STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
REPORT
697. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the minister's
response to my question without notice 102 asked on 20 February 2019.
(1) Does the
brief overview of environmental issues in the annual reports of the
Environmental Protection Authority meet the state's obligations to the
intergovernmental agreement on the environment?
(2) Is the minister aware of the document entitled ''Core
Environmental Indicators for Reporting on the State of the Environment''
that was published by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and
Conservation Council—ANZECC—in 2000?
(3) Does the
brief overview of environmental issues in the annual reports of the EPA cover
the issues specified in this ANZECC document?
(4) Why has the
WA government chosen to abstain from state of the environment reporting when
every other state and the commonwealth carries out this activity regularly?
(5) Is the
minister aware that the commonwealth is considering delegating its
responsibilities for state of the environment reporting to the states?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
As the question refers to a state
obligation under a number of very old commonwealth and state documents,
including the ''Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment 1992''
and ''Core Environmental Indicators for Reporting on the State of the
Environment 2000'', the current status of these documents would need to
be confirmed. Due to the amount of information required, it is not possible to
provide an answer in the time frame given. I ask that the honourable member put
this question on notice.