The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the draft Environmental Protection (Bilateral Agreements) Regulations 2021. We understand that the proposed regulations are a step in implementing the 2020 amendments to the Environmental Protection Act 1986 to provide for a person to apply for a matter to be considered a ‘bilateral matter’ under a bilateral agreement. We note both general and specific concerns with this approach.

On behalf of the Places You Love alliance, EDO has undertaken detailed legal analysis of WA laws to assess whether the current laws meet existing standards for matters of national environmental significance. The analysis is provided in the document below: