Matthew Hamilton Baird,

BA, LLB, MEAINZ

2008 – 2012

2006 – Present

2005 – 2010

2005 – 2008

2005 – 2008

2003 – 2009

2009-2010

Chair Environment and Planning Law Group, Law Council of Australia (“LCA”).  The LCA is the legal professions national representative body. The Environment and Planning Law Group is Australia’s peak body on environmental law reform

Member Compliance and Enforcement Standing Committee, Commission on Environmental Law IUCN (World Conservation Union)

The World Conservation Union is the largest environmental network, including governments and NGOs. One of its standing groups is the Commission on Environmental Law (“CEL”). I work in the compliance and enforcement standing committee. This Commission works on law reform at an international level.

Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand  (NSW) Division Steering Committee 2005 – to 2010 (Member since 1992)

I have developed (with Nick Thomas, Partner, Clayton Utz) an Expert Witness Training Program first run in May 2008 in Sydney. Also I worked with the St James Ethics Centre to implement an ethical help line for environmental practitioners launched in October 2007.

NSW Editor Local Government Law Journal (Thomson)

Contributor and peer reviewer for articles.

Convenor Penalty Notice Group, Environmental Law Roundtable of Australia and New Zealand.

The Roundtable’s aim is to promote the harmonization of laws in Australasia. The Penalty Notice Group prepared a major law reform submission on the use of penalty notices for environmental offences. Submissions and seminars were held and a draft report was published in 2006. The final report was published in January 2008.

President National Environmental Law Association (NSW Division), Member National Executive NELA

NELA is the national multi-disciplinary body for environmental law reform. I have been active in this organisation since 1987, and the NSW President from 2003-2009.  NELA runs seminars and workshops on environmental and planning law.

Chair, Vincent Fairfax Fellowship Alumni

The Vincent Fairfax Fellowship is a program of the St James Ethics Centre and provides for an 18 month ethical leadership program. I attended this in 2000-2001.

Conferences – (Selected)

• Conference Chair and Organiser, “The Future of Environmental Law Symposium 2011”, A Symposium in honour of Hon Mahla Pearlman, Emeritus Professor Ben Boer and Professor Rob Fowler, Westin Hotel, Sydney, Australia, 25 November 2011.
• “Lessons from Fukushima – key lessons from Japan’s nuclear disaster”, LAWASIA 24^th Conference, Seoul, Korea, November 2011.
• “Cap and trade Schemes: How best to drive the clean energy revolution”, Clean Power Asia, Bangkok, Thailand, 28-30 June 2011.
• “The present status of the debate on the use of nuclear power in Australia”, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea, 5-6 November 2010.
• Speaker, “Copenhagen and beyond and the future of the Australian Emissions Trading Scheme”, NSW Young Lawyers, Sydney, 17 February 2010.
• Conference Chair and Organiser, “The Future of Environmental Law”, A Symposium in honour of Paul Stein AM, Westin Hotel, Sydney, Australia, 10 December 2009.
• Panel Chair, Presenter “Litigation for Climate Change”, LAWSIA 22^nd Conference, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 9-12 November 2009.
• Presenter, Australian Young Environmental Lawyer of the Year 2009, EPLA Conference, Sydney, October 2009.
• Guest Lecturer, “Liability for Climate Change”, “The CPRS Scheme”, Master of Environmental Law, Macquarie University, 30 September 2009.
• Presenter, “Managing Expert Witnesses”, Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulators Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, 16 September 2009.
• Presenter, Expert Witness Hypothetical, Associate Professional Certificate in Expert Evidence, Australian Property Institute (NSW), 29-31 July 2009, Sydney.
• Chair and presenter, VFF Annual Symposium, “Just us?”, Sydney, 26 July 2009.
• Presenter and organiser, Professional Course for Expert Witnesses, EIANZ, Sydney 28-29 May 2009.
• Invitee, Climate Change Workshop, ACCEL, University of Sydney, 28 February, 2009.
• Presenter, “Environmental Crime in the Land and Environment Court”, NSW Bar Association, Newcastle, 14 February 2009.
• Chair, Presenter, Climate Change and Carbon Trading, Darling Harbour, Sydney 17-18 November 2008.
• Climate Change Panel, LAWASIA Conference, KL, Malaysia, 31 October 2008
• Presenter, “Legal Liability for Climate Change – Should the Polluters Pay?”, Environment and Planning Law Association of NSW,  Annual Conference, Byron Bay, 18 October 2008.
• Presenter, “Legal Liability for Climate Change – Should the Polluters Pay?”, UK Environmental Law Association, London, UK, 8 October 2008.
• Chair and Presenter, Carbon Trading, Clean Energy and the Cost of Inaction, Legalwise, Darling Harbour, Sydney, June 26 & 27, 2008
• Presenter, “Legal Liability for Climate Change”, Climate Law Conference, ANU, Canberra 19-20 June 2008.
• Guest speaker, “Legal Liability for Climate Change”, Holding Redlich, Sydney, June 2008
• Organizer and Presenter, EIANZ 2 day seminar on Professional Practice in the Land and Environment Court, Sydney, May 2008
• Presenter, “Liability for Climate Change”, with Prof. Matthew England, NELA/Decaons, Sydney, May 2008
• Presenter, “Biobanking in NSW – All You Need to Know – the legal aspects”, NSW Young Lawyers, Sydney, March 2008
• Presenter, Associate Professional Certificate in Expert Evidence, Australian Property Institute, Sydney, March 2008
• Presenter, “Climate Change Litigation”, NSW Bar Association, CPD Course, Sydney, 15 March 2008.
• Presenter, “Climate Change Litigation”, NSW Bar Association, CPD Course, Canberra, 8 March 2008.
• Presenter, Trends in sentencing in the NSW Land and Environment Court, Land and Environment Court Update, Legalwise Seminars, Sydney, 4 March 2008.
• Presenter, “Climate Change Litigation”, NSW Bar Association, CPD Course, Parramatta, 23 February 2008.
• Delegate and NELA Representative, IUCN Oceania Regional Meeting, Wellington, NZ, July 2007.
• Presenter, “The Use of Administrative Penalties for Environmental Offences in Australia and New Zealand”. LAWASIA 20^th Biennial Conference Hong Kong, June 2007.
• Delegate, IUCN Commission on Environmental Law 4^th Annual Colloquium on Environmental Law, PACE University New York, October 2006.

