Department of The Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006 - 2007, Part 2

Legislation annual reports 2006–07
Department of the Environment and Water Resources Legislation Annual Reports 2006–07 VOLUME 2
3938 Design Direction
06–07
www.environment.gov.au
© Commonwealth of Australia 2007 Photo credits
ISSN 1441-9335 Cover images (back to front):
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may be reproduced by any process without prior NT – Allan Fox
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available from the Australian Government
Department of the Environment and Water Wilsons Promontory – John Baker
Resources. Bilby, endangered species
This set of annual reports comprises two Tree fern, south west Tasmania – Mark Mohell
volumes: Hume Dam – TJ Ierino
1. The annual report of the Department of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge –
Environment and Water Resources prepared Australian Scenics
in accordance with the Public Service Act
Seven Mile Beach – Merran Williams
1999
2. Annual legislation reports about Acts the Emperor penguins – Australian Antarctic
department administers (this volume). Division
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Assistant Secretary 109, 123 and 135.
Portfolio Policy and Advice Branch
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Leonie McMahon
Resources
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Electronic copies
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Electronic copies of this annual report are
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Marine Park Authority
Department of the
Environment and Water Resources
Volume 2
Legislation
Annual reports 2006–07
How to contact the department

Main office: John Gorton Building,
King Edward Terrace, Parkes ACT 2600
Post: GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 02 6274 1111
Fax: 02 6274 1666
Internet: www.environment.gov.au
About legislation annual reports
Some Acts that the Department of the Environment and Water Resources
administers require the department or minister to provide annual reports on their
operation to the parliament.
This volume of the annual report provides details on the operation of the seven
Acts the department administers that do not report separately. The reports in this
volume focus on how the statutory requirements of the Acts were met during the
reporting year, and how the Acts were administered.
These Acts are:
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
• Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000
• Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989
• Product Stewardship (Oil) Act 2000
• Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986
• Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005
The department provides separate annual reports to the parliament for the
following legislation:
• Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Act 1997
• Environment Protection (Alligator Rivers Region) Act 1978 (the Supervising
Scientist’s annual report)
• National Environment Protection Council Act 1994
• Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area Conservation Act 1994
A summary of work related to the seven Acts in this volume, and details of how this
work contributed to the outcomes and outputs in the Portfolio Budget Statements
2006–07 and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2006–07 are contained in
Volume 1 of this set of annual reports.
Contents
Environment protection........................................ .......................................................... 1

Fuel quality...................................................................................................................... 81
Hazardous waste. ................................................... ........................................................ 93
Ozone protection. ....................................................................................................... 101
Oil recycling. ........................................................... ..................................................... 109
Movable heritage. .................................................. ..................................................... 123
Water efficiency...................................................... ..................................................... 135
Index. ................... .................................................... ..................................................... 141
Environment protection
1
Contents
Introduction. .......................................... ........................................................................ 4
Overview.......................................................................................................................... 4
1. Protecting environment and heritage. .......................................................... 9

1.1 Matters of national environmental significance......................................... 9
1.2 Proposals involving Commonwealth land and/or actions..................... 10
. Actions by the Australian Government and actions on Commonwealth land..... 10
. Advice on authorising actions............................................................................... 10
1.3 Intergovernmental cooperation.................................................................... 11
. Bilateral agreements.............................................................................................. 11
. Heritage management..................... ...................................................................... 11
. Species Information Partnerships.. ...................................................................... 12
. Marine. .................................................................................................................... 12
. National Partnership Approach for the Sustainable Harvest
of Marine Turtles and Dugongs in Australia........................................................ 12
1.4 Assessment and approval process. ............................................................... 14
. Referrals ................................................................................................................. 14
. Assessment of controlled actions ........................................................................ 1 6
. Approvals ......................................... ...................................................................... 17
. Post referral and approval verification, monitoring and auditing .................... 17
. Fisheries assessment and approval processes . .................................................. 20
. Wildlife trade. ......................................................................................................... 20
1.5 Transparency and public awareness. ........................................................... 21
. Increasing stakeholder and public awareness. ................................................... 21
. Strategic assessments and regional planning...................................................... 23
. Strategic state and local planning... ...................................................................... 24
. Advisory committees............................................................................................. 25
2. Conserving biodiversity................................................................................... 28
2.1 Identifying and monitoring biodiversity and making
bioregional plans. ......................... ...................................................................... 28
. Inventories of listed threatened species etc. on Commonwealth land
(section 172)..................................... ...................................................................... 28
. Surveys of cetaceans, listed threatened species etc. in Commonwealth
marine areas (section 173).............. ...................................................................... 28
. Bioregional plans (section 176)............................................................................ 29
2 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

2.2 Protecting species and ecological communities...................................... 29
. Listed threatened species and ecological communities. ................................... 29
. Marine species................................................ ........................................................ 31
. Whales and other cetaceans. ................................................................................ 32
. Recovery plans and threat abatement plans (section 284 report).................... 33
. Wildlife conservation plans (section 298 report). .............................................. 35
. Exemptions under section 303A................... ........................................................ 35
2.3 International movement of wildlife..... ........................................................ 35
. Sustainable wildlife industries. ..................... ........................................................ 36
. Wildlife trade permits and programmes...... ........................................................ 37
2.4 Conservation agreements........................ ........................................................ 38
3. Managing heritage and protecting significant areas............................... 39
. Listing and managing heritage places in Australia.............................................. 39
. World heritage........................................................................................................ 39
National heritage.................................................................................................... 41
. Commonwealth heritage............................... ........................................................ 44
. Wetlands of international importance. ........ ........................................................ 46
. Biosphere reserves. ....................................... ........................................................ 46
. Commonwealth marine reserves. ................ ........................................................ 47
4. Monitoring and compliance. .......................................................................... 48
. Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Network......... 48
. Audit programme........................................... ........................................................ 48
. Compliance............................................................................................................. 49
. Investigations. ........................................................................................................ 51
. Prosecutions................................................... ........................................................ 52
. Review of decisions........................................ ........................................................ 54
5. Reporting.. .................................................... ........................................................ 56
. State of the Environment report.................. ........................................................ 56
. Section 516A report............................................................................................... 56
Appendix 1—Statistics on the operation of the EPBC Act in 2006–07................... 57
Appendix 2—EPBC Act related publications in 2006–07. ........................................ 73
Appendix 3—Functions and membership of advisory committees........................ 74
Appendix 4—Compliance with timeframes (section 518 report)........................... 78
3
Operation of the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Introduction
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 516 of the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It covers the
operation of the Act from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
The report examines the operation of the EPBC Act against its key priorities.
These are:
• ensuring a clear role for the Australian Government in protecting matters of
national environmental significance (addressed in part 1.1 of the report)
• providing effective protection of the environment in proposals involving the
Australian Government (part 1.2)
• increasing intergovernmental cooperation and reducing duplication (part 1.3)
• providing an efficient, timely and effective assessment and approval process
with certainty for stakeholders (part 1.4)
• increasing transparency and public awareness (part 1.5)
• taking an integrated approach to conserving biodiversity (part 2)
• managing heritage and protecting significant areas (part 3)
• implementing an excellent monitoring and compliance regime (part 4).
Overview
The Australian Government, through the operation of the EPBC Act, protects
matters of national environmental significance–namely the ecological character
of internationally important wetlands, nationally listed threatened species and
ecological communities, listed migratory species, the Commonwealth marine
environment, the values of properties in the World Heritage List, the values of places
in the National Heritage List and protection of the environment from the impact
of nuclear actions. The EPBC Act also provides protection for the environment
in relation to proposals involving Commonwealth land and regulates activities of
Australian Government agencies that might significantly impact on the environment.
In 2006–07 the Australian Government put in place significant changes to improve
the operation the EPBC Act.
The EPBC Act has been in operation for nearly seven years and during this time the Act
has gained wide acceptance by the Australian community, and has achieved real results
in protecting the environment. Nevertheless any piece of legislation can be improved

