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Status of Tasmania’s State of the Environment Reporting
Statement – Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania, 22 July 2022
Status of Tasmania’s State of the Environment Reporting
In 2021, PMAT wrote to the State Gov about the status of the report. See the reply below.
State of the Environment reporting is a process for describing, analysing and communicating information on conditions and trends in the environment.
State of the Environment reporting is fundamental, and should inform good planning.
These reports must be produced independently and as such it is PMAT’s view that the Tasmanian Planning Commission is the best body to produce State of the Environment reports.
Under the State Policies and Projects Act 1993 Tasmania must release a State of Environment Report every five years and the Minister must table it in Parliament.
So far, three Tasmanian State of the Environment reports have been prepared: 1997, 2003 and 2009. The SoE reports provide a strategic view to shape policy and action.
Given that in 2021 it was twelve years since the last State of the Environment Report was released, we asked the Planning Minister in August 2021 when the next Tasmanian State of the Environment Report will be published?
This is especially important given Phase 2 of the Planning Reforms is underway and include the development of the Tasmanian Planning Policies and three regional land use strategies which should be informed by the best available data.
Disappointingly the Planning Minister stated that the Review of the Tasmanian Planning Commission concluded that the Tasmanian Planning Commission is not the most appropriate body to prepare State of the Environment reports and the Government is trying to find a ‘suitable location’ for the State of the Environment reporting within Government, along with its ‘scope and purpose’. PMAT will continue to question the State Government over State of the Environment reporting.
The Australian Government conducts a comprehensive review of the state of the Australian environment based on twelve environmental themes: Air quality, Antarctica, Biodiversity, Climate, Coasts, Extreme events, Heritage, Indigenous knowledge, Inland water, Land, Marine and Urban environments.
We asked the Planning Minister in August 2021, given that the next National State of the Environment Report was due in early 2022, what Tasmanian information/data has been provided to the Australian Government?’ The Planning Minister failed to answer this question.
The importance of State of the Environment Reporting was highlighted in 2021 with a report on river health, which was only released after a Right to Information request was lodged. The DPIPWE report entitled Temporal and Spatial Patterns in River Health across Tasmania indicates that numerous rivers in Tasmania are in environmental decline. Related media: