AGY-7260 | Environmental Trust

Full description

The NSW Environmental Trust was an independent statutory body that supported projects which enhance the environment of New South Wales. The Trust was established under the Environmental Trust Act 1998 (Act No.82, 1998) and administered grants across a diverse range of programs, including contestable grants, major projects, and various NSW Government initiatives. The Trust was under the purview of the Minister for the Environment (1) and the parent department appears to have been the Environmental Protection Authority. (2) The Trust, with the approval of the Minister, was able to arrange for the use of the services of any staff or facilities of a government department or public authority. (3)

The Trust was chaired by the NSW Minister for Energy and Heritage, and its members included representatives from Department of Planning and Environment, local government, the Nature Conservation Council and NSW Treasury. (4)

The objects of the Trust were as follows:

(a) to encourage and support restoration and rehabilitation projects in both the public and the private sectors that will or are likely to prevent or reduce pollution, the waste-stream or environmental degradation, of any kind, within any part of New South Wales.

(b) to promote research in both the public and the private sectors into environmental problems of any kind and, in particular, to encourage and support research into and development of local solutions to environmental problems; discovery of new methods of operation for New South Wales industries that are less harmful to the environment; research into general environmental problems, and assessment of environmental degradation; to promote environmental education and, in particular, to encourage the development of educational programs in both the public and the private sectors that will increase public awareness of environmental issues of any kind and to fund the acquisition of land for national parks and other categories of dedicated and reserved land for the national parks estate.

The Trust may, for the purpose of promoting its objects, make grants for projects and supervise the expenditure of money so granted and expend money as authorised by section 16 of the Environmental Trust Act 1998 (Special provision for pollution clean-up costs). (5)

The Public Sector Employment and Management (Environment and Conservation) Order 2003 abolished the Environmental Protection Agency as a department and transferred its branches to the Department of Environment and Conservation. (6)

From 4 April 2011, the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water was abolished and its functions were transferred to the Principal Department, the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Most of its branches, including the staff of the Environmental Trust, became part of the Office of Environment and Heritage within the Department of Premier and Cabinet. (7)

The Office of Environment and Heritage was abolished on 1 July 2019. Those persons employed in the Office of Environment and Heritage, including the staff of the Environmental Trust, were transferred to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. (8)

Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette, 30 October 1998, p.8511.
2. NSW Government Gazette, 30 June 2000, p.200.
3. Environmental Trust Act, s.10.
4. NSW Environmental Trust website; https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/funding-and-support/nsw-environmental-trust/about-the-nsw-environmental-trust (accessed 9 November 2022).
5. Environmental Trust Act 1998 (Act No.82, 1998) ss.7-8.
6. Public Sector Employment and Management (Environment and Conservation) Order 2003, section 5.
7. Public Sector Employment and Management (Departments) Order 2011 (2011 No 184), sections 7, 8.
8. Administrative Arrangements (Administrative Changes - Public Service Agencies) Order 2019 (2019 No 159), cl.12; NSW Legislation Website, 2 April 2019.