and on 7 December 2006 amendments to the Act were passed by parliament. The bulk
of the amendments commenced on 19 February 2007. The amendments:
• strengthen environment and heritage protection while streamlining some of
the provisions of the Act
• provide greater capacity and flexibility for more strategic approaches to be
employed for the protection of Australia’s environment and heritage
• eliminate unproductive ‘red tape’
• enable quicker and more strategic action to be taken on emerging
environmental issues
• make environmental decision-making more efficient and cost-effective
• provide greater certainty for industry, but in a way that ensures ecologically
sustainable development becomes an ongoing reality for Australia.
Further details are outlined throughout this report.
In the 2007–08 Budget the Australian Government Department of the
Environment and Water Resources received $70.6 million over four years in
new funding to strengthen protection for the environment. From this funding
the Approvals and Wildlife Division, which has principal responsibility for
administering the EPBC Act, will receive $16 million in 2007–08 (a 60 per cent
increase over funds available in 2006–07).
The funding will be used to improve administration of the Act, including by
addressing the findings of the Australian National Audit Office report on the
administration of the EPBC Act (The Conservation and Protection of National
Threatened Species and Ecological Communities, Audit Report No. 31, 2006–07).
(For more information on the audit, see the section on external scrutiny in the first
volume of this set of annual reports.)
Specifically, the increased funding will deliver substantial benefits in EPBC Act
administration by:
• improving timeliness and quality of assessments and approvals
• increasing compliance and investigation activity
• improving strategic planning and assessment tools such as bilateral agreements
with states and territories, strategic assessments, accredited plans and policy
advice
• improving quality, accuracy and currency of threatened species and habitat
data, and the statutory records required for impact assessment
• improving environmental data and information for proponents and assessors,
particularly targeting key growth regions.
In relation to the recommendations made in the Australian National Audit Office
report, the following matters will also be addressed:
• improving the accuracy and completeness of the threatened species list
• reviewing the state and territory lists of threatened ecological communities
5
• increasing flexibility for the type of recovery documents or plans that are
required for listed species and ecological communities. For example, the
Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
can now choose to simply require conservation advice to be prepared, or
if a recovery plan is required, it can now be prepared as a single species/
community, multi-species/multi-community or regional recovery plan

• strengthening the department’s auditing, compliance and enforcement capacity.
As at 30 June 2007 a restructure of the Approvals and Wildlife Division was being
undertaken to implement these improvements.
The 2007 amendments to the EPBC Act established the List of Overseas Places of
Historic Significance to Australia. This list provides for symbolic recognition of
overseas places which are of outstanding historic significance to Australia. The
minister subsequently entered Anzac Cove, Turkey; the Kokoda Track, Papua New
Guinea; and Howard Florey’s laboratory, United Kingdom, in the list.
It is now possible for police and other law enforcement agencies authorised
under the EPBC Act to pursue criminal offences for conduct that are prosecuted
by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or state prosecutors.
Previously, that conduct could only be dealt with via a civil penalty application in
the Federal Court. This new power should provide greater access and deterrence
to illegal activities and has the potential to significantly improve the protection of
biodiversity and heritage in Commonwealth reserves.
The amendments also reduce duplication in the assessment of applications to
export or import wildlife and wildlife products. International trade provisions for
cetaceans were consolidated under Part 13A. To coincide with these amendments,
a legislative instrument was gazetted on 14 February 2007 having the effect
of uplisting all cetacean (whale and dolphin) species to CITES Appendix I
(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora) as a stricter domestic measure.
For imports of CITES Appendix II species for commercial purposes, the
requirement for a commercial import programme to be approved before import
can take place has been removed other than for species specified by the minister.
A legislative instrument was gazetted on 26 February 2007 establishing a list of
CITES Appendix II specimens which require a commercial import programme.
The specimens are:
• ramin (Gonystylus spp.), a hardwood timber
• beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) originating from the Caspian Sea
• South African ghaap (Hoodia gordonii), a succulent plant
• all specimens originating from countries not parties to CITES.
In 2006–07 there were a number of matters brought to the Administrative Appeals
Tribunal and the Federal Court relating to the EPBC Act (see part 4 of this report).

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal upheld the minister’s decision in relation to
kangaroo commercial harvesting on King and Flinders islands. At 30 June 2007,
dates are yet to be set for the appeals against the New South Wales kangaroo
management plan and the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery
wildlife trade operations. A decision was also still pending on the minister’s
decision to declare the harvesting of specimens taken in the New South Wales
Ocean Trap and Line Fishery as an approved wildlife trade operation.
To ensure that proponents are required to submit only one set of assessment
documentation, the Australian Government has put in place environmental impact
assessment bilateral agreements with several states and territories including
Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland. In January 2007 an environmental
impact assessment bilateral agreement under the EPBC Act was entered into with
the New South Wales Government. The agreement will allow the minister to rely
on environmental impact assessment processes specified by New South Wales in
assessing actions under the EPBC Act.
In 2006–07 the bilateral agreement between the Australian Government and the
Northern Territory relating to environmental impact assessment was reviewed after
five years of operation. As a result of the review report minor amendments were
made to the bilateral agreement and the agreement continues to operate.
In 2006–07 the department initiated two significant projects to help meet wetland
management commitments under the Ramsar Convention and responsibilities
under the EPBC Act:
• a snapshot review of the current status and management of Ramsar-listed
wetlands, which will help identify management priorities
• development of national guidelines for Ramsar wetlands, providing a more
coherent framework for Ramsar implementation in Australia including guidance
on the Ramsar listing process and development of management plans.
An assessment of Commonwealth heritage values is being undertaken in
accordance with the requirements of the EPBC Act for the Australian Antarctic
Territory, the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands and places owned or
controlled by the Commonwealth on Macquarie Island. A management plan is also
in preparation for the national heritage listed Mawson’s Huts Historic Site at Cape
Denison, as required by the EPBC Act. The draft plan will be available for public
comment in July 2007.
The Australian Government’s world-leading programme of marine bioregional
planning gained pace in 2006–07 with planning under section 176 of the
EPBC Act beginning in four of Australia’s five marine regions—the South-west,
North, North‑west and East. The first planning process to be progressed is the
South‑west, taking in Commonwealth waters from Kangaroo Island off South
Australia to Kalbarri off the mid Western Australian coast. A regional profile is well
7
advanced for this marine region and a memorandum of understanding was signed
between the Australian and Western Australian governments for cooperation in
marine planning.
Since the EPBC Act came into force in 2000, 122 fisheries have been assessed
against the Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries.
The minister has declared all of these fisheries as either exempt from the export
provisions of the EPBC Act for five years, or as approved wildlife trade operations
for periods of up to three years. The outcomes of each fishery assessment are
published in detailed reports on the department’s website.
In 2006–07 assessments were completed for 15 fisheries. Two fisheries were
assessed for the first time under the EPBC Act and both were declared as wildlife
trade operations for three years. Thirteen fisheries were assessed for the second
time, six of which were declared exempt and seven as wildlife trade operations.
Eleven short-term wildlife trade operations were reviewed and extended.
The department funded a joint research project to study the impact of marine
debris on marine turtle survival and behaviour around northern Australia. The
research was a partnership between Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal
Corporation, Parks and Wildlife Service Northern Territory, and the North
Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance. Marine debris that
causes death or damage to marine species by entanglement and ingestion is
listed as a key threatening process under the EPBC Act. The project will increase
knowledge of the impact of marine debris on protected marine turtle species and
test measures for implementing the marine debris threat abatement plan.
This year 28 places were added to the National Heritage List bringing the number
of places in the list to 59 at 30 June 2007. Places added to the list include the
Sydney Harbour Bridge, the world’s largest and widest single-span steel arch
bridge. One place was added to the Commonwealth Heritage List, bringing its total
to 340 places at 30 June 2007.

