COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water

NEWS

The Packaging Impacts Consultation Regulation Impact Statement has been released - please go to www.ephc.gov.au/product_stewardship/packaging_impacts for further information.

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The COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water met on Wednesday, 30 November 2011 via teleconference. The communique for this meeting is available below for your reference.

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About the COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water

The COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water (Council) was established following the 2010 review of the ministerial council system by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). It incorporates the National Environment Protection Council (NEPC).

Council considers matters of national significance on environment and water issues and is supported by a Senior Officials Committee (SOC) and a new secretariat located in Canberra.

Council is responsible for the delivery of COAG’s strategic themes by pursuing and monitoring priority issues of national significance which require a sustained, collaborative effort, and overseeing delivery of a range of policy, implementation and governance functions, including management of projects. COAG has endorsed the following priorities:

1.  Pursuing seamless environmental regulation and regulatory practice across jurisdictions;
2. Progressing national water reform, including through implementing the National Water Initiative, the outcomes of the forthcoming COAG review of the National Water Initiative, and other COAG commitments on water;
3. Implementing the National Waste Policy;
4. Implementing a national partnership approach to the conservation and management of land, waters, the marine environment and biodiversity at the landscape and ecosystem scale, and to building resilience in a changing climate; and
5. Developing and implementing a National Plan for Clean Air to improve air quality and community health and wellbeing.