Queensland Consolidated Acts

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT 1994 - SECT 87

87 Definitions for part

(1) A
"Great Barrier Reef water quality offset" is an activity—

(a) carried out to counterbalance a residual impact of a relevant activity; and

(b) carried out on land on which the relevant activity is carried out or on other land in the Great Barrier Reef catchment; and

(c) that complies with an environmental offsets policy for a Great Barrier Reef water quality offset.

(2) A
"residual impact" of a relevant activity is the presence of a restricted contaminant in water in a river basin in the Great Barrier Reef catchment that—

(a) was released into the water because of the relevant activity; and

(b) remains, or will or is likely to remain, (whether temporarily or permanently) despite on-site mitigation measures for the activity.

(3) A
"Great Barrier Reef water quality offset condition" for a relevant activity is a condition that—

(a) requires a Great Barrier Reef water quality offset to be undertaken; or

Examples—

action to rehabilitate a degraded riverbank, construct a wetland or establish native habitat across a number of properties

(b) otherwise relates to an environmental offset.

Example—

payment of a financial settlement offset

(4) The Minister may recommend to the Governor in Council the making of a regulation prescribing a contaminant to be a restricted contaminant only if satisfied that, if released into water entering the Great Barrier Reef, the contaminant is likely to—

(a) have an adverse impact on the quality of the water entering the reef; and

(b) be contrary to achieving the purpose of this chapter.

(5) In this section—

"environmental offsets policy" see the Environmental Offsets Act 2014 , section 12 .

"on-site mitigation measure" , for a relevant activity, means a measure undertaken on land on which the activity is carried out, to avoid or minimise the release of a restricted contaminant into water in a river basin in the Great Barrier Reef catchment because of the activity being carried out on the land.

"relevant activity" means a prescribed ERA, or resource activity, carried out on land in the Great Barrier Reef catchment.

"restricted contaminant" means a contaminant prescribed as a restricted contaminant for this section.