1. Protecting environment and heritage
1.1 Matters of national environmental significance
Matters of national environmental significance are identified under the EPBC Act as
controlling provisions for actions that are likely to have significant environmental
impacts upon them and therefore require assessment and approval. Provisions of
the EPBC Act also require certain actions to be undertaken in a particular manner
to avoid adverse impacts on matters of national environmental significance.
In 2006–07, 276 matters of national environmental significance were protected
through these processes. Where proposals involved Commonwealth land or
agencies, the environment more generally was protected.
The most frequent controlling provision was listed threatened species and
ecological communities, followed by listed migratory species. Listed threatened
species and ecological communities were determined to be a controlling provision
for 65 proposed actions, or 89 per cent of all actions determined to require
approval. Listed migratory species were determined to be a controlling provision
for 23 proposals. There were 17 controlled action decisions where the ecological
character of a Ramsar wetland was the matter protected, and 12 proposed actions
where world heritage values were determined to be a controlling provision. There
were five decisions where the controlling provision was the Commonwealth
marine environment; these were projects relating to tourism, recreation and
conservation management, energy generation and supply, and mining.
More than one matter protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act was determined
to be a controlling provision for 35 of the 73 proposals determined to require
approval. These actions typically involved potential impacts on species listed
as both threatened and migratory, or listed species found in or near the
Commonwealth marine environment, world heritage properties or Ramsar
wetlands, for example, a proposal to develop the Gold Coast Hinterland Great
Walk. The relevant matters in that case were listed threatened species and
communities and the world heritage values of the Central Eastern Rainforest
Reserves World Heritage Area.
A total of 44 actions were approved in 2006–07 with a range of conditions to
ensure that matters of national environmental significance and the environment
were protected. No proposals were approved without conditions and one proposal
was rejected. At 30 June 2007, 110 actions affecting matters protected by the EPBC
Act were under assessment; that is, a decision had been made on the assessment
approach, but the assessment was still to be completed. These ongoing
assessments include 39 assessments conducted under bilateral agreements and
25 assessments conducted under state or territory processes that have been
accredited on a case-by-case basis.
9
The focus of the EPBC Act on protecting matters of national environmental
significance continues to positively influence the way in which developers
design projects, using best practice methods and measures to minimise potential
impacts on these protected matters thereby avoiding or minimising the need for
assessment and approval under the EPBC Act.
1.2 Proposals involving Commonwealth land and/or actions

Actions by the Australian Government and actions on Commonwealth land
In 2006–07, three actions were determined to require approval under the EPBC
Act because of likely significant impacts on the environment on Commonwealth
land, and a single action by an Australian Government agency was determined to
be a controlled action.
One of these actions, the installation of a 70 kilometre optical fibre cable between
Jabiru and Rikurdji in the Northern Territory, was deemed a controlled action
under the EPBC Act on 14 July 2006. The proposal was considered likely to
have a significant impact on the environment, including impacts on Aboriginal
cultural values related to archaeology and sacred sites, and impacts on the natural
environment through clearing vegetation and the introduction of invasive species.
The optical fibre cable installation was approved on 5 June 2007. The proponent
is required to provide an environmental management plan for approval, which
minimises impacts on environmentally sensitive areas, ensures the route avoids
sacred sites and archaeological areas, and prevents the spread and introduction of
weeds. The proponent will also provide an offset to Parks Australia North to assist
in the management of weeds within Kakadu National Park.
Another example of an action considered likely to have a significant impact on
Commonwealth land was the Nobbys Lighthouse redevelopment, Newcastle, New
South Wales. That proposal involves the construction of a restaurant and other
facilities around Nobbys Lighthouse, which is the earliest surviving lighthouse in
New South Wales and is on the Commonwealth Heritage List for its historic values.
The proposal is currently under EPBC Act assessment.
Advice on authorising actions

Section 160 of the EPBC Act requires Australian Government agencies, or
employees of the Australian Government, to obtain and consider advice from the
minister in relation to authorisation for specific actions, where those actions are
likely to have a significant impact on the environment. Actions on which advice has
been sought have involved proposals on Commonwealth airports, dredging sea
bed materials and sea dumping.
In 2006–07 advice was sought under section 160 on 11 occasions. These
projects included the proposal to build an office building complex at Canberra

International Airport, Australian Capital Territory. Advice was provided to the
Minister for Transport and Regional Services that there were no significant
environmental concerns associated with this project.
1.3 Intergovernmental cooperation
Bilateral agreements
In January 2007 an environmental impact assessment bilateral agreement under
the EPBC Act was entered into with the New South Wales Government. The
agreement will allow the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and
Water Resources to rely on specified environmental impact assessment processes
of the State of New South Wales in assessing actions under the EPBC Act.
The assessment bilateral agreement with the Northern Territory was reviewed,
prior to its expiry on 30 May 2007 after five years of operation. The review
demonstrated that the agreement was meeting its objectives and recommended
that the agreement continue to operate. As a result of the review report, minor
amendments were made and the bilateral agreement continued.
Assessment bilateral agreements are also in place with Western Australia, Tasmania,
and Queensland. The agreements ensure that proponents are required to prepare
and submit only one set of assessment documentation, with the transparency of
the process maintained through comprehensive public consultation requirements.
Australian Government scrutiny is maintained through the minister still being
required to grant approval and set conditions for the projects. This year 51 projects
were assessed under a bilateral agreement.
Development of assessment bilateral agreements with the other states is
progressing. In late June 2007 public comments were sought on an assessment
bilateral agreement the Commonwealth proposes to enter into with the South
Australian Government. In the absence of an assessment bilateral agreement,
duplication of Australian Government and state or territory assessment processes
continues to be significantly reduced through the use of case-by-case accreditation
and coordinated assessments. Accredited assessments meet at least those
standards that would be required under a bilateral agreement. This year 28
projects were assessed under state or territory processes accredited on a case-by-
case basis.
Heritage management
As a signatory to the World Heritage Convention, the Australian Government
cooperates closely with state authorities to ensure that the protection and
promotion of state-managed world heritage properties is consistent with
Australia’s undertakings under the convention. The Australian Government is
11
working with state authorities to review existing world heritage management plans
for the Tasmanian Wilderness and the Wet Tropics of Queensland, and to develop
a world heritage strategic plan for the Greater Blue Mountains. For the Tasmanian
Wilderness, the mid-term review of the 1999 management plan has progressed
and the revised draft plan is being finalised for public comment in the latter half
of 2007. The draft zoning regime has progressed as part of the review of the Wet
Tropics management plan. For the Greater Blue Mountains, the new strategic
plan has been approved by the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Authority
Management Committee, and will soon be considered for approval for publication
by the relevant Australian and New South Wales government ministers.
The department is also cooperating with state authorities and owners on
management plans for the following places in the World Heritage List and/or
National Heritage List: the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens World
Heritage Area (Victoria), Richmond Bridge (Tasmania), the Batavia Shipwreck
Site and Survivor Camps Area 1629 – Houtman Abrolhos (Western Australia),
Recherche Bay North-east Peninsula (Tasmania), and Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish
Traps (Baiames Ngunnhu), New South Wales.
Species Information Partnerships

Through Species Information Partnerships the department, with the Threatened
Species Scientific Committee, continued to work for consistency between lists
held by the Australian Government and those held by the states and territories,
and to increase the exchange of information to support the listing and recovery of
threatened species.
Species Information Partnerships allow for targeted expenditure of limited
conservation resources and facilitate the best possible conservation outcomes for
threatened species.
In 2006–07, information provided by the states and territories under the
agreements supported listing decisions under the EPBC Act for nine South
Australian species, 28 Northern Territory species and 37 Western Australian
species. Species Information Partnership agreements were also signed with
Tasmania and Victoria, and listing decisions under the EPBC Act are expected to be
made as a result of these agreements.
Marine
To assist the bioregional planning process for the Commonwealth marine
environment, a memorandum of understanding was signed in 2006–07 between
the department and relevant Western Australian Government agencies to facilitate
marine bioregional planning in the North-west and South-west marine regions.

