3.Environment & planning

The rights of landowners to protect their economic interests have to be carefully balanced with the need for preservation and conservation. Victoria has laws and regulations to control planning for land use, to protect and conserve natural resources, to manage the discharge of waste, and the manufacture, handling, storage, use and transport of dangerous goods.

Air, land and water pollution are more tightly regulated now. Today, we better understand the link between sustainable productivity and using and conserving finite natural resources in the best possible way.

There are laws to preserve indigenous flora and fauna, to regulate hunting and fishing, and to avoid the introduction or further spread of noxious weeds, vermin and pest animals.

Government regulations also aim to minimise the effect of disasters such as flood, drought and bushfire and the hardships that follow them.