This Act provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places - defined in the EPBC Act as MNES (Matters of National Environmental Significance). The Act is designed to provide a streamlined environmental assessment and approvals process where matters of national environmental significance are involved.
The Act provides for “the prevention, control and abatement of pollution and environmental harm, for the conservation, preservation, protection, enhancement and management of the environment and for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing”.
To protect the environment of the State by taking into consideration 5 key principles. 1: Precautionary principle, 2: intergenerational equity, 3: conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity, 4: improved valuation, pricing, and incentive mechanisms, 5: principle of waste minimisation.