Governmental coordination to enforce environmental laws: Perspectives of an Australian regulator

Abstract

The Australian Government's federal environment department (the Department of Environment, Water, Populations and Communities (DSEWPaC, renamed in late 2013 as the Department of Environment) ('the department')) has more than a decade of experience in the use of networks and networking, as part of governmental coordination as it relates to building capacity to undertake environmental enforcement activities. These experiences mainly relate to the department's increased commitment to and involvement with environmental enforcement networks ('networks') in what could be described as its 'regulatory journey' for the period 2000 to 2011. Focussing particularly on the period from 2004 onwards, it is this regulatory journey that provides the backdrop for this chapter. This chapter commences with an overview of the department's transition into its increased regulatory role. It also provides a contemporary view of the department's operating environment in respect to environmental enforcement, specific aspects of which include: the general expectation that networking should occur within the public sector; the specific growth and use of networks by environmental enforcement agencies, some examples and experiences of the department in relation to government coordination, principally through existing mainstream law enforcement liaison and networks, and its lead role in one regional network and involvement in other networks; consideration of systems and coordination mechanisms that have been developed and exploited to combat environmental and transnational environmental crime more effectively, including a range of law enforcement responses across the available range of sanctions which could be administrative, civil or criminal in nature.