Department of the Environment and Water Resources annual report 2006–07

Volume two
Department of the Environment and Water Resources, 2007
ISSN 1441-9335

Legislation annual reports 2006–07 (continued)

Operation of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (continued)

Table 1: Overview of referrals, assessments and approvals
Referrals	2006—07	Total ¹
Total referrals received	347	2,278
Referrals being processed at 1 July 2006	36	N/A
Referrals withdrawn or lapsed before decision	8	45
Action clearly unacceptable	0	0
Referral decisions made (after reconsideration)	336	2,194
Approval required—controlled action	73	495
Approval not required—action to be taken in a particular manner	75	358
Approval not required—no conditions on action	188	1,341
Referrals being processed at 30 June 2007	39	39
Controlled actions
Total controlled actions (after reconsideration)	73	495
Assessments/recommendation reports completed	39	224
Under bilateral agreements	12	26
Preliminary documentation	20	142
Public environment report	2	8
Environmental impact statement	2	15
Referral information	0	0
Public inquiry	0	0
Accredited assessment	3	33
Approval decisions
Total approval decisions	45	196
Approved with no conditions	0	10
Approved with conditions	44	182
Approval not granted	1	4
Note: ¹ Since the commencement of the EPBC Act in July 2000.

Table 2: Referrals, referral decisions and reconsideration of decisions
Referrals
Referrals being processed at 1 July 2006	36
Referrals received 2006—07	347
Deemed referrals	0
Referrals withdrawn or lapsed before decision	8¹
Referral decisions made (initial decisions, before reconsideration)	336
Approval required—controlled action	74
Approval not required—action to be taken in a particular manner	74
Approval not required—no conditions on action	188
Referrals being processed at 30 June 2007	39
Reconsideration of decisions
Reconsideration decisions being processed at 1 July 2006	0
Reconsideration requests received 2006—07	7
Reconsideration decisions made	7
No change in decision	3
Controlled action decision changed to not controlled action	0
Controlled action decision changed to action to be taken in a particular manner	3
Not controlled action decision changed to action to be taken in a particular manner	0
Particular manner decision changed to new manner	1
Controlled action decision changed to revised controlling provisions	0
Not controlled action decision changed to controlled action	0
Particular manner decision changed to not controlled action	0
Particular manner decision changed to controlled action	0
Reconsiderations pending at 30 June 2007	0
Note: ¹ This number was wrongly reported in 2005—06. The correct number was 7 not 47.

Table 3: Referrals and referral decisions made by jurisdiction¹
	Referrals received in 2006—07	Decisions made in 2006—07			Total decisions
		Approval required	Approval not required
		CA ²	PM ³	NCA ⁴
Antarctica	1	0	2		2
Christmas Island	4	0	1	3	4
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	1	0	0	2	2
Commonwealth marine areas	19	1	10	7	18
Norfolk Island	5	0	1	2	3
ACT	9		1	6	7
NSW	49	18	9	19	46
NT	15	5	2	9	16
Qld	92	26	11	53	90
SA	24	3	1	15	19
Tas	15	2	1	13	16
Vic	60	5	20	41	66
WA	53	14	15	18	47
Total	347	74	74	188	336
Notes: ¹ The counts of referrals received and of decisions made relate to events occurring in 2006—07 before reconsideration. However some decisions made in 2006—07 may relate to referrals received in earlier years. ² CA = controlled action. ³ PM = particular manner. Refers to decisions made by the minister under section 77(3) that an action is not a controlled action if taken in a particular manner. ⁴ NCA = not a controlled action.

Table 4: Referrals and referral decisions by activity category ¹
	Referrals received in 2006—07	Decisions made in 2006—07			Total decisions
		Approval required	Approval not required
		CA ²	PM ³	NCA ⁴
Agriculture and forestry	3	0	0	4	4
Aquaculture	3	0	0	3	3
Commercial development	23	7	4	11	22
Commonwealth	6	0	0	5	5
Energy generation and supply (non-renewable)	17	5	3	11	19
Energy generation and supply (renewable)	9	0	0	12	12
Exploration (mineral, oil and gas—marine)	31	0	21	7	28
Exploration (mineral, oil and gas— non-marine)	1	0	0	1	1
Manufacturing	3	1	0	3	4
Mining	46	15	3	29	47
Natural resources management	11	3	4	4	11
Residential development	66	24	14	23	61
Science and research	9	0	2	7	9
Telecommunications	3	1	1	2	4
Tourism and recreation	29	5	8	16	29
Transport—land	28	2	4	17	23
Transport—water	9	2	2	3	7
Waste management (non-sewerage)	3	0	1	2	3
Waste management (sewerage)	9	0	2	10	12
Water management and use	38	9	5	18	32
Total	347	74	74	188	336
Notes: ¹ The counts of referrals received and of decisions made relate to events occurring in 2006—07 before reconsideration. However some decisions made in 2006—07 may relate to referrals received in earlier years. ²2 CA = controlled action. ³ PM = particular manner. Refers to decisions made by the minister under section 77(3) that an action is not a controlled action if taken in a particular manner. ⁴ NCA = not a controlled action.

