Should a general "duty of care" for the environment become a centerpiece of a "next generation" environment protection statute?

dc.contributor.authorGunningham, Neil
dc.date.accessioned2021-02-09T23:48:42Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.date.updated2020-11-08T07:18:27Z
dc.description.abstractThis article argues that there is considerable merit in the introduction of a general duty of care for the environment in jurisdictions which have not so far embraced this concept. As with work health and safety legislation, such a duty would establish the broad goals of the law, providing unifying themes that clarify the intentions of the law. A particular virtue is its all-encompassing character: providing a broad standard of care that can be applied to fit any set of facts. As such, it would provide a valuable framework within which duty-holders must operate, which will be particularly important where no more practical guidance is available from other sources.The broad scope of the duty also means that it does not date quickly and that it provides considerable flexibility for the duty-holder to determine the action to take to suit their operations. The South Australian experience shows that a duty of care, if fully embraced by the regulator, can be an important component of the regulatory toolkit. However, other Australian jurisdictions provide for a more limited (and so less controversial) form of the general duty, in which it operates primarily as a defence, and where the remedies for breach are administrative, not criminal. This article argues that there is a case for going one step further and imposing criminal liability, a proposal that is being contemplated in Victoria at the time of writing.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn0813-300Xen_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/222429
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.publisherThe Law Book Companyen_AU
dc.rights© 2017 The Law Book Companyen_AU
dc.sourceEnvironmental and Planning Law Journalen_AU
dc.titleShould a general "duty of care" for the environment become a centerpiece of a "next generation" environment protection statute?en_AU
dc.typeJournal articleen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.issue3en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage208en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage198en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationGunningham, Neil, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu7700305@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidGunningham, Neil, u7700305en_AU
local.description.embargo2099-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor160507 - Environment Policyen_AU
local.identifier.absseo960799 - Environmental Policy, Legislation and Standards not elsewhere classifieden_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationu1026210xPUB123en_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB12202
local.identifier.citationvolume34en_AU
local.identifier.thomsonID000400902200002
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu1026210en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttp://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/catalogue/ProductDetails.asp?ID=886en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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