Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

LEGISLATION REPORTING

Contents

All outcomes

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Outcome 1: Biodiversity and ecosystems

Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Act 1997

Outcome 2: Sustainable population and communities

Product Stewardship Act 2011

Product Stewardship (Oil) Act 2000

Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 272

Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989

Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989

Outcome 4: Sustainable water

Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005

Outcome 4: Sustainable water and Outcome 6: Commonwealth environmental water

Water Act 2007

Operation of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

• 
  This annual report has been prepared in accordance with section 516 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).
  It reports on the operation of the EPBC Act from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 against the main objectives of the Act, which are to:
  
• 
  provide a clear role for the Australian Government in the protection of the environment, especially on matters of national environmental significance; to enhance the protection of important species and ecosystems, natural and cultural values and places; and to conserve biodiversity (section 1.1)
  
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  control the international movement of wildlife trade and ensure the sustainable management of wildlife industries (section 1.2)
  
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  protect and manage marine and terrestrial areas (section 1.3)
  
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  work towards promoting ecologically sustainable development through increased intergovernmental cooperation and reduced duplication in environmental impact assessment through strategic approaches (section 2.1)
  
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  provide an efficient and effective assessment and approval process (section 2.2)
  
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  implement a comprehensive monitoring, audit, compliance and enforcement regime for all decisions taken (section 2.3).
  

As required, this annual report includes statistics on the operation of the EPBC Act, particularly compliance with statutory timeframes. This information, the membership of advisory committees and a list of EPBC Act publications produced in 2012–13 are contained in the appendices to this report. The report also provides an overview of regulatory reform activities relating to the future operation of the EPBC Act, including the proposed changes to the Act and its operational framework that were under development in 2012–13 (section 3).

The department’s activities relating to the operation of the EPBC Act are integral to achieving portfolio outcomes in a broad range of areas. These include the conservation and protection of biodiversity and ecosystems in terrestrial and marine areas and the conservation and preservation of Australia’s natural and human heritage. Consequently, some of these activities are also reported elsewhere in the department’s annual report.

Contents

Overview 212

1. Protecting the environment 214

1.1 Protecting matters of national environmental significance 214

World and National Heritage 216

Wetlands of international importance 217

Threatened species, ecological communities and migratory species 217

1.2 Wildlife trade and management 224

Live imports 224

Sustainable wildlife industries 224

Wildlife trade permits 225

Fisheries assessments and approvals 225

1.3 Protected areas 226

Commonwealth reserves 226

2. Promoting ecologically sustainable development 230

2.1 Strategic approaches 230

Strategic assessments 230

Marine bioregional planning 231

Assessment bilateral agreements 232

2.2 Environmental impact assessment 232

Referrals 233

Assessments and approvals 234

2.3 Compliance and enforcement 236

Working with others 237

Compliance audit plan 237

Breaches and investigations 238

Legal actions 240

3. EPBC Act regulatory reform 243

Legislation amendments 244

Appendices

Appendix A—Statistics 245

Appendix B—Committees 256

Appendix C—Publications 258

Appendix D—Key threatening processes and threat abatement plans 259

Overview

The EPBC Act is the Australian Government’s central environmental law. It provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places that are defined in the EPBC Act as ‘matters of national environmental significance’ (MNES).

The nine MNES to which the EPBC Act applies are:

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  World Heritage sites
  
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  National Heritage places
  
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  wetlands of international importance, or Ramsar wetlands
  
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  nationally threatened species and ecological communities
  
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  migratory species
  
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  Commonwealth marine areas
  
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  the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
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  nuclear actions
  
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  a water resource, in relation to coal seam gas and large coal mining development.*
  

* This matter was added under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment Act 2013, which received royal assent on 21 June 2013.

In addition, the EPBC Act regulates actions that have a significant impact on the environment where the actions affect, or are taken on, Commonwealth land or are carried out by a Commonwealth agency (even if that significant impact does not directly relate to one of the nine MNES).

A major Australian Government priority is to ensure that Australian environmental regulation, including the EPBC Act, continues to effectively address the challenges involved in combining sustainable economic development with effective environmental protection. This priority was reflected in many aspects of the department’s work relating to the EPBC Act in 2012–13.

In August 2011 the government released its response to the Independent Review of the EPBC Act. The department continues to implement the national environmental reform agenda. Refer to section 3, EPBC regulatory reform, in this report.

The government response to the Hawke Review of the EPBC Act was built around four key themes:

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  a shift from individual project approvals to strategic approaches including new regional environment plans
  
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  streamlined assessment and approval processes
  
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  better identification of national environmental assets
  
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  cooperative national standards and guidelines to harmonise approaches between jurisdictions and foster cooperation with all stakeholders.
  

