Canberra could become the first place in Australia to give people a legal right to a healthy environment, with the ACT government today introducing new human rights legislation.
The Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023 seeks to address the impacts of climate change and shore up the environment for future generations, according to the government.
It said a healthy environment included “clean air, a safe climate, access to safe water and to healthy and sustainably produced food …. [with] healthy biodiversity and ecosystems”.
The government said the law would require ACT authorities to consider the environment when making decisions or carrying out functions.
But any breaches of the yet-to-be-passed law will not attract penalties for some time.
The government said this was to allow time to see what happened with similar international laws, and to give people a chance to fully understand the changes.
But it said Canberrans would soon be able to raise any breaches with the ACT Human Rights Commission.
Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne said the bill was in step with overseas efforts to preserve healthy environments.
“The legislation introduced today reflects growing international consensus and practice around the role and importance of environmental protections,” Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne said.
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly last year agreed that access to a clean and healthy environment was a universal human right.
The resolution was in part designed to help member states be able to advance climate policies domestically.
A group of environmental lawyers has also supported the ACT government’s bill but wants it to go further.
The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) made a submission to the legislative assembly and called for the proposed new laws to also apply to private entities.
(ABC)
