Governing Biodiversity: Practitioner Perspectives

The nature and scale of Australia’s biodiversity challenge raises critical issues of governance and accountability. In this seminar, two leading practitioners in the field of biodiversity present their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in biodiversity regulation. Emily Gerrard, a practicing lawyer, discusses the statutory review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and challenges of coordination across jurisdictions. Warrick McGrath, Director Regulatory Strategy and Design in the Victorian government’s Biodiversity Division, will discuss Victoria’s framework for biodiversity regulation and offer some perspectives on the challenges of choosing the right policy tool (or tools) for the problem and how they can be used at different scales.

About the speakers:

Emily Gerrard is a Director and Principal Lawyer at Comhar Group Pty Ltd, an Australian-based legal and policy advisory firm. She is an environmental and climate change law specialist with extensive experience in native title, Indigenous land use agreements, renewable energy and resources projects.

Warrick McGrath is the Director Regulatory Strategy and Design the Victorian government’s Biodiversity Division in the Department of Environment, Land, Water, and Planning. He has worked across three states in various regulatory design and policy roles over the last 20 odd years.