Projects & Activities
The various state divisions of NELA host the NELA annual conference. Conferences have been held in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Canberra, and the Second International Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand.
State Divisions are also very active in running seminars and forums on topical issues. Most of the State Divisions also hold their own annual conference.
NELA, either directly through the National Executive or through its State Divisions, uses its collective voice to comment on proposed legislation, through submissions or appearances before committees of inquiry.
IUCN Oceania
NELA is an institutional member of the World Conservation Union (or Interntional Union for the Conservation of Nature - IUCN), see http://www.iucn.org/.
IUCN has a Regional Commission for Oceania, which includes Australia (see: http://www.iucn.org/places/oceania/) and has recently established a Regional office in Fiji. IUCN also has a long established Commission on Environmental Law that has played a role in the region (see http://www.iucn.org/themes/law/).
On behalf of NELA and as a member of the Commission on Environmental Law, Matthew Baird (President NELA NSW) attended the Oceania Regional Members' Forum, 21-22 July 2007 in Wellington, New Zealand. It was a productive scoping meeting between the regional office in Fiji and members of the Region.
Pepe Clark, the Regional Legal Advisor, has prepared an extensive analysis of the development of environmental law in the Region. It is clear that there are many opportnities to assist the development of both the rule of law and environmental law generally. A first task is to promote the regions' needs to environmental lawyers in Australia and New Zealand.
The World Congress of IUCN (the meeting of all IUCN members) is taking place in Barcelona in October 2007.
NELA (NSW) and NSW Young Lawyers Association: Annual Trivia Night
ANNUAL TRIVIA NIGHT EXTRAVAGANZA
The NSW Young Lawyers Environmental Law Committee, in conjunction with the National Environmental Law Association (NSW) is holding its Annual Trivia Night Extravganza in order to raise funds for the NSW Branch of the Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service Inc (WIRES).
When: Wednesday, 7 November 2007 at 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start, concluding at 9.00pm.
Where: Maddocks Lawyers, Level 21 Angel Place, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney.
Tickets: $45 per head, $35 student concession. (Price includes drinks until 9.00pm and cocktail food, with proceeds going to WIRES).
Environmental Law Roundtable of Australia and New Zealand Penalty Infringement Notices (PIN) Project
The Environmental Law Roundtable of Australia and New Zealand (ELRANZ) is a joint initiative of the National Environmental Law Association of Australia (NELA) and the Resource Management Law Association of New Zealand Inc (RMLA).
NELA and RMLA are the joint publishers of:
- The ELRANZ Report on Penalty Infringement Notices (PINS) for Environmental Offences: A step towards Consensus on the Law across Australia and New Zealand (January 2008).
- The ELRANZ Discussion Paper on Penalty Infringement Notices (PINS) for Environmental Offences (August 2006).
The report contains 17 recommendations as to how the penalty infringement notice laws can be improved and harmonised across Australia and New Zealand. The report follows on from the discussion paper. PDF copies of the report and the discussion paper are available through the links below.
The idea of investigating penalty infringement notices to see where harmonisation of the law across Australia and New Zealand might occur arose out of the paper given by Rosemary Martin, Principal, Martin & McLean Lawyers, Melbourne, Trends in Environmental Prosecution (published in the National Environmental Law Review 2005:2 at page 38). The paper was presented to the National Environmental Law Association Conference in Canberra in July 2005. The paper was subsequently published in Resource Management Theory & Practice [2006] 172.
NELA is interested in the harmonisation of environmental law and policy across Australia and the RMLA has joined with NELA to add New Zealand to the harmonisation process.
There are joint Ministerial Councils between Australia and New Zealand and this joint multidisciplinary project allows for shared experiences to eventually lead towards harmonisation.
The harmonisation process may occur in stages as we use consensus building techniques as part of the implementation phase.
Click on the link below to access the ELRANZ Report on Penalty Infringement Notices (PINS) for Environmental Offences: A step towards Consensus on the Law across Australia and New Zealand
If you need to access the information in the discussion paper, click on the link below: ELRANZ Discussion Paper on Penalty Infringement Notices (PINS) for Environmental Offences.
To save paper, it is recommended that these documents be printed in tablet form on double sided paper.
The next part of the ELRANZ PIN Project is the implementation of the recommendations in the report. If you want to be involved in the implementation dialogue or want to monitor progress or if you have any comments or suggestions please email the ELRANZ Convenor (John Haydon) at johnhaydon@ecodirections.com
Joint NELA/ACF Oceans Act - Policy Launch 6 March 2006
Australia needs an Oceans Act because the existing patchwork of marine laws is inadequate to properly protect our oceans and plan for their future use.
NELA and ACF have jointly sponsored a discussion paper that was launched in Melbourne on 6 March 2006.
Further publicity details can be found at: www.acfonline.org.au/news
A summary of the paper is available.
The full discussion paper can be found on the ACF website.