Degreening government in the garden state: Environment policy under the Kennett government, 1992-1997

Environmental and Planning Law Journal

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 10-32

  Christoff, Peter ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE   (Australia)

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EID: 0003012415     PISSN: 0813300X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (84)

1. An initial draft of this article (completed in September 1997) was prepared during the latter half of 1996 while I was a departmental visitor at the Urban Research Program of the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. I am grateful for the support of Professor Pat Troy and colleagues at the URP during this time.
2. The Age, 30 December 1996, p 1.
3. Six months later, again seemingly immune to community pressure, the government announced a further, more discreet development proposal for Wilsons Promontory.
4. The Wilsons Promontory campaign suggests the local climate for environmental politics may be undergoing change. Environmental issues have achieved front-page prominence in The Age six times during the Kennett government's first five years, all within the last six months. Victorian public concern about environmental problems is also increasing-against the national trend: Environmental Issues: People's Views and Practices (ABS, Canberra, 1997).
5. For instance, see M Janicke, "Conditions for Environmental Policy Success: an International Comparison" (1992) 12 The Environmentalist 47.
6. M Janicke, "The Political System's Capacity for Environmental Policy, " in M Janicke and H Weidner (eds), National Environmental Policies (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1997).
7. Developing Environmental Capacity: A Framework for Donor Involvement (OECD, Paris, 1995).
8. J F E Ohiorhenuan and S M Wunker, Capacity Building Requirements for Global Environmental Protection, (Working Paper No 12, Global Environment Facility, UNDP/UNEP/World Bank, 1995).
9. W Sanderson, "Memo told of BHP bid to discredit Inspector, " Courier Mail, 21 June 1997, p 9.
10. Underlying assumptions about the benefits of deliberative democratic processes and communicative politics for environmental policy outcomes cannot be explored here. See J S Dryzek, Discursive Democracy: Politics, Policy and Political Science (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990).
11. N Economou, "Greening the Garden State?, " in M Considine and B Costar (eds), Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and Victoria 1982-1992 (Melbourne University Press, 1992), p 104.
12. Government of Victoria, Protecting the Environment: A Conservation Strategy for Victoria-June 1987, (Victorian Government Printing Office (VGPO), 1987).
13. Government of Victoria, Salt Action.
14. Joint Action (VGPO, 1987).
15. The initial relatively open participatory style which marked the processes of the first Cain government later was occasionally transformed into one of managed consensus formation, to enable Labor to publicly neutralise politically damaging conflict irrespective of the ecological value of the final outcome. This latter style was especially evident in negotiations over the future of Victoria's old growth forests. It may be argued that the transition occurred during the time of Environment Minister (and later Premier) Kirner, who was appointed Environment Minister in 1984.
16. Key personnel from Labor's environment policy committee became senior bureaucrats-to the point where ministers stopped listening to community-based sources of advice and believed themselves to be well-advised from 'within' (Prof David Yencken, former Secretary, MPE, personal (continued) communication, 27 November 1996). Perhaps partly as a consequence, by 1988 Labor's environment policy committee was effectively moribund and regular contact between ministers and the environment movement more a matter of antagonism than of the organic co-operation which had marked the first years in power.
17. For success, each of these measures would have depended either on control over the upper house, the Legislative Assembly, which Labor did not have, or unlikely support from the Liberal Opposition. But even as agenda setting or educative acts, these initiatives would have been of considerable importance.
18. The Coast Action community program received $660,000 in 1996 to assist groups and committees with coast-related education programs and coastal rehabilitation initiatives, and some SI million is to be allocated via the Parks Victoria Community Environment Fund.
19. The three appointees are, as president, Dr Michael Deeley, President of Greening Victoria and chairperson of North Limited, which has major interests in uranium mining and (continued) woodchipping.
20. Professor Adrienne Clark, former chair of the CSIRO and Mr Neville Gibson, chair of Aon Holdings Limited.
21. The CALP Act was enacted in June 1994 to rationalise and replace provisions under related legislation including the Soil Conservation and Land Utilisation Act 1958 and the Vermin and Noxious Weeds Act 1958 and to establish a system of integrated catchment management across the State.
22. These boards and Council replaced the Land Protection Council, Land Protection Regional Advisory Committees, the State Landcare Committee and the nine Regional Landcare Plan community reference groups. The CALP Council is intended to provide a strategic, State-wide view of catchment and land management priorities and activities, advise the Minister for Conservation and Land Management on the health of land and water resources throughout the State and on directions towards sustainable resource use, and report annually to the Minister, who then submits the report to Parliament. Its appointees were selected by an independent panel after public advertisement of positions. In July 1997, Catchment Management Authorities were established in the nine rural CALP regions: these replace the CALP boards and rest incorporate, and provide strategic input into committees overseeing implementation of CALP regional strategies. Positions on these authorities will be filled by ministerial appointment.
