This page provides information about how you can help support the proper administration of environmental laws under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (“EPBC Act”) process. If you would like to read more general information you can see our environmental [[articles:habitat_and_biodiversity:threatened_species_cth|impact assessment under the EPBC Act or habitat and biodiversity protection under the EPBC Act]].

The information on this page also relates to information on EPBC Act - Lobbying the Minister to call in a proposal and Helping to enforce the EPBC Act.

There are a number of opportunities for the community to comment under the EPBC Act. Some of the more important opportunities include commenting on:

• whether actions trigger the EPBC Act at the referral stage;

• the EPBC Act impact assessment, and whether referred actions should be approved, and on what conditions

• strategic assessments;

• permit applications;

• assessments carried out in relation to wildlife trade;

• whether species or heritage places should be listed on EPBC Act lists.

This page provides information and tips on participating in each of these stages.

The Australian Government Department of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts (“DEWHA”) maintains an extensive database of documents and information relating to invitations for public comment and referrals under the EPBC Act.

There is some helpful information on how to find and use this resource here; Public notifications about referrals and assessment decisions.

The opportunities for public involvement in the EPBC Act assessment process depend largely on the method of assessment chosen. Assessments are carried out by proponents, and the opportunities to comment on them are usually posted in the DEWHA database.

Where assessments are carried out by way of public environment report or environmental impact statement, the Minister must prepare guidelines for the content of the report or statement, and may invite the public to comment on the draft guidelines for the assessment. Notice of the invitation to comment on guidelines is given in the ”Public Notifications relating to Referrals” database.

Where assessments are carried out by way of preliminary documentation, public environment report or environmental impact statement, members of the public are also given an opportunity to provide comments on:

• the accuracy and completeness of draft assessment documentation (ie draft preliminary documentation, report or statement); and
• whether a proposed action should be approved and,
• if it is approved, what conditions should be attached to the approval.

After the close of the public submission phase, the proponent of the action must finalise the assessment documentation after taking into account the public comments. The final assessment documentation is then submitted to the Minister, along with copies of all public submissions.

After the final assessment documentation has been submitted, the Secretary of DEWHA must prepare a report (called a “recommendation report”) on the proposed action and give it to the Minister. This recommendation report must be provided on request to the public at a reasonable cost, although there are various exemptions to this, including where the Secretary is satisfied that the information is commercial-in-confidence.

The opportunities for public involvement in assessments carried out by way of public inquiry or an accredited assessment approach are slightly different from those described in the previous section.

With respect to public inquiries, whether and how members of the public can participate in public inquiries is at the discretion of the commissioners. In most cases, it is likely that the public will be able to make both written and verbal submissions to the inquiry. However, there is no set procedure and the opportunities for public involvement will vary.

Similarly, the opportunities for public involvement in an accredited assessment approach will depend upon the nature of the Australian Government, State or Territory process that is accredited. However, in most cases, it can be expected that members of the public will at least be given an opportunity to make submissions on draft assessment documentation and whether the relevant action should be approved.

At the completion of a public inquiry or accredited assessment, the assessors will provide the Minister with a report on the relevant impacts of the action. The Minister will then use this report as the basis of the Minister's decision on whether or not to approve the action.

With assessment under the EPBC Act, it is the proponent who will conduct the assessment, produce a draft assessment report, and put out a request for public comments on the draft report. The steps below are relevant to any of the assessment processes that allow public comment on assessment documentation (eg PER, EIS etc).

The Minister for the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts may decide to allow the public to make comments on the draft assessment report. If this occurs you will be able to obtain a copy of the draft assessment report from DEWHA website. You may also be able to purchase a hard copy, often for a nominal fee.

