Position Paper: Reforming Appeal Rights In Planning And Environmental Law

This paper responds to feedback received from members of the National Environmental Law Association of Western Australia (NELAWA) following the NELAWA State Conference 2017. A number of members expressed interest in NELAWA preparing a discussion paper further examining the issues raised at that conference regarding appeal rights in Western Australia’s planning and environmental laws, specifically:

1. third party appeal rights under the Planning and Development Act 2005 (WA) (PD Act);

2. Ministerial appeals under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) (EP Act); and

3. the call for a specialist environmental court or tribunal in WA.

This paper presents a background to each of these topics and considers arguments for and against reform. The paper concludes that reform of appeal rights in WA’s planning and environmental laws is necessary, appropriate and long overdue. In summary, NELAWA makes the following recommendations for reform:

1. the PD Act should be amended to give third parties the right to initiate review proceedings and to apply to be joined as parties to existing review proceedings; and

2. appeals of decisions made under Parts IV and V of the EP Act should be heard and determined by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT), except for appeals in relation to conditions or procedures in a Ministerial Statement.

Read the full paper here.