In addition, a financial agreement was entered into with the Western Australian
Marine Science Institution to conduct an inventory of marine and coastal research
for north Western Australia. The project involves Western Australian Government
agencies, research and tertiary education institutions, and the private sector.
The February 2007 amendments to the EPBC Act inserted Schedule 1 into the
Act which enables the detention of non-citizens suspected of EPBC Act offences.
Such issues commonly arise at the Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve.
Regulations for the detention arrangements are being drafted, and arrangements
are being made with other Australian Government agencies to enable streamlined
implementation. These new detention arrangements are expected to become
operational in 2007–08.
To strengthen enforcement at the Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve,
$31.7 million funding over four years was secured by the Australian Customs
Service to procure a vessel to provide a constant enforcement presence. The vessel
will have Customs officers on board, all of whom are ex-officio wardens.
National Partnership Approach for the Sustainable Harvest of Marine Turtles

and Dugongs in Australia
Two meetings of the National Partnership Approach for the Sustainable Harvest
of Marine Turtles and Dugongs in Australia were held in 2006–07. The meetings
were well attended by Indigenous members from the Northern Territory, Torres
Strait and Queensland and government members from the Western Australian
Department of Environment and Conservation, Northern Territory Department of
Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, Queensland Environment Protection
Agency, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Torres Strait Regional Authority
and Australian Government Departments of the Environment and Water Resources
and Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. A number of themes were identified
to provide the focus for future meetings. These themes included building
strong partnerships between Indigenous communities, government agencies,
researchers, conservation groups and other stakeholders; having a holistic
approach to management as this leads to wider social, cultural and economic
benefits for communities; recognising that the results of management actions will
only be evident over long timeframes, both from an ecological and community
perspective; addressing and minimising, wherever possible, non-harvest impacts
on turtle and dugong; and sharing case studies and information on existing and
potential management actions.
The second meeting established a working group of Indigenous members to
provide strategic direction for the partnership. The department will provide the
secretariat for the working group.
13
1.4 Assessment and approval process
Referrals
In 2006–07, 347 actions were referred to the Australian Government for a decision
on whether approval was required under the EPBC Act. Approximately 15 per cent
of these referrals were the result of compliance action taken by the department.
A total of 74 actions (73 after reconsideration by the minister or his delegate) were
determined to be controlled actions and a further 74 (75 after reconsideration)
were determined not to be controlled actions if taken in a particular manner.
A total 188 of these referrals were deemed not to be controlled actions and
required no further assessment.
Profile of actions referred under the EPBC Act

As in previous years the largest number of referrals came from Queensland, which
continues to have the highest number of controlled action decisions. This reflects
the continuing development along the Queensland coast, potentially impacting on
the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics world heritage properties and a number of
Ramsar wetlands.
Referrals were most common in the residential development, mining, and water
management and use sectors.
Meeting statutory timeframes (referrals)

The EPBC Act allows 20 business days from receipt of a referral for deciding
whether an action requires approval. This includes a 10-day public comment
period. This year there were 73 late decisions, or 22 per cent of the total. This
compares with 64 late decisions last year (19 per cent of the total). Referral
decisions were late an average 3.28 business days in 2006–07, compared to an
average 3.4 business days in 2005–06.
Where the statutory timeframe was not met, this was due to delays in obtaining
sufficient information to make a decision and the complexity of proposals received.
The 20-day timeframe for decision-making on referrals was suspended 45 times in
2006–07. This was due to the need to seek further information before a decision
could be made.
Decision trends—‘particular manner’ decisions

The EPBC Act provides for the minister to decide that a referred proposal is not a
controlled action provided it is undertaken in a particular or specified manner. This
provision may be used when there is clear evidence that a particular mitigation or
avoidance measure will be employed to avoid significant impacts. Under section 77A
of the EPBC Act, penalties apply to breaches of ‘particular manner’ decisions.
This year 75 referrals were decided to be not-controlled actions provided they
were carried out in a particular manner.

Through ongoing education, the department encourages proponents to design
projects and activities in a manner that avoids impacts on matters of national
environmental significance. The particular manner provision allows the minister
to support this design approach. The particular manner provision promotes
and supports industries and individual developments that are shifting to better
environmental practices.
Case study: Capture of juvenile Tasmanian devils for conservation purposes

In January 2007 the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water
referred a proposal under the EPBC Act to capture Tasmanian devils to
establish an ‘insurance’ population.
An infectious cancer, known as devil facial tumour disease, is the major threat
to the survival of the Tasmanian devil. The disease was first reported in 1996
in the north-east of the state and is progressively spreading westward at
approximately 10 kilometres per year. It is likely that the entire range of the
species will be exposed to infection within two or three years. The disease
is invariably fatal once clinical signs are observed and has led to substantial
population declines (of up to 90 per cent) in infected populations.
It is likely that the disease will result in local population extinctions. As a
consequence, this once common and widespread species is now listed as a
vulnerable species under the EPBC Act and state legislation.
The referred proposal involved the capture of up to 30 newly independent
juvenile Tasmanian devils from a currently disease free area in north-west
Tasmania to establish a population for the conservation of the species.
Following capture, animals were physically examined and suitable individuals
transferred to a quarantine facility managed by the Department of Primary
Industries and Water at Taroona, Hobart. They will be used to establish a
disease free population at Maria Island or another suitable location.
To reduce the risk of capturing diseased animals, the capture programme
maintained a buffer of at least 50 kilometres from the known western extremity
of the disease front. Trapping was conducted across a large area (approximately
4,000 square kilometres) to maximise genetic diversity. As soon as a suitable
juvenile devil was caught at a particular location, the trap was relocated to
reduce the chance of capturing siblings. The entire trapline was moved every
three to four days to minimise the impact on local populations.
These measures were all specified in the referral. Taking these into account,
the minister considered that the capture of a relatively small number of
juvenile Tasmanian devils over a large area with a population estimated to
be in excess of 1,000 individuals would not have a significant impact on
the species and therefore the proposal did not require EPBC Act approval
provided it was undertaken in the manner specified.
15
Statements of reasons
Subsection 77(4) of the EPBC Act allows a person taking an action that the minister
has decided is a controlled action to request reasons for the decision. During
2006–07 the department handled eight such requests.
Reconsideration of decisions
In 2006–07, seven referral decisions were reconsidered (by the minister or
his delegate) and four decisions were revoked and a new decision made. The
number of reconsiderations is small in comparison with the total number of
referral decisions and, through consultation with key stakeholders and interest
groups, the department ensures that reconsiderations maintain the transparency
and public accountability inherent in the overall framework of the EPBC Act.
Reconsideration can be justified where there is substantial new information on
likely impacts on matters protected by the EPBC Act or on the potential impacts
of the proposed action.
Assessment of controlled actions

The assessment of potential environmental impacts of proposed actions uses
the best available science, with comments and analysis sought from relevant
experts within the department, other Australian Government or state and territory
government agencies and, when necessary, external scientific institutions and
organisations.
The EPBC Act provides a range of assessment approaches to ensure that an
environmental assessment reflects the nature of the proposed actions, the quality
of the information already available, the level of public interest and the nature
and scale of the likely impacts. Decisions on the level of assessment for controlled
actions in 2006–07 are summarised in Table 6 at Appendix 1.
In 2006–07 the department completed 23 assessments following finalisation
of relevant documentation by the proponent. A further 15 assessments were
completed by states and territories. Decisions on the assessment approach and the
status of the assessments are summarised in Table 6 at Appendix 1.
Meeting statutory timeframes (assessments)

Eleven out of 53 decisions on the appropriate assessment approach (21 per cent of
the total) were made outside the statutory timeframe in 2006–07. The main factor
contributing to late decisions was delays in obtaining sufficient information to
make the decision.
The EPBC Act requires the minister to prepare written guidelines for the content
of public environment reports and environmental impact statements within
20 business days from the date on which the assessment approach was decided.
During 2006–07 the department prepared guidelines for four public environment
reports. No guidelines for environmental impact statements were finalised.