Table 5: Number of matters protected by the EPBC Act for which adverse impacts have been addressed ¹
	Matter protected	Nominal controlled action²	Controlled action
Division 1	Matters of national environmental significance
Section 12	World heritage values of a world heritage listed property	7	12
Section 15B	National heritage values of a national heritage listed place	1	0
Section 16	Ecological character of a declared Ramsar wetland	9	17
Section 18	Listed threatened species or ecological community	64	65
Section 20	Listed migratory species	35	23
Section 21	Nuclear activities with a significant impact on the environment	0	1
Section 23	Commonwealth marine environment	23	5
Division 2	Proposals involving the Commonwealth
Section 26	Commonwealth land	6	3
Section 27B	Activities involving Commonwealth heritage listed places overseas	0	0
Section 28	Commonwealth or Commonwealth agency activity	4	1
Total		149	127
Notes: ¹ Numbers of matters protected are after reconsideration of decisions. ² Arising from decisions made by the minister under section 77(3) that an action is not a controlled action if taken in a particular manner.

Table 6: Decisions on assessment approach and assessments by type of assessment
	Level of assessment decided in 2006—07	Assessments completed in 2006—07	Recommendation reports completed in 2006—07	Assessments in progress at 30 June 2007	Recommendation reports in progress at 30 June 2007
Commonwealth assessments
Preliminary documentation	44	19	1	29	4
Referral information	1	0	0	1	0
Public environment report	6	2	0	11	0
Environmental impact statement	1	2	0	5	0
Public inquiry	0	0	Not applicable	0	Not applicable
State/territory assessments
Bilateral agreement	26	12	Not applicable	39	Not applicable
Accredited assessment	1	3	Not applicable	25	Not applicable
Total	79	38	1	110	4

Table 7: Approvals
Type of approval	Number of approvals
Approved with no conditions	0
Approved with conditions	44
Approval not granted	1
Total decisions	45
Awaiting approval at 30 June 2007	6
Awaiting section 130(1B) notice from state/territory¹	13
Awaiting further information from proponent ²	4
Notes: ¹ Applies to the approval process in operation prior to the February 2007 amendments to the EPBC Act. The amended section 130(1B) no longer requires these notices. The new section 132A allows the minister to request notices from appropriate state/territory ministers about certain actions. ² Where the minister believes, on reasonable grounds, that he or she does not have enough information to make an informed decision to approve an action, the minister may request further information under section 132. In these cases the approval process statutory timeframe is stopped until all of the information requested is received (section 130(5)).

Table 8: Advice requested and provided under section 160
Authorisation provision	Requests for advice	Advice not required	Assessment completed	Advice provided
Airspace management	0	0	0	0
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority permit/authority	0	0	0	0
Airport major development plan	11	3	5	7
Sea dumping permit	0	0	0	0
Total	11	3	5	7

Approvals granted 2006—07

Arafura Resources NL—Open cut gold mine, Pine Creek, NT

Aztec Resources Ltd—Iron ore mine, Kimberley region, WA

Baillie Lodges—Southern Ocean Lodge, Hanson Bay, Kangaroo Island, SA

Boyd Cook Cove—Cooks Cove development project, Cooks Cove, NSW

Callide Coalfields Pty Ltd—Coal mining lease 6993 (The Bluff), Biloela, Qld

Cape View Developments WA Pty Ltd—Cape View Resort at Lot 190 Little Colin Street, Busselton, WA

Cardwell Shire Council—Construction of breakwaters, Port Hinchinbrook Resort and Boat Harbour, Oyster Point, Qld

Cedar Woods Properties Ltd—Laverton activity centre and residential development, Laverton, Vic

Cooloola Shire Council—Construction of new landfill, Cooloola, Qld

CSR Ltd—Industrial development on Lot 141 DP843899 and Lot 5 DP1094504, Erskine Park Employment Area, Erskine Park, NSW

