About Joshua

Joshua practices in all areas of environmental and planning law. He advises public and private sector clients on environmental planning and approval processes, liabilities under environmental legislation and environmental incidents, contaminated land, compulsory acquisition, native title, waste law, water law, Crown Land, environmental due diligence and statutory processes.

He is a qualified environmental engineer and has particular interest, experience and skills in advising on and documenting environmental, planning and land access matters in the context of infrastructure, remediation and construction projects, and property transactions; advising on contaminated land, waste and environmental liabilities; and assisting government departments, agencies and local councils with complex procurement processes, including by drafting procurement documentation and advising on probity and process issues.

Joshua is recommended by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2023) guide for his work in Environment & Planning.

Experience

  • One stop shop for environmental approvals
    Advising the Commonwealth Department of the Environment on the drafting of bilateral agreements between the Commonwealth and each State and Territory Government to enable a single environmental assessment and approval process where the EPBC Act assessment and approval process would otherwise apply concurrently with the state and territory process.
  • Riverina Intermodal Freight Logistics Hub
    The facility involves the construction and operation of new rail sidings, hard stand, intermodal facilities and related road infrastructure in Wagga Wagga, to expand the rail freight capacity in the Riverina. Joshua has been advising on: procurement structure and risk under the State Government’s PPP guidelines and the Local Government Act, land access issues and property acquisitions, approvals strategy, management of risks under the Rail Safety National Law, and managing those risks contractually, contractual delivery documents and planning and operational issues.
  • Redevelopment of former BHP Steelworks site, Newcastle
    This project involves the redevelopment of the 150Ha former BHPB Steelworks Site in Newcastle. The project originally involved the development of port, intermodal, rail and commercial facilities. Joshua has advised on: the procurement strategy, the drafting and negotiation of the PDA, the management of key risks, in particular interface risks across the site, the management of contamination risks through property and planning controls, the management of existing tenancies and commitments, and a planning approvals strategy. The PDA that was ultimately signed required the delivery of site infrastructure, obtaining planning approvals, detailed design processes and delivery of the intermodal and commercial facilities.
  • Northern Sydney Councils Waste Services Contract
    This project involves the joint procurement for a long-term contract for waste disposal and processing services by 5 Northern Sydney Councils. Joshua has advised on the establishment of a waste alliance including Ministerial consent requirements under s348 of the Local Government Act, drafting and advising on procurement documentation and process, and drafting and negotiating contractual documents for the delivery of the waste services.
  • Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval
    Forestry operations in NSW are subject to extensive environmental approvals. The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is coordinating a process to renegotiate and re-write the approvals so they are integrated in one document. Joshua has been drafting the approval document, and associated protocols to address the requirements of relevant stakeholders and achieve the EPA’s objective of creating an approval that is concise, clear and readily available for use by workers in the field.

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