EPBC Act Policy Statement - Staged Developments - Split referrals: Section 74A of the EPBC Act

Overview

The purpose of this Policy Statement is to help identify whether a referred action is a 'split referral' and, if so, whether it should be treated as part of a larger non-referred action or treated separately as a component of a larger action.

Section 74A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 ('the EPBC Act') provides that the Minister responsible for the administration of that Act or the Minister's delegate (the Minister), may refuse to accept a 'split referral'. However, in practice, the proponent is frequently encouraged to withdraw and re-submit their referral.