Read the document carefully. Remember that the assessment is supposed to focus on how the action in question is likely to have a significant impact on the various relevant matters protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act. The relevant matters are those matters that the Minister has called the “controlling provisions” of the action when making the 'controlled action' decision. While reading, keep the following in mind:

• Is the description of the proposal adequate?
• Have all relevant issues and environmental impacts, both short term and long term, been adequately identified?
• Have adequate mitigation measures been identified?
• Have all important alternatives been adequately evaluated?
• Is the information presented in the draft report accurate?
• Are the sources of the information reliable?
• Is any of the information misleading?
• Has the assessment addressed all of the points in the guidelines set by the Minister?

Start writing your submission. Remember to clearly state the referral number and name of the referral. In your submission, you need to address any of the issues raised above, as well as argue for why the proposed action should be approved or not approved, and what sort of conditions should be imposed on the action if it is approved. This will include addressing:

• What are the likely impacts of the proposed action on the matters protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act that are relevant in this case?
• What economic and social impacts will the proposed action have?
• Are there details of the proponent's history concerning environmental matters that may be relevant to the approval decision? (For example, previous convictions for environmental offences.) [Note that any allegations concerning a person's environmental history must be supported by reliable evidence. If allegations are made without reliable supporting evidence, you may be liable for defaming the proponent.]
• Is approving the proposed action consistent with Australia's international legal obligations under relevant international conventions?
• If the action requires approval because of its potential impacts on listed threatened species and ecological communities, will the proposed action involve a contravention of a relevant recovery plan or threat abatement plan that has been approved under the Act?
• If the proposal is approved, what matters should be protected and how should they be protected? (eg. What types of mitigation measures should be implemented? What conditions should be imposed on the approval? Should the suggested conditions include monitoring and reporting requirements concerning the state of relevant aspects of the environment?)

You do not need to address all of the above - just those that are relevant and that you feel you can make useful comment on.

It is also useful to check the following, prior to sending your comments in:

• Have I specified the exact reasons for any objections?
• Do I need to attach any additional information?
• Have I supported all claims with reliable evidence (eg. scientific papers and government reports) and relevant accompanying information (eg. photographs and maps)?
• If the submission is long, have I included a summary?
• Have I included my contact details on the submission?

Send your comments to the proponent of the action; the address should be specified on the advertisements inviting comment. It is also important to send a copy of your submission to DEWHA directly.

Strategic assessments allow “potential actions” under a particular policy, program or plan to be approved. They generally are used when a State Government would like the Federal Government to approve a series of related developments upfront. It follows that commenting on a strategic assessment is very important.

For more general information on strategic assessments under the EPBC Act see Strategic impact assessments under the EPBC Act.

The stages of a strategic assessment that are open to public comment include:

1. Agreement stage: The Act provides an option for the Commonwealth Minister for Environment to seek public comment on the terms reference.
2. Draft strategic impact assessment report: This report is prepared in response to the terms of reference. This must be exhibited for public comment for a period of at least 28 days. There is discretion under the Act to allow for more than 28 days consultation.

Following this the “endorsement” and “approval” phases occur. They do not allow public comment, and therefore it is crucial that you participate in the early phases of this process. You should read the summary of what the Minister must consider when making these decisions here: approval.

Matters the Minister will consider when deciding whether to give approval under a strategic assessment:

• Matters relevant to protected matters (threatened species and communities in this case).
• Economic and social matters.
• The principles of ecologically sustainable development.

In addition, in considering whether to approve the taking of a class of actions which relates to threatened species or communities the EPBC Act provides that the Minister “must not act inconsistently” with:

• Australia’s obligations under the Biodiversity Convention
• A recovery plan or threat abatement plan (note that recovery plans are only in place for some species).

In addition, the Minister “must have regard to” any “approved conservation advice” – this is effectively the advice of the Scientific Committee which accompanied the listing decision for a species or community and will be particularly relevant where there is no recovery plan in place.

It is important to note that, unlike decisions about whether to approve individual actions under the Act, the cumulative consequences of decisions under a strategic assessment can be considered.

