ABSTRACT
Understanding role of law within Australian planning systems is essential for environmental planners to be able to implement their proposals for protecting and managing biogeochemical systems and processes. The Australian constitution determines the division of powers between the Commonwealth government and the states. The Constitution does not explicitly confer upon the Commonwealth any jurisdiction with respect to urban or regional planning, development control or environmental protection. The Commonwealth's environmental impact assessment power, sourced in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 enables the Commonwealth to honour its international environmental agreements. Planning law in Australia has its origins in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when town planners and other public administrators recognised there were public health and efficiency gains to be made by adopting some elementary controls on urban development. Limited government, suspicion of change, and the protection of private property rights are not always good news for environmental planners.
