2018-03-06 S&O Agenda - Attachment 1 to Item 2 - Public Interest Test Report

Noosa Council - Public Interest Test Report: Proposed Local Law No. 7 (Waste Management) 2017
                                                                                                                                                  37


The proposed local law will achieve status quo and is aimed at replacing the expiring provisions contained within the State laws. The State
laws contemplate that Council may replace the expiring provisions with a local law.

Following the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) ruling in 2012 that the Sunshine Coast Council was anti-competitive and after
considering the recommendations made by the Authority the Council disagreed with the ruling and recommendations. Given that the QCA
finding were recommendations and not enforceable at law, the Council voluntarily referred the matter to the ACCC to determine if the Council
was anticompetitive. The ACCC found that Council was not anticompetitive. Following de-amalgamation the Noosa Council has continued to
deliver waste collection services in accordance with the findings of the ACCC.

 Issue 2 – The proposed local law provides no public benefit in its introduction.
 Council response:
 The object of the proposed local law, as stated in the Plan, is to protect public health, safety and amenity related to waste management by:
    a. regulating the storage servicing and removal or waste; and
    b. regulating the disposal of waste at waste facilities; and
    c. ensuring that an act or omission does not result in:
           i.   harm to human health or safety or personal injury; or
           i.   property damage or loss of amenity; or
          ii.   environmental harm or environmental nuisance.
 Council currently achieves these objectives through the legislative provisions of chapter 5A of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2008
 and section 7 of the Waste Reduction and Recycling Regulation 2011 (the Acts). With the expiry of these provisions, which is due to occur
 on 1 July 2018, it has been necessary for Council to replicate these provisions within the proposed local law. The provisions specifically
 provide for Council to replace the provisions of the Acts in a local law. It is considered that the public interest of introducing the LL7
 outweighs the costs.


 Issue 3 – The proposed local law is anti-competitive and violates the competitive neutrality principle.


Attachment A to the Public Interest Test Plan (the Plan) provides a list of the likely anti-competitive provisions included within the proposed