COAG Review of Hazardous Materials
Introduction
In December 2002, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a national review of the regulation, reporting and security surrounding the storage, sale and handling of hazardous materials. The work was divided into four parts: ammonium nitrate; radiological sources; harmful biological materials; and hazardous chemicals (chemicals of security concern).
The review aims to assist counter-terrorism efforts by limiting opportunities for, and enhancing detection of, the illegal/unauthorised use of hazardous materials (the counter-terrorism objective). This is to be achieved through improvements in Australia’s regulation, monitoring, control and education systems concerning such materials.
The regulation of Security-Sensitive Ammonium Nitrate (SSAN) was considered by COAG on 25 June 2004 and licensing regimes are now being implemented by states and territories. Further information is available on the National Security website.
The reviews of biological and radiological materials were considered by COAG on 13 April 2007 and the recommendations from those reviews are currently being implemented. Further information about the implementation of recommendations for biological materials is available on the Department of Health and Ageing website
The first phase of consultation on the chemicals component of the review was conducted through a discussion paper released in November 2006. The comment period for the discussion paper has closed. Feedback from the discussion paper phase was used in the development of the draft COAG report.
TopDraft COAG Report on the Control of Chemicals of Security Concern
The draft COAG Report on the Control of Chemicals of Security Concern provides stakeholders with an opportunity to provide feedback on the report and its recommendations.
The draft report recommends to COAG a framework for the management of the security of chemicals that is based on principles that reflect the interests and needs of the community, industry and government and which deliver an effective national system. The proposed framework comprises:
- an agreed approach to conduct security risk assessments across all elements of the supply chain of chemicals of potential security concern based on risk and terrorist interest
- a number of initial measures to improve the security around chemicals. These include:
- improving community awareness of the threat from chemicals of security concern
- enhancing the capacity of industry to contribute to the security of chemicals, building on existing industry activities where possible
- measures to enhance the capacity of government agencies involved in managing chemical security, and
- appropriate management and governance arrangements to allocate roles and responsibilities and establish ongoing coordination and consultation arrangements between governments and between governments and industry.
The comment period for the draft report has closed. All comments received are being considered in the finalisation of the report for COAG. Further consultation will be undertaken during the implementation phase.
For further information on the review of chemicals of security concern, please contact 02 6271 5466 or email chemicalsecurity@pmc.gov.au.