❓ Mr Andrews questions the Minister for the Environment and Heritage on actions taken to ensure the Environmental Protection Authority's independence. The Minister outlines the creation of two DEP divisions reporting directly to the EPA Chairman, increasing EPA control and report timeliness.
AnsweredQoN 341Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Environmental Protection Authority , INDEPENDENCE 341. Mr ANDREWS to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage: What action has the minister taken to fulfil her policy commitment to ensure the independence of the Environmental Protection Authority? Dr EDWARDS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
Environmental Protection Authority , INDEPENDENCE
What action has the minister taken to fulfil her policy commitment to ensure the independence of the Environmental Protection Authority? Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
Environmental Protection Authority , INDEPENDENCE
What action has the minister taken to fulfil her policy commitment to ensure the independence of the Environmental Protection Authority? Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
I thank the member for his question and interest in the work of the Environmental Protection Authority, as has been exhibited in recent discussions with me. We made an election commitment to increase the independence of the EPA and one of my goals during the Machinery of Government Taskforce process was to put in place measures to achieve that. I am happy to inform the member that we now have two divisions of the Department of Environmental Protection: the assessment and evaluation division and the policy division. Those divisions work directly for the EPA, and their staff report to the Chairman of the EPA on a day-to-day basis. The EPA now has a greater control of its resources and agenda than it had in the past. It is happy with that arrangement. I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
I believe that not only will the Environmental Protection Authority become increasingly independent, but also its reports will be delivered with greater timeliness. Previously, reports went to and fro between the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, as officers from both departments used their red pens to amend them. However, the staff is now directly accountable to the chairman on a day-to-day basis, and the chairman is in control of his resources.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.