Once the minister has accepted final preliminary documentation, a finalised public
environment report, or a finalised environmental impact statement, an assessment
report or recommendation report must be prepared for the minister prior to the
end of the period specified in section 130 of the EPBC Act. In 2006–07 there were
12 late assessment reports out of 19 for assessment by preliminary documentation,
two out of two for assessment by public environment report and one out of two
for assessment by environmental impact statement. Delays in these cases mostly
resulted from the need to adequately consider and test complex technical issues,
and to ensure relevant jurisdictions were satisfied with the guidelines when
conducting joint assessments with the states.
Approvals
In 2006–07, 44 controlled actions were approved; a further six were awaiting
decision at 30 June 2007. Conditions attached to approvals include managing
the environmental impacts of construction, providing compensatory habitat to
offset impacts on listed species, monitoring programmes to ensure water quality
is maintained, independent audits, and measures for managing impacts on
cetacean species.
Meeting statutory timeframes (approvals)

Sixteen out of 45 approval decisions (36 per cent of the total) were made
outside the statutory timeframe in 2006–07. These delays were due to the
need for ongoing consultation with proponents/states over the content of final
approval conditions. In a number of cases, additional independent work was also
commissioned to help inform decisions.
Post referral and approval verification, monitoring and auditing

The department closely monitors projects referred and approved under the
Act to ensure compliance with approval conditions as well as compliance with
other decisions involving environmental commitments made by proponents
e.g. ‘particular manner decisions’. The department has implemented a risk
based random compliance audit programme and is developing a strategic audit
programme.
The department also responds to all incident reports received from internal
and external sources that may involve potential or actual contraventions of the
EPBC Act.
17
Case study: Refusal of mining expansion on Christmas Island
A proposal to extend phosphate mining on Christmas Island required

approval under the EPBC Act due to the potential for significant impacts on
the environment. Christmas Island is home to 16 threatened and migratory

species listed under the Act. Over 60 per cent of the island is set aside as
national park, containing what is thought to be the world’s largest and most
diverse land crab community. The island is known around the world for its
red crab migration.
In April 2007 the minister decided to refuse the action because of
unacceptable impacts on the flora and fauna of Christmas Island, including its
unique rainforest.
The minister took into account evidence that the future survival of a
number of species on the island would be seriously threatened by expanded
mining operations. Independent analysis suggested that an extension of
mining works would most likely contribute to the extinction of a number
of threatened species, including the critically endangered Christmas Island
pipistrelle bat, and adversely impact on the remaining populations of the
endangered Abbott’s booby and Christmas Island frigatebird. Land clearing
required for any expanded mining operations would also result in the
permanent loss of primary rainforest on the island.
The decision took into account the principles of ecologically sustainable
development. Economic benefits provided by the expanded mining would
only be short-term (three to five years); however, the environmental
impacts would be irreversible and could impact on the viability of alternative
sustainable industries. The extension was opposed by the Christmas Island
Chamber of Commerce who argued the need for Christmas Island to move to
a new economic base.
In refusing the proposed extension, the minister emphasised that the
Australian Government remained committed to a strong economic future for
Christmas Island and will continue its substantial support to the island and
its people.

Case study: Review of the seismic exploration and whales policy
During the year the minister released for public comment a revised Policy
Statement on the Interaction between Offshore Seismic Exploration and
Whales. Developed with the involvement of the oil and gas industry,
conservation groups and Australia’s best whale research scientists, the
comprehensive policy reflects new scientific knowledge and operational
experience since the first edition was released in 2001.
Seismic surveying (i.e. the use of high-intensity sound and recorders)
is widely used by the oil and gas exploration industry to map geological
structures below the sea floor and to identify areas where oil and gas deposits
may occur. However, human-made sound in the marine environment
(including sound produced by seismic surveys) is a concern because of its
effect on whales and dolphins, which use sound for hunting, navigation and
communication.
The policy statement provides practical standards to minimise the risk of
acoustic injury to whales from seismic operations, and advises the seismic
industry on their legal responsibilities under the EPBC Act. It reinforces
Australia’s position as a world leader in whale protection and research and
represents global best practice in minimising the potential impacts of seismic
survey activities on whales.
Changes to the policy from the 2001 edition include:
• clearer advice on where and when significant impacts on whales may
occur and the need to plan seismic operations to avoid important habitats
and times when whales may be present
• alterations to provisions for exploration at night-time or other times of
poor visibility
• revised ‘safety (power-down) distances’ based on precautionary sound
levels at which whales are likely to be seriously affected from acoustic
power sources
• improved advice on adaptive measures should whales be encountered.
The policy will be immediately implemented by the Australian seismic
exploration industry with a view to refining the policy based on operational
experience and public comments (due 31 August 2007).
19
Fisheries assessment and approval processes
Under the EPBC Act, the department assesses the environmental performance
of fisheries management arrangements to ensure that fisheries are managed
in an ecologically sustainable way and to identify areas for improvement. All
Commonwealth-managed fisheries and all state and territory fisheries with an

export component are required to undergo assessment.
In 2006–07, 15 fisheries were comprehensively assessed, including two
Commonwealth-managed fisheries and 13 state-managed fisheries in New South
Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
Two were assessed for the first time and 13 for the second time. All received
export approval.
Eleven short-term wildlife trade operations were reviewed and extended, allowing
export of product from the fisheries to continue while their management
arrangements improved.
A total of 122 fisheries have been declared as either exempt from the export
provisions of the EPBC Act for five years, or as approved wildlife trade operations
for periods of up to three years.
As a result of the fisheries assessment process, recommendations were agreed
between the department and fisheries management agencies that require the
agencies to demonstrate improved environmental performance, and actively enhance
the ecologically sustainable management of fisheries in the short to medium term.
The outcomes are published in detailed reports on the department’s website at
http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/fisheries/index.html.
In 2007–08 it is expected that 39 fisheries will be assessed under the EPBC Act for
the second time.
Wildlife trade
The department has continued to improve the wildlife trade permitting process
in recent years. One area of improvement has been the introduction of a new
product called multiple consignment permits. These allow the permit holder to
make a number of export and import consignments for a limited period of time.
The department has also developed a more effective compliance framework,
whilst also assisting legitimate industries to trade efficiently. The success of the
streamlined system is reflected in the graph below. It shows a significant reduction
in the number of permits needed by industry. At the same time a substantial
increase in the number of trade transactions (exports and imports) has occurred.
The reduction in permit assessments has allowed the department to develop an
improved permit verification system for compliance with Part 13A of the EPBC Act.

Wildlife trade permits and transactions
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06
number of permits (including multiple consignment)

number of exports and imports
1.5 Transparency and public awareness

Increasing stakeholder and public awareness
The department places a high priority on increasing stakeholder and public
awareness of the EPBC Act and has developed a world-class internet site which
provides information about the Act to meet the different needs of stakeholders.
In 2006–07 the department upgraded databases and websites supporting the
EPBC Act, improving both public access to information and transparency of
decision-making. The EPBC Act website was upgraded to make it easier to use and
to streamline access to key information.
Following the amendment of the EPBC Act in February 2007 stakeholder
information sessions on the impact of the amendments to the EPBC Act were
held in every state and territory capital city. The 14 sessions were presented by
departmental officers. Over 360 people attended representing approximately 100
non-government organisations and state and territory government agencies.
Wildlife trade
The department continued to raise awareness about international wildlife trade.
Activities in 2006–07 included:
• cooperation with the Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association
on a certification scheme for members, where they undertake to become
aware of, and to actively oppose, the illegal trade in wildlife that may be used as
ingredients in complementary medicine
21
• sponsorship (chief supporter category) of The Thin Green Line, a documentary
movie about the work of park rangers around the world in protecting many of
the species threatened by illegal international trade
• advertisements in nationally distributed magazines about the illegal import of
weight loss products derived from Hoodia gordonii (a succulent plant endemic
to the African Kalahari Desert). Approximately 30 per cent of all seizure notices

issued in 2006–07 related to personal-use quantities of hoodia (listed on CITES
Appendix II), most being imported in the form of bottled capsules or tablets.
• education and awareness for importers of timber products about ramin timber
(a protected tropical hardwood tree listed on CITES Appendix II) under the
ramin compliance plan
• loans of seized specimens to institutions, such as zoos and aquaria, universities
and museums, for education or research purposes. It is a condition of display
that these items are referenced as having been seized as illegal imports.
Listed threatened species and ecological communities

The department continued to publish new nominations of threatened species,
threatened ecological communities and key threatening processes on its website,
and to provide a formal two-month public comment period. The website also
provides information on amendments to the lists of threatened species, threatened
ecological communities and key threatening processes. The Threatened Species
Scientific Committee’s advice to the minister is also published.
The department hosts an online natural resource management tool for people to
search for conservation advice on threatened species and ecological communities
by specific natural resource management regions. This information helps regional
planning bodies, community groups, landholders and other stakeholders to plan
activities that can be undertaken to assist the conservation and recovery of newly
listed threatened species and ecological communities. Information sheets on listed
ecological communities also include this advice.
The department continued its Communities for Communities newsletter to
keep the public informed about threatened ecological communities nominated
for listing, listings made under the EPBC Act, and information and resources
available on the department’s website. Community groups are encouraged to use
Communities for Communities as an information source when compiling their
own newsletters.
Migratory and marine biodiversity

Recovery plans for listed marine species were developed and implemented in
conjunction with relevant representatives from Australian, state and territory
governments, industry, non-government organisations, and the Indigenous and
research communities, who advise the department on these plans. In 2006–07
advice was provided on listed shark and marine turtle species.

