OPC’s activities are fully described in Chapter 1 of this report.

Given that OPC did not administer any legislation during the year and OPC’s activities were undertaken largely on the instructions of clients, there was little scope for OPC’s activities to give effect to the principles of ecologically-sustainable development listed in section 3A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

However, OPC staff took opportunities in their drafting work to draw the attention of instructors to the long-term and short-term ecological implications of legislation embodying their instructions. This accords with the first of the principles listed in that section (“decision-making processes should effectively integrate both long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable considerations”).