Environmental Courts in the 21 st Century Environment. The Honourable Justice Dennis A Cowdroy OAM Land and Environment Court New South Wales

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1 Environmental Courts in the 21 st Century Environment The Honourable Justice Dennis A Cowdroy OAM Land and Environment Court New South Wales

2 Australia

3 Sydney Harbour The natural and built environment of Sydney Harbour

4 The Legal System New South Wales High Court of Australia Supreme Court of NSW Court of Appeal Supreme Court of NSW Land and Environment Court of NSW Compensation Court of NSW Industrial Relations Commission of NSW

5 Sydney Harbour The natural and built environment of Sydney Harbour

6 Composition of the Court 7 judges 10 commissioners qualified as: Town planners Environmental scientists Land valuers Architects or engineers, or Natural resource managers

7 Jurisdiction of the Court Classes involve merits review of decisions Class 4 involves judicial review of government decisions, to make sure they have been made lawfully Classes involve criminal prosecution for environmental offences

8 Jurisdiction of the Court Over 50 enactments provide the Court with its subject matter jurisdiction Major areas of the Court s work include: Development Urban and rural planning Pollution and other environmental offences Heritage Fauna Flora National Parks Water resources

9 Development Central Sydney planning Sydney Central Business District

10 Development - coastline Byron Bay, New South Wales

11 Environmental Offences Oil discharge into the waters of Sydney Harbour by the Laura D Amato

12 Environmental Offences Unauthorised clearing of natural vegetation Snowy Mountains, New South Wales

13 Heritage Adaptive Reuse Former General Post Office of Sydney now the Westin Hotel

14 Heritage Protection Colonial farm house, Campbelltown near Sydney in 1995 before development of site

15 and Development The site after development following approval by a local authority

16 Protection of Australian Native fauna Rainbow Lorikeet Frilled neck lizard Platypus

17 Protection of Australian Native flora Banksia Gymea Lily

18 National Parks The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains World Heritage List

19 National Parks Sawn Rocks Mt Kaputar National Park, New South Wales

20 National Parks Carrington Falls

21 National Parks

22 Innovative Court procedures Open standing Expert evidence Concurrent evidence Court-appointed experts On-site hearings Remediation orders

23 Case Study - Water

24 Comparative Rainfall Continent Africa Asia AUSTRALIA Europe N America S America Average Rainfall (mm) ,630 Average runoff (mm) Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

25 River systems of Australia

26 Rivers of Australia Wetlands in New South Wales

27 Australian Water Fund Three new programmes: Water Smart Australia grants for technological investment to improve water usage efficiency Improved monitoring and measuring of water usage WELS Scheme water efficiency labelling on domestic appliances

28 Lake Eyre Lake Eyre salt lake area 9,500 sq km

29 River systems in New South Wales

30 River systems in Australia Wetlands in the Murray-Darling

31 New South Wales legislation Water Management Acts 2000 and 2004 New water access licences issued which are separate from land rights Allocations of water for the environment Water access licences can be traded Preservation of catchments

32 Rivers of New South Wales

33 Rivers of New South Wales The Clarence River in northern New South Wales

34 Rivers of New South Wales Woodford Dam Blue Mountains, west of Sydney

35 Environmental Courts for the 21 st Century Environment