DBNGP (WA) Nominees Pty Ltd—Natural gas pipeline expansion, Dampier to Bunbury, WA

Department of Defence—Operation of 17 Tiger helicopters at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, NT

Department of Defence—Sale of Commonwealth land, Maribyrnong, Vic

Emirates Hotels Australia—Emirates tourist resort and associated facilities, Wolgan Valley, NSW

Ensham Resources P—Expansion of Ensham mine, Emerald, Qld

FKP Commercial Developments Pty Ltd—Industrial estate Cooper Road, Cambellfield, Vic

Forrester Residential Developments—Coolum Ridges subdivision and development, southern, Peregian Beach, Qld

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd—Cloud Break open pit iron ore mine, Pilbara, WA

Fraser Panarama Pty Ltd—Residential subdivision, Lot 2 on RP171875, Samarai Drive, Hervey Bay, Qld

Gunson Resources Ltd—Coburn mineral sand project, Shark Bay, WA

HEZ Pty Ltd—Development of the Hunter Economic Zone Industrial Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW

Kinsmen Ltd—Meningie canal-based housing development, Meningie, SA

Main Roads Western Australia—Construction of new Perth—Bunbury Highway project, Bunbury to Perth, WA

Matilda Minerals Ltd—Andranangoo Creek and Lethbridge Bay mineral sand mining, Tiwi Islands, NT

MIM Holdings Ltd—McArthur River mine expansion, McArthur River, NT

Mr Louis Campagnolo—Vegetation clearing, Kurrimine Beach, Qld

NCA Joint Venture—Wollombi open cut coal mine (Suttor Creek ML4761 Extension), near Glenden, Qld

New Acland Coal Pty Ltd—New Acland mine expansion, Darling Downs, Qld

Newcastle Port Corporation—Hunter River south arm dredging, Newcastle, NSW

Newnes Kaolin Pty Ltd—Newnes Kaolin friable sandstone mine project, Newnes Junction, NSW

Northern Territory Department of Planning and Infrastructure—Victoria Highway upgrade, Victoria River, NT

Oxiana Ltd—Prominent Hill copper—gold project, Prominent Hill, SA

Penola Pulp Pty Ltd—Pulp mill and associated infrastructure near Penola, SA

Queensland Department of Main Roads—Kuranda Range Road (Kennedy Highway) Upgrade, Kuranda, Qld

Queensland Parks and Wildlife—Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk, Lamington National Park, Qld

Southern Regional Water Pipeline Company—Southern Regional Water pipeline, south-east, Qld

Stockland Developments Pty Ltd—Residential development on a 929 hectare site located adjacent to the Bohle River and Bruce Highway, Bohle, Qld

Telstra Corporation Ltd—Telstra optic fibre cable installation, Jabiru—Rikurdji, NT

Territory Iron Ltd—Frances Creek iron ore mine, Frances Creek, NT

Watsons Pty Ltd—Wyndham Cove marina and residential development, Werribee South, Vic

Westfield Management Ltd—Development of Plenty Valley Town Centre, South Morang, VIC

Wind Power Pty Ltd—Bald Hills Wind Farm 80 turbines, Bald Hills, Tarwin Lower to Cape Liptrap Road, Vic

Woodside Energy Ltd—Site preparations, Burrup Peninsula, WA

Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd—Efficiency and growth increase of alumina production, Darling Plateau, WA

Approvals not granted 2006—07

Phosphate Resources Ltd—East Christmas Island phosphate mines (9 sites), Christmas Island

Awaiting approval 30 June 2007

Australian Pipeline Trust Group—275 kilometre gas pipeline from Wadeye to existing Darwin gas pipeline, Wadeye to Amadeus Basin, NT

Barry Humfrey—Development of land based tourist facilities on Long Island, Houtman Abrolhos Islands, WA

Humfrey Land Development—Tourism facility and associated infrastructure, Houtman Abrolhos Islands, WA

Luddenham Management Pty Ltd—Twin Creeks Estate stage 4, 26 rural residential allotments, Luddenham, NSW

Meridien Marinas Horizon Shores—Horizon Shores marina redevelopment, Steiglitz, Qld

Stockland Developments Pty Ltd—Residential subdivision and town centre development, Vincentia, Jervis Bay, NSW

Assessments completed 2006—07

Assessed by preliminary documentation

Aztec Resources Ltd—Iron ore mine, Kimberley Region, WA