Queensland Passes Amendments To The Environmental Protection Act 1994

The Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 (Qld) (EPOLA Bill) was passed yesterday.

The EPOLA Bill amends the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) (EP Act) with wide ranging implications for Queensland operators, in particular for the resources sector. It also makes minor amendments to the Waste Reduction and recycling Act 2011 (Qld) and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Protection and Management Act 1993 (Qld).

Snapshot

• The changes to the EP Act proposed by the EPOLA Bill were passed without amendment on 29 March 2023. Our original blog summarising the amendments can be found here.
• Liability of executive officers has been extended to executive officers who were not in office when the environmental offence was committed (the offence of failing to ensure a corporation complies with the EP Act), but who were executive officers when earlier acts/omissions happened that caused the relevant offence to be committed.