23. Wescott, "Victoria's Major Review of Coastal Policy: The Establishment of a Co-ordinating Coastal Council" (1995) 12 EPLJ 288.
24. W Sanderson, "Memo told of BHP bid to discredit Inspector, " Courier Mail, 21 June 1997, p 9.
25. For instance, they intervened to reshape a draft strategy developed by the independent statutory Coastal Council and based on community input, to add "commercial, recreation and tourism developments" to the draft's core values, and to delete a declaration that the "management of and use of the coast will be consistent with international agreements signed by Australia" and reduced its reference to indigenous rights (The Australian, 15 November 1996).
26. Over half the membership of the CALP boards are required by law to have primary production as their principal occupation.
27. One example of this approach is its facilitation of the Altona (continued) Chemical Complex Agreement, which emerged through extensive negotiations involving the EPA and industry and community representatives on the Altona Complex Neighbourhood Consultative Group. Another is the EPA's promotion of environment improvement plans (EIPs) which result in individual industry environment management plans being developed in consultation with, and then reviewed and) monitored by the local community through an environmental community consultative committee. Some six plans have been finalised and another 20 are under development
28. DCFL, Victoria: Timber Industry Strategy, Government Statement No 9, August 1986.
29. In this sense, the development of the State Conservation Strategy (SCS) and its associated policy culture and processes enhanced Victoria's contribution to the national Ecologically Sustainable Development Strategy and to national deliberations on greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion in the early 1990s.
30. Prof David Yencken (former Secretary, MPE), personal communication, 27 November 1996.
31. This relocation of strategic power established significant institutional strains and a struggle for pre-eminence both in Cabinet and in public between MPE and the new megadepartment of Conservation, Forests and Lands (DCFL-later, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), particularly as each was under the control of ministers-Kirner at DCFL and Kennan at MPE-with leadership aspirations.
32. By contrast, the Victorian Economic Strategy, Victoria: The Next Step was released in April 1984. The Social Justice Strategy: People and Opportunities was published in August 1987.
33. Government of Victoria, Protecting the Environment: A Conservation Strategy for Victoria (VGPO, 1987).
34. The SCS's subsidiary status is also reflected in the startling paucity of comment on it or environmental matters in general in John Cain's memoirs (J Cain, John Cain's Years: Power, Parties and Politics (Melbourne University Press, 1995).
35. Ministry for Planning and Environment, The State Conservation Strategy: a report to Parliament by the Minister (continued) for Conservation and Environment (MPE, 1989).
36. Department of Conservation and Environment, The State Conservation Strategy: a report to Parliament by the Minister for Conservation and Environment (DCE 1990).
37. Department of Conservation and Environment, An Environment Worth Protecting: Highlights in Conservation and Environment Management in Victoria 1987-1991 (DCE 1992).
38. W Sanderson, "Memo told of BHP bid to discredit Inspector, " Courier Mail, 21 June 1997, p 9.
39. Sometimes reflecting these policies' inherent good sense, sometimes their acceptance by industry.
40. Other strategies include: (a) the Nutrient Management Strategy for Victorian Inland Waters (1995), developed in response to national concern and action over major algal blooms on the Darling River (NSW) in November 1991, and as a Victorian response to Victorian toxic algal blooms and nutrient pollution; (b) the Victorian Litter Reduction Strategy, launched in September 1995 but with no goals or mechanisms for (and little real emphasis on) limiting use of packaging or requiring recycling.
41. (c) the Victorian Groundwater Policy and its related State Groundwater Council, established during 1995 to address matters such as groundwater monitoring and management in co-ordination with salinity management plans and regions, the level of the Statewide Sustainable Groundwater Use Charge, and the creation of Groundwater Supply Protection Areas. It represents an incremental evolution of policy and research carried out under Labor.
42. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Victorian Coastal Strategy (1997).
43. These other initiatives prominently included the coastal-strategy for Port Phillip Bay, Making the Most of the Bay (1990); the Gippsland Lakes Strategy (1990).
44. The Draft Western Port Bay Strategy (1992). For a detailed interpretation and critique of coastal policy formation and implementation under Labor and Liberal governments, see G Wescott, "Policy without Implementation: Victorian Coastal Zone Management in 1992/1993" (1993) EPLJ 87.
45. Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1986) 25 ILM 1370.
46. Resource Assessment Commission, Coastal Zone Inquiry, Final Report (AGPS, Canberra, 1992).
47. K Brent, "Coastal Crisis" (1997) 188 Parkwatch 6.
48. W Sanderson, "Memo told of BHP bid to discredit Inspector, " Courier Mail, 21 June 1997, p 9.
