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Reports and statistics

Annual reports on operation of the Act

The Department must prepare, on an annual basis, a report for the Minister on the operation of the Act.

Annual reports of all Commonwealth agencies

The annual reports of Commonwealth departments, Parliamentary departments, Commonwealth authorities, Commonwealth companies and other Commonwealth agencies must under Section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, all now include a report on environmental matters in their annual reports.

The annual reports must:

  • report how the agency's activities have accorded with the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD)
  • identify how their departmental outcomes contributed to ESD
  • document the agency's impacts upon the environment and measures taken to minimise those impacts
  • identify the review mechanisms in place to review and increase the measures the agency takes to minimise its impact upon the environment

Guidelines and criteria

Section 516A Reporting Guidelines assist Commonwealth agencies in implementing Section 516A. The additional guidance helps agencies decide which of their activities to report on. Sets of generic indicators to assist agencies with on-going monitoring of their ESD and environmental performance have also been provided.

State of the environment (SoE) reporting

Every five years, the Minister must instruct the Department of Sustatinability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to prepare a state of the environment report for Australia. The Minister must table this report in Parliament.

Independent review of the Act

Within ten years of the Act's commencement, the Minister must establish an independent review of the Act's operation, and the extent to which the Act has met its objectives. This review reports to the Minister, who then tables the report in Parliament.

These reviews must be undertaken at least every ten years.

Statistical information on referrals, assessments and approvals

The Department provides statistical information on referrals, assessments and approvals since the commencement of the EPBC Act on 16 July 2000.