integrated pest management
• Strategic management
• Change management
• Marketing and finance
• Soils and farming systems
• Property and catchment planning

For more information phone 02 6360 5511 or check
http://www.orange.usyd.edu.au/sustainable_agriculture

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Master of Sustainable Development - University of Sydney

If you are an executive manager in Australian or international business (or someone who aspires to such a position) there is a master degree program designed especially for you.

It is a degree in which you will truly understand management in the context of our leading businesses.

Businesses that successfully integrate financial, social and environmental management objectives to determine their own future and the future of Australian and indeed world society. This program recognises that leading business organisations are the key driving force behind the development of the economy and society. It is a program that will give you the capability to be a responsive and responsible leader in moulding the world's future.

The Master of Sustainable Management from The University of Sydney is available on-line through the Faculty of Rural Management at Orange.

Because study is by on-line distance education there is no need to leave your current employment.

The next enrolment commences in July 2004 - information and application materials are available from our web site http://www.orange.usyd.edu.au/sustainable_management or phone (02) 6360 5511.

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Postgraduate Environmental Qualifications at Flinders University

The School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management at Flinders University offers a comprehensive package of qualifications for persons interested in following a career in environmental management.

These qualifications are designed to meet the needs of Australia's industry and consist of a Bachelors degree, a Graduate Certificate, a Graduate Diploma and a Masters degree.

The Certificate and Diploma provide alternative entry points for students who may not qualify for direct admission to the Masters degree. These qualifications are also suited for those who wish to move into a career in environmental management or those who would like to seek a promotion in their career.

They are designed to give candidates a balanced outlook on the multifaceted realm of environmental management. Those persons who have not studied for some time and would like to re-enter university study in small steps will find these qualifications suitable to their needs.

In addition to the core topic – Managing Environments – for the Certificate and Diploma courses, students may choose from a selection of topics with a strong focus on management and environmental systems and processes.

The Masters program comprises two core topics – Sustainable Environmental Management and Environmental Policy Development/Analysis and a range of electives. These programs enable students to undertake postgraduate studies that do not involve primary research, although the choice is available for those who want this.

For further information contact the Admissions Office, Flinders University on 8201 3074 or 1300 657 671 or email: admissions@flinders.edu.au or browse the website: http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/geog/

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Call for High-Innovation R&D, Land & Water Australia,

Land & Water Australia seeks highly-innovative R&D addressing critical issues and emerging opportunities to achieve sustainable management of Australia's natural resources. We explicitly seek high-risk 'blue sky', fundamental research offering potentially higher returns. High risk refers to less certainty in achieving outputs and outcomes.

Proposals can also cover:

• Drawing out the most innovative ideas from the R&D community;
• Lateral and out-of-the-box concepts; and
• Testing proof-of-concept ideas and feasibility studies.

Our other 15 applied R&D programs cover biophysical, economic and social dimensions of natural resource management with a strong focus on improving current practices.

Total funds available are $1.5 million, with projects eligible to commence from 1 July 2005.

Applicants must be permanent residents or citizens of Australia.

Please download full details and application forms at

www.lwa.gov.au/funding.asp?section=222
.
For further information, contact Gill Whiting at gill.whiting@lwa.gov.au or (02) 6263 6001; or Dr Nick Schofield at nick.schofield@lwa.gov.au or (02) 6263 6004.

Seven hard copies and one electronic copy (WORD) should be lodged by cob 9 July 2004 to: Gill Whiting, Land & Water Australia, GPO Box 2182, Canberra ACT 2601.

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Smart Approved WaterMark Scheme – Second Round of Applications

The Smart Approved WaterMark is the nationally endorsed water conservation labelling scheme that recognises products, services and organisations which are assisting all Australians to help save our most precious resource - water!

The Smart Approved WaterMark Scheme is managed by Australia's peak water agencies: the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA); the Nursery and Garden Industry of Australia (NGIA); the Irrigation Association of Australia (IAA); and the Australian Water Association (AWA).

The key objectives of the Smart Approved WaterMark scheme are to assist in the reduction of per capita water consumption – especially in the areas of outdoor water-use via the labelling of appropriate water using/saving products and water related services and organisations.

Products that may be included under the scheme include: trigger hoses; tap timers; rainfall sensors; mulch and weep hoses. Services that may be included under the scheme include: retrofit services; water efficient design services; education and training programs; and information advisory services. Organisations that may be included under the scheme include: schools; local government; new urban developers; and retail outlets.

The Smart Approved WaterMark scheme is not-for-profit, voluntary and applications are assessed by an independent expert panel. The second round of applications closes on Friday 13 August 2004.

For further information on the scheme go to www.smartapprovedwatermark.info

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Sustainable Living Education Program

Landcom is a State-Owned Corporation of the New South Wales Government and undertakes residential, commercial and industrial land development.

Landcom is seeking submissions from appropriately experienced consumer and community education providers to develop and deliver a ‘Sustainable Living Education Program’ in partnership with Landcom.

The key focus of the Education Program is to promote the benefits of sustainable living to homebuyers and the general community. The Program will also be used to engage local communities through the provision of training and volunteering opportunities.

Landcom is also involved in the development of retail, commercial and industrial projects, the Education Program also needs to cover these communities.

It is envisaged that the Education Program would be delivered over a three-year period, subject to performance reviews.

Applicants who have a demonstrable capacity to provide a high quality of service and specific expertise in developing and delivering community education programs are invited to register their expression of interest.

An information package must be obtained to register and can be downloaded from the Landcom website www.landcom.nsw.gov.au under ‘Business Opportunities’ or by calling Anna Chubb on (02) 9841 8780 or email achubb@landcom.nsw.gov.au achubb@landcom.nsw.gov.au

Registrations close at 4.00pm on Friday, 9 July 2004

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