Aestra was engaged by the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) to undertake an independent review of the draft Regional Planning Framework. Aestra’s Director, Naomi Maxwell, was one of two independent experts engaged to conduct the review.

The 2020 independent review of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) by Professor Graeme Samuel AC identified the need for a greater focus on strategic landscape-scale consideration of environmental impacts. This was proposed to be achieved through a greater focus on regional planning.

To support DCCEEW’s regulatory reform agenda for the EPBC Act, we delivered an independent peer review of the draft Regional Planning Framework. We used our best-in-practice expertise in the development and delivery of landscape-scale environmental regulatory approaches under the EPBC Act to develop fit-for-purpose strategic advice that DCCEEW could use to support their reform agenda.

The independent review of the draft Regional Planning Framework informed the development of the revised approach to regional planning which has recently been published for public comment as part of the Australian Government’s broader EPBC Act reform consultation process.

Photo credit: zstockphotos, 2023.