Environment Effects Statement reforms announced 9 December 2024

Environment Victoria today urged the Victorian Government to put fairness first when fixing environmental assessments.

The reforms announced by the government today to speed up the Environment Effects Statement (EES) process must not do so by throttling community consultation.

Environment Victoria CEO Jono La Nauze said:

“It is concerning that the Victorian Government did not consult community and environment groups in preparing these reforms. After a similar lack of consultation over the review into Parks Victoria, this is starting to look like a government that holds the environmental community in contempt. 

“Shortening the timeframes for community consultation is not how we improve the EES process. Consultation makes for better decisions and should not be treated as an inconvenience to big business.

“The scales are already tipped in favour of big developers who have all the time they want to prepare their applications, and then at the end of the process, communities are left scrambling during short consultation windows that are set to get even shorter.

“Communities have the right to have a say on what happens in their own backyard and there is no substitute for local knowledge. The government could improve this process by supporting community members in engaging effectively with consultation processes.

“Australia is in an extinction crisis. We need to increase protections for threatened and endangered species and ecosystems – not reduce them. This includes properly considering the cumulative impacts of development and not driving extinction with a thousand cuts.

“With the government ignoring its own biodiversity strategy, and communities to be further shut out of the assessment process, Victoria is now putting nature last.”