REC177-3368

The regulatory framework should provide that in respect of all activities in Commonwealth waters:
a. there are powers to require companies involved in an incident causing significant environmental damage to undertake actions to remediate the damage to a standard determined by the regulatory authorities;
b. the nature of the Scientific Monitoring and the remediation required should be determined by environmental regulatory agencies rather than the companies involved;
c. the costs of all Scientific Monitoring and remediation should be fully borne by the companies involved, whether the remediation is undertaken by the companies or another party to the standard determined by the regulatory authorities; and
d. penalties should be payable for pollution on a no fault basis.
The EPBC Act should be amended to include the powers in a, b, c and d above. These powers should be applicable to both prospective and existing operations in Commonwealth waters.