What’s changed

NSW has passed the Environmental Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which raises the “material harm” dollar trigger for mandatory pollution incident reporting under the Protection of Environment Operations (POEO) Act from $10,000 to $50,000. It also lets regulations exclude defined classes of incidents from notification. Most POEO changes start on proclamation after assent. As at 26 September 2025 the Bill has passed both Houses and is awaiting assent.

Why it matters

The old $10,000 threshold captured many minor incidents because it includes plant damage and clean-up costs. Lifting it should cut low-risk notifications. The duty to notify still applies to any non-trivial actual or potential harm to people or ecosystems regardless of cost.

The key points

1) New dollar threshold

Section 147 will change “exceeding $10,000” to “exceeding $50,000” for actual or potential loss or property damage. “Loss” includes reasonable prevention, mitigation and clean-up costs. Commencement is by proclamation after assent. Until commencement, the $10,000 trigger remains.

2) Who you must notify

Section 148 will gain a power for regulations to prescribe incidents that don’t need to be notified. The definition of “relevant authority” will have paragraph (d) omitted, removing the Ministry of Health from the notification list once commenced. You will still notify the EPA or council as appropriate, Fire and Rescue NSW and SafeWork NSW.

3) Your development consent conditions

Some consents mirror the current $10,000 definition. If your consent says $10,000, you must keep notifying at that level until the consent is modified to align with the new threshold.

What builders and site managers should do now

• Keep using $10,000 until the law commences. Track assent and proclamation dates, then switch to $50,000.
• Update your Pollution Incident Response Management Plan (PIRMP) and site procedures to reflect the new trigger when it starts. Train team and subcontractors.
• Clarify what counts toward the $50,000. Include plant damage and reasonable clean-up, prevention and mitigation costs in your tally.
• Keep notifying for non-trivial harm even if costs are under $50,000. The harm element is unchanged.
• Watch for regulations that may exclude some incident classes from notification and update procedures again when they land.
• Check your consent conditions. If they still reference $10,000, seek a modification or keep notifying at $10,000 until varied.

Practical on-site takeaways

• Do a quick impact check first: any non-trivial risk to people or ecosystems means notify, regardless of dollars.
• Keep a running cost log during response so you know if you cross the threshold.
• Update contact information and emergency boards with the correct agency contacts.

Bottom line

NSW is lifting the cost trigger to $50,000 to focus reporting on material events. The harm test still applies. Update your PIRMP, call lists and training, and keep an eye on commencement and any new regulations before changing your notification practice.
 

^{Author: Steven Swan}