49. The DWR replaced the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission in 1985 and gained control over Victoria's then 83 water boards and policy formulation in the Rural Water Commission. Under its first director, Dr John Paterson, the department was noted for its policy activism and its programmatic approach to rational resource planning. It undertook the first comprehensive review of the State's water resources, developed Statewide projections for future needs and supply, examined the ecological status of the State's surface and groundwater aquatic systems, and also began the rationalisation and co-ordination of this resource sector (including through development of the Water Act 1989, the introduction of tradeable water permits, and amalgamation of the 83 water boards into 31 bodies in 1995 and, eventually, four Regional Water Authorities). With most of the major tasks initiated or completed, it was dissolved into DCNR, becoming the Office of Water Reform, later renamed the Water Bureau in June 1995.
50. DNRE is comprised of seven service delivery groups: Agriculture and Catchment Management Services.
51. Agriculture Victoria.
52. Minerals and Petroleum Victoria.
53. Fisheries Victoria.
54. Forestry Services.
55. Parks Victoria.
56. Land Management and Resource Information Services.
57. The new DCFL included the Forests Commission, Soil Conservation Authority, Crown Lands Department, National Parks Service and the Department of Conservation, and later, the Department of Water Resources.
58. NPS (National Parks Victoria), Annual Report 1995/1996 (DNRE, 1996).
59. DNRE (Department of Natural Resource and Environment), Annual Report 1995/96 (1996) Pts 1 & 2
60. G Wescott, "Victoria's National Park System: Can the Transition from Quantity of Parks to Quality of Management be Successful?" (1995) 2 Australian Journal of Environmental Management 210.
61. This is the last year for which disaggregated figures are available due to revised public reporting procedures which make further documentation of staffing trends impossible.
62. For instance, the CALP Council receives executive support from a secretariat comprising an executive officer, a project officer and an administrative assistant, while the boards only have one full time senior executive officer and some part time project and administrative support each.
63. Victorian EPA, Annual Report 1995/96, p 24.
64. This compares with 112 prosecutions in 1983-84, when there were almost half a million less vehicles registered. Victorian EPA, Annual Reports (1983/84, 1995/96).
65. Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1986) 25 ILM 1370.
66. From RAW Rhodes, "The Hollowing Out of the State: The Changing Nature of the Public Service in Britain" (1994) Political Quarterly 144, who summarises C Hood, "A Public Management for All Seasons?" (1991) 69 Public Administration, pp 4-5.
67. The recent publication of 16 approved management plans and nine draft management plans for the State's Parks (a total of 48 Approved, Draft and Interim Plans to date) suggests that some of these benefits are being realised.
68. Undated material accompanying Ministerial Announcement of Parks Victoria (Questions and Answers from the Media Announcement DNRE, 12 December 1996).
69. W Sanderson, "Memo told of BHP bid to discredit Inspector, " Courier Mail, 21 June 1997, p 9.
70. A Dale and M Lane "Strategic Perspectives Analysis: A Procedure for Participatory and Political SIA" (1994) 7 Society and Natural Resources 253-268.
71. Parks Victoria, Annual Report 1997, pp 7, 9.
72. Victorian Office of the Commissioner for the Environment, Victoria's Inland Waters (1989), and Agriculture and Victoria's Environment (1992). The report on aquatic environments provoked the 1991 review of Victoria's aquatic monitoring system; the consultants' report on air quality forced the EPA to publish its data on air quality; the consultants' report on marine environments provided a base for indicator development in many states.
73. the report on agricultural environments offered the first comprehensive baseline for conditions on farmland and contributed to agricultural indicator development, including for the CALP program.
74. Victoria, Legislative Council, Hansard, 28 May 1991, ppl789-1791.
75. The ACT, NSW, SA and Tas all produce regular SoE reports under domestic legislation. Qld and WA are in the process of producing their first reports. All contribute data to the national SoE report. Ironically, the ACT's enabling legislation is an identical copy of the Bill put before the Victorian Parliament. Its Office for the Commissioner for the Environment has been functioning successfully since 1993. The ACT, NSW and national SoE programs derived assistance from the experience of the Victorian office.
76. Victorian Auditor-Generals Office, Timber Industry Strategy, Special Report No 22, May 1993.
77. Victorian Auditor-Generals Office, Salinity, Special Report No 19, March 1993.
78. Victorian Auditor-Generals Office, Managing Parks for Life: the National Parks, 1995.
79. A Dale and M Lane "Strategic Perspectives Analysis: A Procedure for Participatory and Political SIA" (1994) 7 Society and Natural Resources 253-268.
80. CLPC 1996.
81. Such as the Timber Industry Strategy; the Code of Forest Practice; the Water Act 1989.
82. To date, the Kennett government has not sought to dismantle cornerstone environmental legislation. However one cannot be too sanguine about this quiescence. On 14 November 1996, the government introduced a bill exempting the proposed Parliament House Completion Authority from the provisions of the National Parks Act, so that it could extract stone from the former Heatherlie Quarry in the Grampians National Parks-the source, in 1892, of white sandstone for the Parliament's facade-to complete the renovation of Victorian Parliament House using original materials. The renovations have since fallen out of favour but the draft Bill indicated the government's cavalier attitude to the environmental intentions of the National Parks Act.
83. Many of these were planned during the 1960s and supported, although not realised, by Labor.
84. A Dale and M Lane "Strategic Perspectives Analysis: A Procedure for Participatory and Political SIA" (1994) 7 Society and Natural Resources 253-268.