The Commonwealth environmental impact assessment process is governed by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 ("EPBC Act"). This page provides tips and information which will assist you to lobby the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (“the Minister”) to “call in” a proposal that you believe should undergo an environmental impact assessment.

For more information on Commonwealth environmental impact assessment see; Commonwealth environmental impact assessment.

The information on this page also relates to information on Opportunities to participate in the EPBC Act and Helping to enforce the EPBC Act.

A member of the general public cannot refer another person's action to the Environment Minister. In other words, if you live down the road from someone who is planning to take an action that you believe triggers the EPBC Act, you cannot put in a referral for the action on their behalf even if you know they are unlikely to refer it themselves. However, you can ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts to “call in” the action.

When the Minister “calls in” an action, it means that a person will be requested to refer their action to DEWHA to determine whether it requires assessment by the Minister. The Minister is given this power in section 70 of the EPBC Act.

Download the proforma call in letter. It provides you with a framework for writing your call in letter. But you will need to add information relevant to the proposed activity, and the likely significant impact of it on Matters protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act. The rest of these steps outline how to do this.

Run a Protected Matters Search Report for the region. This report will provide you with information about the different EPBC Matters that may occur within the region that the action is going to be taken in (and may therefore be impacted on by the proposal). The Protected Matters Search Report is not definitive. In particular it may not be accurate for species that may occur in your area.

Plan your argument. Remember the EPBC Act trigger. What you need to argue is that someone is planning on taking an action that is likely to have a significant impact on matters protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act. But that they are also not planning on putting in a referral. So for this reason you are writing to the Minister to request that the action be called in. You do not need to argue that the proposed action should not be approved - this will come later. At this stage you just need to convince the Minister to call it in for assessment.

Start with the planned action:

• What is going to be done?
• How extensive it will be?
• Where it will be done?
• Who is planning to do it?

Do not make absolute statements about the planned action unless they come from published, public documents. For example, instead of stating that 'X is planning to …” you might chose to say that 'it appears from the information we have that X is planning to…'.

Then fill in details about matters protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act that are likely to be impacted on by the proposal. For this use the Protected Matters Search Report, and other quality information sources. Also list what you think the “controlling provisions” for the action should be. These should relate to the EPBC matters that you think will be most impacted by the planned proposal.

The controlling provisions for this action might be:

• ss12 & 15A (World Heritage Property)

• ss15B & 15C (National Heritage Place)

• ss16 & 17B (Ramsar wetland)

• ss 18 & 18A (threatened species or threatened ecological communities)

• ss 20 & 20A (migratory species)

• ss21 & 22A (Nuclear Action)

• ss23, 24 & 24A (Commonwealth Marine area)

• ss26 & 27A (Commonwealth Land)

• s28 (action by Commonwealth)

For more information on each of these areas see; Matters of National Environmental Significance.

Now you need to deal with the issue of 'significant impact'. This is the critical part of your letter. You need to argue how and why the action you have outlined is likely to have a 'significant impact' on the EPBC Act matters you have outlined. Focus on the main matters that are likely to be significantly impacted by the proposal. Use DEWHA's Significant Impact guidelines to frame your arguments. Provide as much relevant detail as you can.

Provide your contact details, so that DEWHA can call you if they would like more information. However, it is possible to write to DEWHA anonymously if you wish. You should also provide the details of the person who is planning to conduct the action if you have them, so that DEWHA can also contact them.

In your conclusion state clearly that you are requesting that the Minister exercise the Minister's power under section 70 of the EPBC Act, and 'call in' the action.

Send your letter to both DEWHA's Compliance and Enforcement Section, as well as the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts in Canberra. Ministers change from time to time. You can find the name and details of the current Minister for the Environment Heritage and the Arts on the DEWHA website

If you are having difficulties with this letter contact us, or you may wish to contact the DEWHA approvals and wildlife division - Email: compliance@environment.gov.au, phone: 1800 110 395.

This is also available in text version below if you do not have word.

Example call in letter (Word)

• Australian Government DEWHA Significant Impact Guidelines