Marine bioregional planning
The department produced information products on developments in marine
bioregional planning under section 176 of the EPBC Act. The products covered
marine bioregional planning in the South-west, North-west, East and North marine
regions; information on ecological features; and details of the marine bioregional
planning process.
Discussions with key interest groups commenced in late 2006 on the South‑west
Marine Region to set out the marine bioregional planning process and opportunities
for input from stakeholders during development of the plan. In addition, scientists
with expertise in the South-west Marine Region are providing input to develop a
better understanding of the region’s marine ecosystems and environment.
Heritage
Public consultations were held on the proposed listing of the Dampier Archipelago
in the National Heritage List, including an additional public comment period
announced by the minister on 29 September 2006, under section 324H of the
EPBC Act. The department sought public submissions on the boundary proposed
by the Australian Heritage Council and management ramifications arising from
that boundary. Over 50 submissions were received. The Dampier Archipelago,
including Burrup Peninsula, was included in the National Heritage List on
3 July 2007.
Presentations and workshops

In 2006–07 the department continued to hold information sessions around
Australia on request from local and state government agencies and community
groups interested in understanding more about the EPBC Act. The department
also supported activities to enhance understanding of the EPBC Act for the
community, farmers and rural stakeholders.
Strategic assessments and regional planning

The development of strategic regional plans on a trial basis in selected regions of
Australia continued in 2006–07. Pilot regions were initially chosen because of the
high level of EPBC Act referral and compliance activity, current growth rates and
development pressures, and the presence of matters of national environmental
significance. Strategic regional plans will increase certainty for both proponents
and the department’s staff about the application of the EPBC Act, and increase
understanding of the regional and cumulative impacts on matters of national
environmental significance in given regions. Planning in three regions progressed
in 2006–07. They are:
• Southern Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia
• Cardwell and Johnstone Shires, Queensland
• Magnetic Island, Queensland.
23
A comprehensive and consultative planning process with state and local
government agencies and scientific experts has been a key element in developing
these regional plans. An account of major milestones follows:
Southern Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia: This pilot draft regional
plan is near completion. Preliminary discussions are under way to use the plan as
a platform for bilateral agreement with the Western Australian Government for
cooperative approaches to planning and environmental approvals. If successful,
this would allow for EPBC Act issues in the region to be dealt with through the
Western Australian planning system, and would reduce the need for Australian
Government environmental approvals. In 2007–08 the department will finalise the
strategic regional plan and continue discussions with the state government and
local councils in the region to consider the alignment of planning processes and
requirements.
Cardwell and Johnstone Shires, far north Queensland: The focal point in
this region has been the Mission Beach development zone which is a hotspot for
referral activity and compliance investigations related to potentially significant
impacts on threatened species such as the cassowary and on the Wet Tropics
and Great Barrier Reef world heritage areas. The planning work will help
identify environmental conservation areas and land predominately allocated to
accommodate urban development in the state government’s draft Far North
Queensland 2025 Statutory Regional Plan, which is due to be released for public
comment in April 2008.
Magnetic Island, Queensland: At the invitation of the Townsville City Council,
a departmental staff member was seconded to the council to foster a strong
intergovernmental relationship and gain a greater understanding of the council’s
planning processes and framework. This also assisted identification of areas for
future cooperation and alignment of processes. In addition, the department, with
state agencies, scientific experts and other key stakeholders, developed a draft
strategic regional plan for Magnetic Island. The plan is expected to be finalised in
2007–08 and the department will negotiate with the local council to align planning
processes and requirements where possible.
Strategic state and local planning

The department is working closely with the NSW Department of Environment and
Climate Change to ensure EPBC Act matters of national environmental significance
are adequately protected in biodiversity assessments of regional growth areas
and local government areas of NSW. Plans or policies such as local environment
plans that achieve a ‘maintain or improve’ standard for biodiversity matters can
be ‘biodiversity certified’ under NSW environmental legislation and avoid further
environmental assessment under state processes. Where those plans also provide
adequate protection against significant impacts for EPBC Act matters of national

environmental significance, the federal minister can accredit the plan or make an
approval bilateral agreement thereby avoiding the need for a separate EPBC Act
referral. Currently, the department is in preliminary discussion to assess the merit
of biodiversity certification for proposals in the Albury Shire and Sydney Region
growth centres.
On request, the department assists local and state governments throughout
Australia in reviewing their planning arrangements to improve strategic
environmental planning and protection outcomes in relation to the EPBC Act.
National Farmers’ Federation EPBC Act Information Officer

The National Farmers’ Federation EPBC Act Information Officer provided valuable
assistance to many farmers and rural stakeholders needing legal certainty in relation
to the EPBC Act. This included presentations to the National Farmers’ Federation,
state farming organisations, catchment management groups, commodity groups
and state and territory government agencies in New South Wales, South Australia,
Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. From February 2007 the role
was expanded to include provision of a direct liaison point (for National Farmers’
Federation members) to the entire department. This expanded position creates
numerous opportunities for rural stakeholders, including:
• stakeholder access to all areas of the department, including funding streams,
programme and policy areas
• provision of general information and training on the processes and outputs of
the department
• free advice and clear explanations regarding the EPBC Act
• practical assistance with aspects of referral, assessment and approval processes
and other features of the EPBC Act
• information and training on the EPBC Act to assist National Farmers’ Federation
staff, organisations and rural landowners and farmers to work with the
legislation and other departmental matters
• assistance with consultative processes, such as comments on nominations for
threatened species, ecological communities, key threatening processes and
recovery plans under the EPBC Act
• provision of feedback to both the National Farmers’ Federation and the
department about the operation of the EPBC Act.
The position is seconded to the National Farmers’ Federation in the Australian
Capital Territory.
Advisory committees
The EPBC Act established three committees to assist the minister in the
administration of the Act. The functions, terms of reference and current
membership for each of these committees are listed in Appendix 3 of this report.
25
Threatened Species Scientific Committee
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is established under
subsection 502(3) of the EPBC Act. The committee’s role is to advise the minister
on amending and updating the lists of threatened species, threatened ecological
communities and key threatening processes and on making or adopting recovery
plans and threat abatement plans. The committee may also provide additional
advice to the minister on issues relating to these responsibilities.
The committee met four times in 2006–07: 5–7 September 2006, 28–29 November
2006, 6–8 March 2007 and 26–28 June 2007. The committee focused on assessing
the conservation status of a number of Western Australian and Tasmanian species
as part of the Species Information Partnerships with those states. The conservation
status of many of these species differs between the EPBC Act and state legislation.
Information to support the committee’s assessments was provided by the relevant
state governments.
The committee re-assessed the conservation status of several other species,
including the orange-bellied parrot and the Christmas Island pipistrelle. It
also provided advice to the minister on the eligibility for listing of a number of
nominated species and ecological communities.
In the latter part of 2006–07 the committee focused on drafting new procedures
to implement the amendments to the EPBC Act. The committee prioritised public
nominations received during the first call for nominations under the amended
EPBC Act.
Biological Diversity Advisory Committee

The Biological Diversity Advisory Committee met three times in 2006–07.
On 20 November 2006, the committee considered ways in which climate change
may influence how invasive species threaten biodiversity. The key message
was that climate change is likely to result in invasive species becoming more
opportunistic in competing with native species. The committee met again on
21 November 2006 and agreed that it would continue to progress key topics
identified in previous meetings, including the role of climate change on invasive
species, taxonomy and incentive-based programmes to support biological diversity
outcomes.
The committee met on 25 January 2007 to formulate its response to the review of
the 1996 National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity.
The key recommendations made by the committee included in-principle support
for a national environmental stewardship programme, of which the strategy should
take full advantage; more detailed and explicit recognition of major threats to
biodiversity (e.g. climate change, spread of both established and emerging invasive
pest species); improved monitoring and evaluation practices and increased
funding for taxonomy resources.

