National Environment Protection Council (Queensland) Act 1994 (Qld)

National Environment Protection Council (Queensland) Act 1994

An Act to provide for the establishment of a National Environment Protection Council, and related purposes Parliament's reasons for enacting this Act are— 1 The Commonwealth, the States, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and the Australian Local Government Association have entered into an Agreement known as the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment setting out certain responsibilities of each party in relation to the environment. 2 That Agreement provides that the Commonwealth, the States, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory will make joint legislative provision for the establishment of a body to determine national environment protection measures. 3 That Agreement further provides that once the form of the joint legislative provision for the establishment of the body has been agreed to, the Commonwealth, the States, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory will submit to their Parliaments or Legislative Assemblies, and take such steps as are appropriate to secure the passage of, Bills containing that legislation.

Part 1 Preliminary

1 Short title This Act may be cited as the National Environment Protection Council (Queensland) Act 1994.

2 Commencement This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

3 Object of Act The object of this Act is to ensure that, by means of the establishment and operation of the National Environment Protection Council— (a) people enjoy the benefit of equivalent protection from air, water or soil pollution and from noise, wherever they live in Australia; and (b) decisions of the business community are not distorted, and markets are not fragmented, by variations between participating jurisdictions in relation to the adoption or implementation of major environment protection measures.