Labour attempts to fix flawed Environmental Protection Authority

Labour is trying to give the Environment Protection Authority teeth, says Labour’s Environment spokesperson Charles Chauvel.

Labour has moved a number of amendments to the Environment Protection Authority Bill, which returns to the House this afternoon, the amendments:

• Add to the EPA’s purpose a requirement that it actually protect the environment (amazingly, this isn’t currently a requirement of the Bill)
• Give the EPA the authority to administer the Waste Management Act and to regulate and monitor activity in the Coastal and Marine Environment, and to manage the Exclusive Economic Zone (despite undertakings by Nick Smith, and a massive expansion of off-shore minerals prospecting, EEZ and Coastal Management is absent from the EPA’s responsibilities)
• Require the EPA to give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi (every other piece of environmental legislation requires this, except the EPA Bill)
• Provide that the EPA is to be autonomous, rather than subject to direction from the Minister (at the moment, its status is unclear)

“If these amendments are not supported by the National-led Government, the integrity and effectiveness of the EPA will be called into question from the outset”, Labour’s Environment Spokesperson, Charles Chauvel, says.

“There is a need for strong environmental sector leadership in New Zealand. At the moment, the EPA’s empowering legislation leaves it in no position to provide this. These amendments would go some way to ensuring that the EPA is not hamstrung from the start”, Charles Chauvel says.