Indigenous Advisory Committee
The Indigenous Advisory Committee meets at least twice a year. Meetings are
rotated around states and regions. In 2006–07 the committee met in October 2006
at Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory and in April 2007 in Canberra.
The committee advises the minister on the operation of the EPBC Act, taking into
account the significance of Indigenous peoples’ knowledge of land management
and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The committee is the key
advisory group for the department’s new Working on Country programme.
In 2006–07 the committee provided advice on:
• the Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area, Northern Territory, including both
junior and senior ranger programmes and a scholarship concept
• the Northern Territory Healthy Country, Healthy People Schedule under the
Bilateral Agreement on Indigenous Affairs between the Australian and Northern
Territory governments
• the national partnership approach for the sustainable harvest of marine turtles
and dugongs
• National Heritage List nomination for the Burrup Peninsula
• the committee’s terms of reference and operational guidelines
• the new Working on Country programme design and implementation
• the development of a National Indigenous Caring for Country Strategy
• Indigenous engagement in freshwater issues
• Indigenous engagement in marine recovery planning
• the review of the National Biodiversity Strategy.
Australian Heritage Council

The Australian Heritage Council is established under section 4 of the Australian
Heritage Council Act 2003. It is the Australian Government’s principal adviser on
heritage matters.
In 2006–07 the Australian Heritage Council met seven times. It held face-to-
face meetings in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Portland (Victoria),
and Parramatta (New South Wales), and also held a teleconference. The council
provided the minister with 21 assessments for the National Heritage List, one
for the Commonwealth Heritage List and five for the List of Overseas Places of
Historic Significance to Australia. The council also considered several strategic
issues related to its functions, including raising the profile of the National Heritage
List and the Productivity Commission’s report, Conservation of Australia’s Historic
Heritage Places.
The Australian Heritage Council produced a report on its first three years of
operation, outlining its role in the successful implementation of the new national
heritage system. The council presented the report to the minister under section
24A of the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 and the report was tabled in
parliament on 24 May 2007.
27
2. Conserving biodiversity
2.1 Identifying and monitoring biodiversity and making
bioregional plans
Inventories of listed threatened species etc. on Commonwealth land (section 172)

Parks Australia Division continued to improve the comprehensiveness and
accuracy of inventories of species in Commonwealth reserves.
Surveys of cetaceans, listed threatened species etc. in Commonwealth marine

areas (section 173)
The Australian Centre for Applied Marine Mammal Science was established in
2006 and is the first major national research centre focused on understanding,
protecting and conserving the whales, dolphins, seals and dugongs in Australia’s
region. The centre is based in Hobart in the Australian Antarctic Division and has
an extensive network of science partners throughout Australia.
The centre was established with initial funding from the Australian Government’s
$100 million Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities programme and
existing staff and resources from the Australian Antarctic Division’s marine
mammal research group.
The Australian Government provided $400,000 from the Natural Heritage Trust
and the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities programme for research
projects in 2006–07 to improve knowledge of the distribution, abundance and
habitat requirements of whales and dolphins. These projects included:
• monitoring medium and large-scale movements of baleen whales using
satellite telemetry
• estimation of marine mammal age by measurement of accumulated
mitochondrial DNA mutations
• modelling habitat suitability of Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific
humpback dolphins to provide the scientific basis for their conservation
and management
• studying genetic structure of long-finned pilot whale populations in Tasmania
and social dynamics of mass strandings
• identifying genetic stock of southern right whales off the south coast of
Australia
• studying population dynamics of right whales off southern Australia
• researching novel genetic markers for stock identification of blue whales and
genetic differentiation between the two main Australian feeding aggregations
• determining critical habitat of blue whales and seismic impacts in the
Bonney Upwelling
• estimating abundance of the east Australian humpback whale population.

Recent data from research funded through the Natural Heritage Trust indicate
that populations of two out of the five threatened species of large whales found
near Australia’s coastline are increasing. While still much lower than pre-whaling
numbers, the Australian populations of southern right whales and humpback
whales continue to increase. Currently there are around 2,400 southern right
whales and 33,000 humpback whales. There are no current estimates for the
abundance of the other three threatened species of large whales, the blue, fin and
sei whales. (See whales and other cetaceans in section 2.2.)
Bioregional plans (section 176)

Under section 176 of the EPBC Act, the Australian Government is preparing
marine bioregional plans and establishing networks of marine protected areas
in Commonwealth waters as part of the Commonwealth’s contribution to the
National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas.
Information on the status of the marine bioregional plans is in the chapter on
coast and oceans in the first volume of this set of annual reports.
2.2 Protecting species and ecological communities

Listed threatened species and ecological communities
Thirty nominations were received during 2006–07 for the listing of threatened
species (22), ecological communities (four) and key threatening processes
(four). The timeframes for listing processes mean that very few nominations are
determined within the year of their nomination. During 2006–07, the minister
made 92 decisions based on public and other nominations, such as those
generated by the department. These decisions resulted in 89 amendments to the
lists, detailed in Table 9.
The February 2007 amendments to the EPBC Act establish a new process for
listing nationally threatened species and ecological communities. The new listing
process is designed to improve the effectiveness of listing, focusing on species and
ecological communities that are in greatest need of protection.
One key change made by the amendments is that the minister may determine a
conservation theme, and invite nominations for species, ecological communities
and key threatening processes that reflect this theme. Themes could include, for
instance, particular species or groups of species, or geographic regions, which
would benefit from particular attention. The minister may consider advice from
the Threatened Species Scientific Committee in determining the theme.
Another important change is the establishment of an assessment cycle. Stages of
the new process are:
• The cycle commences with a public call for nominations, giving notice of at least
40 business days. Nominations for listing can be submitted during this time.
29
• Nominations are forwarded to the Threatened Species Scientific Committee,
which will prepare a proposed priority assessment list.
• Public nominations that were still under assessment at February 2007
were considered by the committee for inclusion in the proposed priority
assessment list.
• The minister considers the proposed priority assessment list and may make
changes to the list. The minister then approves a final list which will be made
publicly available. The minister’s final decision on the proposed priority
assessment list provided by the committee in 2006–07 will be made
in 2007–08.
• All nominations on the final list will be assessed within the assessment period
(likely to be 12 months in most cases). The assessment cycle includes an
invitation for public and expert comment on the nominations.
• At the end of the assessment period, the committee will provide its advice to
the minister, who will make a decision regarding eligibility for listing under the
EPBC Act.
In 2006–07 the department held technical workshops for two ecological
communities (sedge rich Eucalyptus camphora swamp community and the
bluegrass-dominated grasslands of the Brigalow Belt, north and south). Technical
workshops are a way to obtain expert opinion on the nature and extent of a
nominated ecological community. The outcomes inform the Threatened Species
Scientific Committee in its deliberations on the nominated ecological community.
The outcomes of technical workshops are now made available on the department’s
website for public comment.
Permits for listed threatened species and ecological communities

Four applications were received under Part 13 of the EPBC Act to ‘move, take, kill,
injure, trade or keep listed threatened species and ecological communities on or
to Commonwealth land’. Four permits were issued for:
• a survey of the golden sun moth (Synemon plana) population in Barton,
Australian Capital Territory. The species is listed as critically endangered under
the EPBC Act. The survey will be compared with similar surveys carried out
during the 1980s to learn the effect of site management and environmental
conditions on the population since that time
• a survey of the grassland earless dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla) at
Canberra International Airport, Australian Capital Territory. The survey will
determine the presence and distribution of grassland earless dragons in the
area. The results will be compared with similar monitoring work carried out
in previous years and will provide information to assist in conservation of
the species
• an exemption from the use of mandatory turtle exclusion devices during deep
sea trawling for crustaceans in the Coral Sea Fishery

• the removal of plant clumps of Rulingia prostrata (dwarf kerrawang) and some
Eucalyptus parramattensis subsp. decadens (Earp’s gum) for the purposes
of construction of an ordnance loading apron facility by the Department of
Defence at the RAAF base at Williamtown, New South Wales.
The Australian Antarctic Division issued two permits in 2006–07, one to collect
moulted elephant seal hair and the other an opportunistic permit to collect dead
listed species.
Permits for migratory species

