Strategic environmental assessment in australia and new zealand

Abstract

The Commonwealth of Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and New Zealand have some legal provisions, of a permissive nature, relating to SEA within their ELA requirements. Despite this, and a recent growth in interest in such provisions, very few SEA reports have been submitted to date. Victoria (on one occasion), New Zealand (on one occasion) and Western Australia (on two or three occasions) have required and assessed SEA reports. Experience in these four jurisdictions suggests that SEA will rarely be undertaken where the environmental authority can evaluate the activities of other, frequently more powerful, government departments only by invitation. For SEA to be undertaken, it appears that there needs to exist a specific requirement upon the proponent and an environmental authority with the power to ensure compliance. © 1992 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.