The Environmental Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 (the Bill), introduced into NSW Parliament on 6 August 2025, proposes targeted reforms to the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) and other environmental legislation.
The Bill includes the following key changes aimed at strengthening environmental protection in NSW and giving more power to the NSW EPA.
Ability to re-use some asbestos waste on-site
In a move to balance sustainability with safety and align the POEO Act with the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, the Bill provides for limited re-use of asbestos waste on-site, provided the waste is generated on the same site, and lawfully remediated on site.
Offsite asbestos waste re-use remains prohibited, to ensure strict controls are maintained on cross-site contamination.
This change could ease landfill pressure, reduce remediation costs and streamline contaminated land projects, without compromising public health.
Public register for Environmental Management Plans (EMPs)
With a view to increasing transparency, the Bill proposes changes which empower the NSW EPA to create a publicly accessible register of EMPs (which detail the mitigation, management and monitoring of contamination at a site), making it easier for:
- council's, developers, and landowners to track contamination controls; and
- communities to understand environmental risks near them.
This change aims to address longstanding concerns about the visibility and enforceability of post-remediation obligations.
Registration of environmental notices on title
The Bill would provide for a power to register clean-up notices, prevention notices and prohibition notices on land titles. This would ensure greater transparency for the public and alert those wishing to deal with affected land to the existence of those notices.
Increased monetary threshold for "material harm" notification
The POEO Act requires pollution incidents that cause "material harm" to be notified to the NSW EPA and other agencies. The Bill proposes to lift the monetary threshold for pollution incidents which trigger "material harm" from $10,000 to $50,000 in actual or potential loss or property damage.
This update would align the POEO Act with the threshold applied in other jurisdictions and ensure the NSW EPA is focused on genuinely significant incidents, reducing red tape for minor breaches which can be more easily remediated or contained.
The requirement to notify the Ministry of Health of pollution incidents would also be removed, although it is envisaged that the NSW would continue to liaise with NSW Health about significant pollution incidents with potential health impacts.
New and amended environmental offences and penalties
New executive liability offences - Perhaps one of the most significant changes envisaged by the Bill is to extend executive liability provisions, which currently exist under the POEO Act, across all environment protection legislation. This change would ensure that directors and other managers could be held personally responsible for failure of the company they control to comply with serious offences such as providing false or misleading information or failing to comply with preliminary investigation notices or recall notices.
Increased penalties for industrial chemical offences - The Bill proposes important changes to the NSW Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard (IChEMS), which is the State-level implementation of a national framework designed to manage the environmental risks of industrial chemicals, such as PFAS. The Bill would align penalties under IChEMs with serious waste offences under the POEO Act, which were significantly increased recently following the enactment of the Environment Protection Legislation Amendment (Stronger Regulation and Penalties) Act 2024 (NSW). This change would double the maximum penalty for industrial chemical and waste offences, reflecting the gravity of environmental, harm and strengthen the NSW EPA's ability to regulate hazardous substances more effectively. It would also allow licences for industrial chemicals to include conditions requiring compliance with IChEMS standards which are not yet listed on the NSW IChMES register.
Amended Waste offences - Repeat waste offences would be expanded under the Bill to include the failure to hold a licence, enabling the Court to impose jail-time for repeat offenders of waste-related offences.
Protection for NSW EPA officers - The Bill proposes a new general offence to prevent the harassment of NSW EPA officers in the exercise of their powers and duties under environmental legislation, and extends to online harassment, ensuring officers can act decisively without fear of personal liability.
Environmental justice principles in sentencing
If the Bill is passed, the environmental justice principles, which are currently only considered by the NSW EPA when deciding whether to prosecute an offence, would also be considered by the Courts during sentencing. This would require the Courts to consider the impacts on Aboriginal cultural values and practices and broader community concerns and allow for sentencing to act as a deterrent.
Expanding the Protection of the Environment Policies (PEPs)
The NSW EPA's existing power under the POEO Act to create PEPs to regulate activities by public authorities, is proposed to be extended by the Bill to apply to other business and stakeholders.
Given PEPs are not enforceable, the purpose of this power is ostensibly to set environmental standards with a view to driving behavioural change and ultimately improving industry performance.
However, it is foreseeable that non-compliance or compliance with standards mandated by a PEP could weigh against an offender or be a mitigating factor in enforcement action taken by a regulator.
Additional powers for the NSW EPA
The Bill also introduces a new power for the NSW EPA to direct people to leave an area where clean-up action is needed to address a risk to human health. This would protect those people from harm from a hazardous substance, but if exercised liberally may have significant impacts upon business operations.
EPLs required for processing livestock
Finally, changes would be made to clarify that an environmental protection licence is required for activities resulting in products derived from the processing of livestock, in addition to slaughter of livestock. It is expected that this would resolve uncertainty in the industry (and the Courts) and ensure the pollution risks associated with processing livestock are appropriately managed.
If you have any questions about the Bill or would like to know how the legislative changes may impact your business, please contact Tom White (Partner), Joanna Kenny (Special Counsel), Alex Beale (Special Counsel) or Juliette Reskov (Lawyer) in our Environment and Planning team.
All information on this site is of a general nature only and is not intended to be relied upon as, nor to be a substitute for, specific legal professional advice. No responsibility for the loss occasioned to any person acting on or refraining from action as a result of any material published can be accepted.
