Inquiries

The EPA’s power to conduct inquiries is provided under section 6 (2) (a) of the Environment Protection Authority Act. An inquiry may be conducted into any issue on which the EPA is empowered to give advice to the Minister, business or the community in general.

Section 5A (1) (a) of the EPA Act provides that the EPA can review and assess whether decisions made by the relevant government agencies or their respective minister, reflect recommendations arising from an environmental impact assessment process. The EPA can also review and assess the effectiveness of the environmental conditions of an environmental authority for a proposed action.

Under section 5A (1) (b) of the EPA Act the EPA can review and assess the effectiveness of government agencies responses in dealing with environmental incidents that arise under their respective legislation. In exercising this function the EPA will have regard to the administrative and on-ground technical response to the environmental incident by the agency, processes, policies and procedures that are put in place by the agency for responding to environmental incidents and outcomes of investigations and/or prosecutions by the agency.

In addition to the EPA’s functions to reviewand assess actions by government agencies the EPA can also provide advice on a broad range of matters, which include any of the following:

a. achieving best practice environmental policy and management;

b. setting objectives, targets and standards for the public and private sectors;

c. reviewing procedures of the public and private sectors;

d. legislation and its administration;

e. issues affecting the Territory’s capacity to achieve ecologically sustainable development;

f. emerging environmental issues.

This advice may be provided based on the EPA’s own initiative or at the request of the Minister or a member of the Public.

Inquiry findings are used to advise the Minister, business and the community to improve environmental governance in the NT.

The EPA has established criteria for determining if an inquiry should be conducted into a matter being reviewed and assessed by the EPA. In broad terms, the EPA may determine to conduct an inquiry into:

• Processes requiring independent scrutiny
• A major environmental issue
• Significant matters of environmental policy
• A matter that raises concern about the adequacy of existing Territory environmental legislation

The EPA must also be satisfied that it has sufficient resources to conduct an inquiry.

Inquiries are guided by protocols and operational guidelines to ensure they are conducted in an objective and impartial manner. The evidenced based inquiries are facilitated by the use of the EPA's powers under section 6 (2) (b) of the Act requiring people to provide information to the EPA if it is requested. Inquiries result in reports which take the form of advice to the Minister responsible for the Environment within the Northern Territory Government and are made publicly available here.

Powers under the EPA Act

Under section 6 of the EPA Act the EPA has the power to do all things necessary or convenient to enable it to perform its function including, but not limited to:

(a) conducting inquiries it considers appropriate;

(b) give a written notice to any person requiring them to provide relevant information within a reasonable period.

It is important to note that although the EPA has the power to conduct inquiries this power can only be exercised in accordance with its functions in that it is limited to reviewing and assessing only. This means that the EPA does not have the power to enter onto any premises for the purposes of pursuing inquiries, it does not have the power to require persons to answer questions orally nor does it not have the power to investigate the commission of any offence.

These types of inquiry powers are generally contained under other environmental legislation and are often exercised by the applicable government agency.

It is important to note that there are offences under the EPA Act if a person does not comply with an EPA inquiry or notice to provide information, provided that the EPA has exercised its powers in accordance with its function.

View the EPA’s completed inquiry reports, current inquiries, and preliminary enquiries into matters of interest under watching briefs in the menu on the left.