Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA now has about double the number of staff it had six years ago. 

The EPA says its “once-in-a-generation” change began with an independent review in 2015-16, at a time that the agency had 388 staff. 

Parliament passed a new Environment Protection Act in 2017, and with the new act commencing in July this year, the agency has been bringing in more staff, now to a historic high of 840. 

The new staff have been introducing new IT infrastructure and setting up the regulatory architecture to deliver its new responsibilities. 

“There’s a real shift in focus from responding to waste and pollution incidents as they occur to really preventing those incidents from occurring in the first place,” Lee Miezis, the EPA Victoria’s chief executive officer, told reporters this week.

“That has included the introduction of duties-based regulations. So, very similar to what has existed in occupational health and safety here in Victoria for about 10 years.” 

More details are available here.

Victoria’s EPA has also appointed its first Chief Investigator.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced well-respected investigator Ernestina Di Marco will take on the Chief Investigator role and lead a team dedicated to preventing harm to the environment and the community.

Ms Di Marco will lead 40 investigators based across the state as part of the new Environmental Crime Branch. 

The Branch includes surveillance experts, environmental protection officers, intelligence analysts, criminal investigators and prosecutors who will work together to detect, prevent and investigate environmental crime.