Revolutionising Victorian Environmental Law - innovation, opportunity and risk

Tim Power - Partner, White & Case LLP

Kath Rowley - Executive Director, Climate Change Division at DELWP

1-Mar-2018

Cultural Heritage Management Update

This interactive session on cultural heritage management issues covered:

• The new Heritage Act 2017
• The Aboriginal Heritage Act (as amended in 2016)
• Understanding heritage management processes and requirements
• Working with Registered Aboriginal Parties

Advancing sustainability in infrastructure

This forum introduced ISCA and the Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Tool and provided a case study on how the Metro Tunnel is applying sustainability.

Anthony Sprigg - ISCA

Priya Pathmanathan - Melbourne Metro Rail Authority

Climate Change Forum

This forum provided an update and overview of state government climate change policy announcements and examples of actions being taken.

• Alice Bleby - Manager of Adaptation in Climate Change Policy, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
• Fin Robertson - Senior Sustainability Specialist, Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA)
• Dianna McDonald - Social Research Lead, Sustainability Victoria
• Fran MacDonald - Coordinator, Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action

Caulfield to Dandenong: transformation toward sustainable development

• James David, Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA)
• Paul O’Connell, Caulfield to Dandenong Alliance
• Brigid Moriarty, Coffey
• Michael Arpula, LXRA
• Adrian White, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff

TAKE2 - Victorian Government’s climate change pledge program

• Jack Noonan - Sustainability Victoria

Urban renewal - Not only Fishermans Bend

• Dominic Arcaro - Navire
• Simon Micmacher - Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
• Meredith Sussex AM - Fishermans Bend Ministerial Advisory Committee

Climate Action

• Anna Skarbek - Climate Works Australia
• David Jenkins - National Australia Bank
• Dr Cathy Oke - Melbourne City Council

In pursuit of renewable energy in Victoria

• Tom Butler - Clean Energy Council
• Mark Feather - Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources
• Jamie McGlip - Acciona

Melbourne Strategic Assessment: Biodiversity 5 years on

This seminar focussed on the recent government guidance note - Implementing the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for Melbourne's Growth Corridor. Topics covered included -

• Adjustments to conservation area boundaries
• Retaining native vegetation and scattered trees
• Uses and acceptable development within conservation areas.

• Warrick McGrath - Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning
• Mark Bartley - HWL Ebsworth Lawyers
• Aidan O'Neill - City of Whittlesea

Making EIAs work

This interactive seminar focussed on how to navigate the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in Victoria, understanding the expectations of key regulators and providing insights for proponents and their advisers to leverage the EIA process and add value to their projects.

• Tony Robinson - Environment Protection Authority
• Tim Power - Herbert Smith Freehills
• Adam Mitchell - Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
• David Hyett - AECOM

Victorian Election Environmental Expert Policy Review

Featuring a panel of five environmental experts, and hosted at RMIT University's state-of-the-art Building 80, this event offered participants the opportunity to hear an evidence-based review of the environment policies offered by the three major parties before the 2014 Victorian State Election.

Grenades, Grasslands and Groundwater - Seminar on the approval of Ravenhall Prison

The project team tasked with building a 1,000 bed medium security prison using a public-private partnership model presented on the challenges of assessing the site and gaining approvals and how they were overcome.

• Claire McCutcheon - Biosis
• Tim Shanahan - Coffey
• ​Johan Top - Department of Justice

Meet the Policy Drivers 2014 - Balancing our Growth and Resources

This was an opportunity for environmental professionals to hear from senior Government staff regarding their Department’s current and upcoming policy direction and reform.

• Mike Waller - Office of Living Victoria
• Peter Betson - Department of Environment and Primary Industries
• John Ginivan - Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure
• Mark Feather - Department of State Development, Business and Innovation

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management

60 environmental professionals came together to hear four presenters provide their views on the difficulties, advantages and mechanisms of process and compliance from various perspectives.

• Dr Mark Eccleston - Aboriginal Affairs Victoria
• Darren Griffin - Wurundjeri Tribe Land Council
• Dr Ilya Berelov - Biosis
• Melissa Falkenberg - Wyndham City Council

Strategic Impact Assessments Forum

Over 100 people attended this NELA/EIANZ forum where presenters detailed their experiences with strategic impact assessment from north Queensland, where four coal giants are working together on a joint SIA, to Dubai where strategic assessments are the norm.

• Alexandra Guild - Norton Rose
• Christine Wyatt - GHD
• Caroline Cameron -Dept of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

A decade of Net Gain – a retrospective look at 10 years of Net Gain & where to from here

This seminar was held in conjunction with Biosis Research hosted a seminar and explored where the policy evolved from, considered industry case studies and looked at the practical implications of complying with Net Gain policy.

• Russell Costello - Formerly with the Dept of Sustainability and Environment
• Alexandra Guild - Norton Rose
• Aaron Harvey - Biosis Research

Tips and Tricks II: Best Practice in Environment Effects Statement Seminar

Amanda Cornwall, NELA Victoria President, chaired this multi-disciplinary and informative event, which heard from a panel of highly experienced experts offering insights into the EES process and how to get the best value out of it.

• Tim Power - Best Practice in environment effects statements
• Mark Tansley - EIA Practitioner Perspective
• Trevor Blake - Navigating the EES process

Tips and Tricks I: Best Practice in Environment Effects Statement Seminar

While the environmental assessment processes established under the Environmental Effects Act have withstood the test of time, if not managed properly they can also be lengthy, complicated, politicised and expensive. This seminar explored the best practices to simplify and streamline this process.

• Philip Heath - Sinclair Knight Merz
• Tim Power - Freehills

It's the Feds - Compliance and Enforcement under the EPBC Act

This seminar, held in partnership with Biosis Research, focused on compliance and enforcement under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Through real case studies from industry, this seminar analysed the practical implications of complying with the EPBC Act and how enforcement is undertaken. It also explored the potential risks to project delivery and how to deal with them.

• Mark Beaufoy - DLA Phillips Fox
• Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
• Colac Otway Shire
• Biosis Research