Download a copy of the draft terms of reference from the DEWHA website. Important things to consider when commenting on these terms of reference include:

• Have all important issues been referred to?
• Are the terms of reference sufficiently specific?

Important matters for members of the public to consider when commenting on the draft proponent's report include:

• Does the draft report comply with its terms of reference?
• Is the description of the proposal adequate?
• Have all relevant issues and environmental impacts, both short term and long term, been adequately identified?
• Have adequate mitigation measures been identified?
• Have all important alternatives been adequately evaluated?
• Is the information presented in the draft report accurate?
• Are the sources of information reliable?

In both situations, it is also useful to check the following prior to sending in your comments:

• Have I specified the exact reasons for any objections?
• Do I need to attach any additional information?
• Have I supported all claims with reliable evidence (eg. scientific papers and government reports) and relevant accompanying information (eg. photographs and maps)?
• Have I included a summary (if the submission is long)?
• Have I included my contact details on the submission?

The aim of this page is to give you some basic tips to help you create effective EPBC Act submissions.

• Always quote the EPBC Reference Number and Title;
• Type your submission if you can, and if you cannot ensure it is legible and as structured and succinct as possible;
• Email and post are both equally acceptable methods of submission;
• If commenting on a referral you should use the DEWHA Significant Impact Guidelines as checklist to determine what is likely to have a significant impact on a protected matter.

Try to narrow it down to a single sentence if possible. Your objective is why you are making a submission in the first place. Make sure you have an objective not a task:

Stopping the development = Task Demonstrating that the development will have a significant impact and that those impacts outweigh any social and economic gain = Objective

Remember the EPBC Act trigger. This must always be the basis for your argument.

Keeping the objective in mind, ask:

• Who is my audience (eg. DEWHA staff, the Minister)?
• What information do I have?
• What information do I need?
• Where can I get the information I need?
• Who can help me if I need help?
• What is my argument?

Read the tips to commenting at different stages of the EPBC Act referral and assessment process in this website, and get information you need, which could include:

• Referral documentation
• Assessment reports
• Protected Matters Search Report
• Any DEH information about the species or place (eg. recovery or management plan)
• Any other quality information relevant to EPBC matters

The framework is just the structure, not content of the submission. It lays out the structure of your argument.This is important as it allows you to:

• look for gaps in argument
• check for how the submission flows
• check to see if all of your points are relevant
• ensure that you have covered the important points first

Again you should be looking for gaps, not only in the information you are providing, but also gaps in logic. For example X did not necessarily cause Y just because Y happened after X occurred. Your arguments should flow, for example your findings should logically support your conclusions, and any recommendations should be supported by your conclusions.

We suggest that you undertake a review process at this point before you start to put in substantive content. Review your dot points and arguments and objectively evaluate your arguments. Are they logical and clear? Is your representation of the facts fair and impartial? Have you created any misconceptions, or left out information that is needed but doesn't support your argument? Ask yourself whether you have been fair. If you come across as unreasonably one sided then your audience is less likely to consider or adopt your point of view.

You should also review the dot points, keeping in mind who the audience is. Your submission should pitch to them, providing them with the information they need to know to make an informed assessment of the situation, and take your point of view seriously. While it is important that you not assume knowledge, you shouldn't bore them with too much irrelevant detail either.

Finally ask yourself if you've been reasonable. For example, asking for unrealistic conditions on an approval could have a negative impact on your entire submission.

It is only now that you should start to write the submission. Feel free to start with the bits you're sure about, rather then trying to start at the beginning and work all the way through. If you keep your objective firmly in mind while writing, you should be able to put the separate parts of the submission together into a conclusion, and have it sound cohesive. You should try to use your natural voice as much as possible, use plain non-emotive English and try not to repeat yourself.

If you get stuck, contact us for assistance.

• Australian Government - Department of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts - EPBC assessment process

• Australian Government - Department of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts - EPBC assessment process fact sheet