In October 2019, the Heads of Environment Protection Authorities Australia and New Zealand (HEPA) endorsed the National Remediation Framework (NRF) as best practice. Regulators in all jurisdictions agreed that the NRF’s guidelines and technology guides provide useful remediation guidance. CRC CARE is currently developing a dedicated NRF website that will include all NRF documents as well as other remediation tools, to be launched in early 2020.
CRC CARE is developing a National Remediation Framework (NRF) to provide practical guidance to practitioners and regulators.
The Framework will:
Strategic guidance and oversight for the development of the framework is provided through the National Remediation Framework Steering Group, which includes representatives of State and Territory environmental agencies, as well as industry and other parties.
In developing the framework CRC CARE focussed on developing harmonised guidance for the practicalities of cleaning up contaminated sites as well as regulatory practice, building upon good practice in the profession. The development and use of the national framework for remediation has strong support from contaminated sites assessors and remediation practitioners, and will be a significant boon to the site contamination industry and community in Australia.
The NRF comprises a series of documents that were developed and released in stages over the last 5 years, inviting comment and feedback.
From November 2018 to March 2019, the complete package of documents was made available for the final consultation prior to completing the framework.
In February 2019, CRC CARE conducted a national roadshow on NRF across all eight Australian capital cities to encourage and facilitate end-user input during the public consultation period (November 2018 to 31 March 2019).
Organised in collaboration with State and Territory environmental protection agencies, each Roadshow session included (click on links to download the presentations):
The roadshow meetings were attended by around 300 people from a range of agencies and organisations involved with contaminated sites (as well as interested members of the broader public), including:
Participant numbers were highest in the larger cities, and those in the smaller jurisdictions were proportionately high. The engagement during the presentations indicated strong support for the NRF, and there was keen interest to see it finalised and made available.
Feedback from the current consultation period will be taken into account in updating the current package of NRF guidelines. The updated version will be considered by the NRF Steering Group in mid-2019, when it is expected that the NRF will be finalised as a CRC CARE project, and referred on to the Heads of EPA (HEPA) for consideration.
The final consultation period closed on 31 March 2019
Viewing comments from earlier rounds of consultation: If you would like to view previously submitted comments, please email a request to Dr Joytishna Jit, Research Fellow, CRC CARE Best Practice Policy Program, at joytishna.jit@crccare.com.
Draft documents for consultation
For more information: