Rachel's Precaution Reporter #119, December 5, 2007

AUSTRALIA'S ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REQUIRES PRECAUTIONARY DECISIONS

[Rachel's introduction: Europeans are not the only people advancing the precautionary principle. Precaution is embedded in Australia's national environmental law]

By Peter Montague

In 1999, Australia adopted the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which requires (in Section 391),that

"(1) The Minister must take account of the precautionary principle in making a decision listed in the table in subsection (3), to the extent he or she can do so consistently with the other provisions of this Act."

The Act defines the precautionary principle as,

"(2) The precautionary principle is that lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing a measure to prevent degradation of the environment where there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage."

Subsection (3) of the Act lists 28 kinds of decisions in which the Minister "must" take into account the precautionary principle.