An important part of the EPBC Act’s framework is the identification and listing of threatened species and ecological communities and key threatening processes. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) advises the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities on nominations for these listings. In 2012–13 the minister made listing decisions for 78 species and six ecological communities. These decisions resulted in new listings for 13 species and six ecological communities, including the first ever marine ecological community. Two species were downlisted to a lower category of threat, 12 were uplisted to a higher category of threat and 49 species were delisted. In addition, two species were deemed ineligible for listing. At 30 June 2013, 1756 species, 62 ecological communities and 20 key threatening processes were listed under the EPBC Act. During 2012–13, 494 recovery plans were in place, including 26 plans that were made or adopted in that period. At 30 June 2013, 122 recovery plans were in preparation.

To clarify the requirements and process for nomination of Ramsar wetlands, Australian Ramsar site nomination guidelines were produced. At 30 June 2013 Australia had 65 Ramsar wetlands covering around 8.1 million hectares.

World and National Heritage

International interest in Australia’s environment was highlighted by a joint monitoring mission by the World Heritage Centre and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in March 2012. The department is responding to the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

The World Heritage Committee has recommended several actions for the Great Barrier Reef at its 36th and 37th sessions, including ensuring that the legislation protecting the property remains strong and adequate to maintain and enhance the Outstanding Universal Value of the Great Barrier Reef. Australia is requested to submit a State Party Report by 1 February 2014, which will be examined by the World Heritage Committee at its 38th Session in 2014. Other key developments relating to the protection of World Heritage sites during 2012–13 included:

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  The addition of 170 000 hectares and a minor boundary modification to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, known as Melaleuca–Cox Bight, now part of Southwest National Park. The Australian Government provided financial assistance for preparation of a management statement for the area and Melaleuca site and rehabilitation plan (including for its former mining sites) and some urgent remedial works.
  
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  The work towards a World Heritage nomination for appropriate areas of Cape York, subject to Traditional Owner consent. Community consultation was undertaken ahead of the preparation of a nomination document for submission to the World Heritage Centre.
  
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  The continued monitoring of rats and mice on Macquarie Island following the implementation of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project through support from Caring for our Country. After careful planning, baiting for these three pest species began in winter 2010. Ongoing monitoring has confirmed no sighting of rats and mice since the last bait drop in July 2011. On 18 June 2013 the World Heritage Committee expressed its satisfaction with the results of the program.
  
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  The provision of $20 million for the protection and promotion of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne.
  
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  A joint commission (with the New South Wales Department of Planning and Infrastructure and Parramatta City Council) for a study to identify, document and describe views and settings that are important to the World and National Heritage listed values of Old Government House and Domain, titled Development in Parramatta City and the Impact on Old Government House and Domain’s World
  and National Heritage Listed Values: Technical Report.
  

The department continued to assess large, complex and economically significant projects from all industry sectors under the EPBC Act in 2012–13. The department received 439 new referrals in 2012–13, and 118 referrals were determined to be controlled actions requiring further assessment and approval under the EPBC Act. A total of 193 referrals were determined not to be controlled actions and 96 referrals were determined not to be controlled actions subject to their being undertaken in a particular manner. Twenty nine per cent of proposals referred under the EPBC Act in 2012–13 were determined to require environmental impact assessment, compared with thirty five per cent in 2011–12.

In 2012–13, 81 proposals were approved under the EPBC Act, an increase on the 75 proposals approved in 2011–12. In 2012–13, 86 per cent of all statutory decisions under the EPBC Act were made within the statutory timeframes, the same percentage (86) for 2011–12 and slightly lower than the 90 per cent in 2010–11. In addition, the assessment framework strategic assessments under the EPBC Act provide a tool for reducing regulatory burden by considering Commonwealth and state or territory environmental planning issues in a single assessment process—refer to section 2.1.

Marine bioregional plans are used by the department in assessments under the EPBC Act (primarily relating to offshore proposals) to provide regional context—refer to section 2.1.

The department takes a strategic and active approach to ensuring compliance with the EPBC Act. The department’s monitoring and audit activities are undertaken under a Compliance Audit Plan, which involves both a Random Program and a Strategic Audit Program (based on higher environmental risk). The department also works closely with other Commonwealth, state and territory regulatory and enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting potential breaches of the EPBC Act.

The EPBC Act contains a range of enforcement mechanisms for managing suspected or identified instances of non-compliance and for reviewing the compliance of referred projects. These mechanisms include environmental audits, civil or criminal penalties for contraventions of the EPBC Act and remediation orders and determinations to repair or mitigate environmental damage. Section 2.3 details examples of the department’s use of enforcement and compliance mechanisms.

Further information on the department’s compliance and enforcement activities under the EPBC Act is in section 1.3 in relation to Commonwealth marine areas and in section 2.3 in relation to all other activities.