EPBC Act referral applications – FAQs

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) is the Australian Government’s central piece of environmental legislation. It provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places.

Two referrals have been submitted to the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and Energy, as follows:

1. A referral for the Remaining North West Transmission Developments (RNWTD), which covers the routes travelling through the Cressy, Sheffield, Burnie, Stowport, Highclere and Hampshire areas; and
2. A referral for the Staverton to Sheffield route.A separate referral was lodged for the Staverton to Hampshire route in October 2020 and is currently going through the assessment process.  

The referral for the RNWTD includes the route sections that are subject to assessment under the Major Infrastructure Development Approvals Act 1999 (Tas) (MIDAA). Accreditation of the MIDAA process for the assessment of Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) under the EPBC Act is being sought under this referral. Based on the findings of the referral assessment, it is expected that this referral will be considered a ‘controlled action’.

The Staverton to Sheffield route requires a separate application as the modifications to the existing infrastructure along this route are exempt from planning approval. This exemption prevents the accreditation of MIDAA for this route. Field surveys have provided a preliminary assessment that the activities to be undertaken along this route are unlikely to result in significant impacts on MNES. It is therefore likely that this referral will be considered ‘not a controlled action’, which means no further assessment would be required under the EPBC Act.

The EPBC Act is Australia's main environmental law. It provides a legal framework to protect and manage unique plants, animals, habitats and places. These include heritage sites, marine areas, some wetlands and listed threatened and migratory species.

The EPBC Act covers nine protected matters, referred to as ‘Matters of National Environmental Significance’ (MNES). Examples of Tasmanian fauna species that are protected under the EPBC Act are the Wedge-Tailed Eagle, Tasmanian Devil and swift parrot. 

A controlled action is when significant impacts could occur and the developer/proponent requires approval under the EPBC Act. 

Importantly, these impacts are considered significant before actions to avoid or mitigate them are taken in to account. In many cases, TasNetworks is seeking to completely avoid the impacts considered under the EPBC Act. Where this is not possible, TasNetworks will take action to mitigate, rehabilitate or offset these impacts.

If the MIDAA assessment process is accredited for assessment of impacts on MNES potentially affected by the RNWTD, the assessment of these impacts will be undertaken as part of a single Environmental Impact Statement.

The Commonwealth Minister for Environment will still make a decision in accordance with the EPBC Act. However, instead of a separate assessment report being prepared, a single assessment report developed by the Tasmanian Planning Commission will be used to make this decision. This streamlines the approvals process, allowing a timely decision on whether the project meets the environmental, cultural heritage and land-use planning approval requirements for approval.

The Commonwealth Minister for the Environment invites comments on referrals.

The Department of Agriculture, Water and Energy will list TasNetworks’ applications on its website and provide a ten business day window for public comment. Once published, referrals can be accessed through the EPBC website portal.

The Minister can only use comments relating to specific protected matters. To make your comment as helpful as possible, state:

• whether you believe the action is a controlled action
• why you believe it is or is not
• whether the proposed action has an impact on protected matters
• how the proposed action will have that impact
• which parts of the proposed project will have an impact on a particular protected matter.

A decision on whether the action is ‘a controlled action’ or ‘not a controlled action’ is made within 20 business days of receiving a valid referral (including the 10 business day public comment period). The outcome of the decision will be publicly available the Department of Agriculture, Water and Energy website.