Victoria Highlights Continuing Improvement On Sustainability

The Victorian Government today outlined its response to the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability’s State of the Environment Report.

Tabling the Government’s response to the report today, Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings said the report highlighted the importance of national and international action to address climate change and sustainability.

“The Victorian Government is taking action to protect Victoria’s environment for future generations,” Mr Jennings said.

“The 2008 State of the Environment Report included 289 recommendations and the Government supports fully, or supports in principle, the vast majority of those. The others will inform future policy development or are best addressed by the Commonwealth Government.

“The Government recognises the threats facing Victoria’s environment and takes seriously the potential environmental impacts of climate change.

“Victoria is one of only two jurisdictions in Australia that produces a State of the Environment Report through an independent authority like the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability.”

Mr Jennings said the 2008 State of the Environment Report Victoria, tabled in Parliament in December last year, included recommendations as diverse as salvaging refrigerators from landfill, soil pH benchmarking and Commonwealth tax reform.

He said the Government had met its obligations to respond to the report within 12 months.

Mr Jennings said that since the report was tabled the Victorian Government had also continued to develop new policies on environment sustainability including:

• Releasing the Climate Change Green Paper;

• Victorian Advanced Resource Recovery Initiative (VARRI)

• Victoria’s LandCarbon project; and

• Water sustainability including Target 155.

Mr Jennings thanked the former Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Dr Ian McPhail, for his efforts.

“I’d like to thank Dr McPhail and his team for the hard work they put into the 2008 State of the Environment Report Victoria,” he said

“This report has provided a strong platform for Victoria to build from. The Victorian Government remains committed to state of the environment reporting and I look forward to working with the new Commissioner Dr Kate Auty.”

Topics: Australia, climate change, Climate Change Green Paper, energy, environment, Governance, LandCarbon project, State of the Environment Report, sustainability, VARRI, Victoria, Victorian Advanced Resource Recovery Initiative, water sustainablility

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