Recommendation 30
The Commonwealth should immediately increase the independence of and enhance Commonwealth compliance and enforcement. This requires:
- Simplified law and a full suite of modern regulatory surveillance, compliance and enforcement powers and tools, including targeted stakeholder resources to build understanding and voluntary compliance.
- Assigning independent powers for Commonwealth compliance and enforcement to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, with compliance functions consolidated into an Office of Compliance and Enforcement within the Department. This office should be provided with a full suite of modern regulatory powers and tools, and adequate resourcing to enable the Commonwealth to meet the National Environmental Standard for compliance and enforcement.
- An increase in the transparency and accountability of activities, including clear public registers of activities, offsets and staff conflicts of interest.