Some earlier conferences:

• Presenter, 13th LAWASIA Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1993, “Agenda 21: The role of NGOs in the Implementation of Agenda 21 in the Asia-Pacific Region”
• Presenter, International Symposium on Environmental Law, Wuhan, PRC, 17-21 November, 1992. Talk on human rights and environmental law.
• Presenter , Public Interest Law Conference, Eugene, Oregon, USA, March 1992. Presented two talks. “Environmental Law and Policy in Australia” and “Environmental Legislators”.
• Presenter, Delegate, All-Asia Public Interest Law Conference, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, 1-8 December 1991 With Nicola Pain, , took part in a 40 person, invitation-only conference on public interest law. Delegates from 16 Asian and South East Asian countries attended.
• Presenter, 1991 Public Interest Law Conference, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America, March 1991. Panel entitled “Australian Environmental Law”.

Conferences – selected

• Guest speaker, Hunters Hill Trust, 40^th AGM, “Winners and losers – the new planning amendments”
• Presenter, “Legal Liability for Climate Change – Should the polluters pay?”, Legalwise, Sydney, November 2007.
• Interlocutor, “Legal Impacts of Climate Change”, NSW Bar Association, October 2007.
• Presenter, “Running Merit Appeals in the Land and Environment Court of NSW”, Joint NELA and Bar Association Seminar, April 2007.
• Presenter, Keeping up to Date with Environmental Regulation & Legislation, EIANZ, Sydney, September 2007
• Chair, Environmental Crime Seminar, Joint NELA and NSW Bar Association Seminar, Sydney, March 2007.
• Presenter, Associate Professional Certificate in Expert Evidence, Australian Property Institute, Sydney, November 2006.
• Presenter, Paper on Penalty Infringement Notices, 3^rd meeting Environmental Law Roundtable of Australia and New Zealand, Sydney, November 2005.
• Panel Chair, 2005 National Environmental Law Association Annual Conference, Canberra.
• Presenter, Environmental Obligations under NSW Pollution Legislation, Integral Energy, Nov 2005.
• Delegate and rapporteur, UK-Australia Future Leaders Dialogue, Sydney, 2004
• Presenter, How to run a Senate Campaign, Channel 7, Parliament House, Canberra, July 2004
• Presenter, Environmental Crime, Prosecutions and Defence of Criminal Proceedings in the L&E Court of NSW, NSW College of Law, Sydney, 2003.
• Presenter, International Symposium on Tropical Savannas, Townsville, May 1994, “A vision for Cape York Peninsula: 200 years plus 40,000”.
• Presenter, 1991 Australian Public Interest Law Conference. Paper entitled “Campaigning in the Environmental Interest”, August 31 and September 1, 1991. Macquarie University.
• Presenter, 1990 Australian Public Interest Law Conference, Welcoming Speech and paper entitled “Aspects of Public Interest Litigation”, October 5 and 6, 1990. University of Sydney, Holme Building.

Selected Published Works – Since 2003

• NSW Policy and Practice (2008) 14 LGLJ 17-32
• Letter to the Editor on proposed amendments to the EP& A Act (2008) 14 LGLJ 5
•  “Attacks on Judiciary Undermine Civil Society” and Update (2007) 12 LGLJ 226
• Local Government Law Journal Update and LEC Planning Principles, (2007) 12 LGLJ 139
• A comment on the draft report of the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the conservation of Australia’s heritage places (2006) 23 EPLJ 280
• NSW Land and Environment Court Update (2006) 11 LGLJ 197
• The end of Hope? An assessment of the draft report of the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the conservation of Australia’s heritage places (2006) 11 LGLJ 200
• Policy and Practice – New South Wales (2005) 10 LGLJ 172
• Construction Certificates and Challenges to their Validity (2005) 10 LGLJ 173
•  “The EPBC Act and Ramsar wetlands; an examination of the Greentree decisions”, National Environmental Law Review, September 2004.
•  “The Case for the Defence”, Prosecutions and Defence of Criminal Proceedings in the L&E Court, NSW College of Law, November 2003.

• An assessment of the draft report of the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the conservation of Australia’s heritage places (2005) 5 NELR 17

National Environmental Law Association (NELA), 1988 to date.

President NELA (NSW Division), 2003 to 2009.

Member National Executive, 2003 to 2009.

LAWASIA 1992 to date.

Deputy Chair Environmental Law Committee, since 2001.

Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ), 1992 to date.

NSW Division Steering Committee 2005 to 2010.

Environment and Planning Law Association  (NSW), 1994 to date.

Environmental Defenders Offfice, 1994 to date.

International Commission of Jurists, 1990 to date.

Australian Institute of Company Directors, 2001 to date.