Parks Australia Division received four permit applications and issued all four
permits as follows:
• keeping and releasing orphaned booby bird chicks from Pulu Keeling
National Park
• taking/moving for banding small numbers of listed birds on Christmas Island
• transporting through Kakadu National Park crocodile eggs collected under
permit from the Arnhem Land Trust
• transporting through Kakadu National Park crocodile eggs and carcasses
collected from Arnhem Land.
The Australian Antarctic Division issued one permit in 2006–07, to opportunistically
collect dead listed species.
Marine species
Permits for listed marine species
Three applications were received under Part 13 of the EPBC Act to kill, injure, take,
trade, keep or move a listed marine species in or on a Commonwealth area. Three
permits were issued for:
• the taking, keeping and moving dead specimens of sea snakes (in the families
Hydrophiidae and Laticaudidae), taken in the Northern Prawn Trawl Fishery in
Commonwealth waters off the Northern Territory coast, for scientific purposes
• the taking, keeping and moving dead specimens of sea snakes (in the family
Hydrophiidae) landed dead as bycatch on trawlers in the Northern Prawn Trawl
Fishery and the Torres Strait Fishery, for scientific purposes
• collecting samples of the families Syngnathidae or Solenostomidae (seahorse,
pipefish, sea dragons and ghost pipefish) and the families Hydrophiidae or
Laticaudidae (sea snakes) landed dead by a commercial fishing operation in
waters off the Queensland coast for scientific purposes.
The Australian Antarctic Division issued six permits relating to emperor penguins,
Adélie penguins and Weddell seals. Activities include collecting abandoned eggs,
capturing and releasing to attach satellite trackers and/or tags, and collecting
samples and other information. An opportunistic permit was issued to collect dead
listed species. The ethics committee modified the Weddell seal proposal before a
permit was issued.
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Whales and other cetaceans
The EPBC Act requires people who have an interaction with a cetacean or a species
listed as threatened, migratory or marine to notify the details to the department
within seven days. A memorandum of understanding is being finalised with the
Victorian Department of Primary Industries who will submit quarterly reports
on behalf of the fishers instead of the individual fisher being required to report
within seven days as it was found that this requirement was not being met. Similar
arrangements have already been agreed with the Australian Fisheries Management
Authority and Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries to
cover fisheries under their jurisdiction.
The department receives other reports of interaction with listed species. The
information is recorded in a database and published on the department’s website.
The Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching 2005 were
developed jointly by all Australian, state and territory governments through the
Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council, and represent a consistent
national policy for the management of whale and dolphin watching. The guidelines
set out Tier 1 and Tier 2 standards for whale and dolphin watching. Tier 1 standards
outline general requirements for protecting animals that apply to all people.
Tier 2 standards primarily apply to the commercial whale and dolphin watching
industry that may require alternative levels of management.
In 2006–07 the department held discussions with the Victorian and South
Australian governments to consider implementing a Tier 2 whale watching
management area for blue whales in the Bonney Upwelling off the Victorian coast
to ensure proper management and minimise any impacts of whale watching.
Permits for whales and other cetaceans

Amendments to the EPBC Act enacted in February 2007 implement new
arrangements for issuing permits relating to cetaceans in the Australian Whale
Sanctuary. The amendments change and streamline processing of Part 13 permit
applications, which are no longer treated as controlled actions under section
165(2)(b) of the Act.
Section 266A of the EPBC Act has been repealed. The department is no longer
required to inform subscribers to the section 266A register of new permit
applications. Applicants are no longer required to place an advertisement in
a newspaper requesting public comment on their application. Instead, the
department will invite comment on permit applications through notification on
the internet at www.environment.gov.au/epbc/invitations-to-comment.html.
The department received nine applications for interference with whales and other
cetaceans in 2006–07. Two permits were issued, two were withdrawn, three are still
under consideration, and two were for whale watching permits. Other activities

authorised under the permits included scientific research, and approaching
cetaceans for documentary filming and photography. Under the amended
provisions of the EPBC Act, whale watching permits are no longer required for
Tier 1 areas. The department has not yet declared any Tier 2 areas for which
permits are required.
The amendments to the EPBC Act removed requirements for export and import
permits for cetacean items. These items are now treated in the same manner as all
other Australian native wildlife listed under the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). To ensure no relaxation in
controls, steps were also taken to introduce stricter domestic measures to treat all
cetaceans as though they are listed on Appendix I to CITES. Other amendments
brought cetacean permit applications and processes into line with other
threatened, migratory and marine species and removed the requirement for them
to be treated in the same manner as a referral process. This had been found to be
overly bureaucratic, costly and unnecessary given the small amount of feedback
received from the public on these proposals. Public notification and comment is
now provided on the department’s website.
Recovery plans and threat abatement plans (section 284 report)

Recovery planning
Under the amendments to the EPBC Act the minister must decide whether
to have a recovery plan for a species within 90 days of it becoming listed as a
threatened species.
The department continued to make substantial investment in recovering
threatened species through developing and implementing recovery plans. Over 820
nationally threatened species and ecological communities now have recovery plans
in place or in preparation, including 80 per cent of critically endangered species
and 64 per cent of endangered species. The EPBC Act has now been in operation
for nearly seven years, and there is an increasing number of recovery plans due for
review. In 2006–07, 26 recovery plan reviews were under way. (See page 71.)
In 2006–07, 66 recovery plans covering 106 terrestrial threatened species were made
or adopted under the EPBC Act. Species covered include 40 Victorian flora species,
the Gouldian finch in northern Australia, the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle and
forty-spotted pardalote, the orange-bellied parrot, the south-eastern red-tailed black-
cockatoo, the buff-banded rail on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Tasmanian giant
freshwater lobster and the northern and southern marsupial moles.
Testing more integrated approaches than the single-species approach to
threatened species recovery continued in 2006–07. Regional recovery plan pilot
projects that adopt a landscape approach to threatened species recovery are
progressing well in the Border Ranges region in New South Wales and Queensland,
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the south coast of Western Australia, the Mount Lofty–Murray Darling Basin region
in South Australia and on Norfolk Island. New pilot projects began in the Northern
Rivers region in New South Wales and on Christmas Island.
Implementation of priority actions identified in recovery plans continued
across Australia and the external territories. Projects will assist in protecting and
recovering habitat through fencing and revegetation, on-ground surveys and

population monitoring, captive breeding programmes, weed and feral pest control,
and community education.
New funding was provided to assist such species and ecological communities as
the black-flanked rock wallaby, the giant freshwater lobster, the Tasmanian devil,
Kangaroo Island threatened flora, marsupial moles, the shrike-tit in northern
Australia, and the Cumberland Plain woodlands in the Sydney Basin bioregion.
For marine species, recovery plans are in place for:
• the great white shark, grey nurse shark (both due for review in 2007) and
whale shark
• the subantarctic fur seal and southern elephant seal
• marine turtles
• 10 seabird species
• four handfish species.
A recovery plan for the Australian sea-lion and a multiple species recovery plan
for Pristis microdon (freshwater sawfish), Glyphis sp. A (speartooth shark) and
Glyphis sp. C (northern river shark) are under development.
Threat abatement planning

Ten threat abatement plans are in place to address the impacts of feral goats,
rabbits, cats, foxes, pigs, root-rot disease Phytophthora cinnamomi, chytrid
fungus, tramp ants, long-line fishing on seabirds and beak and feather disease of
parrots. Plans for the feral goat, rabbit, cat, fox and Phytophthora are being revised.
Two threat abatement plans are currently in preparation, one for injury and fatality
to vertebrate marine life caused by ingestion of, or entanglement in, harmful
marine debris and another for exotic rodents on Australian offshore islands of less
than 100,000 hectares. Both are expected to be approved in early 2008.
In 2006–07 the updated threat abatement plan for the incidental catch (or bycatch)
of seabirds during oceanic longline fishing operations received ministerial
approval. The plan, developed by the Australian Antarctic Division in consultation
with other government agencies, fishing and conservation interests, replaces the
first plan approved in 2001. The new plan recognises the substantial progress
made in Australian fisheries since 2001 in reducing seabird bycatch and requires
government agencies to take a range of actions to further decrease bycatch in
domestic and international fisheries. These include applying mitigation measures

and seabird bycatch limits to Australian fisheries, and promoting mitigation at
international forums.
For information on threat abatement projects funded in 2006–07 refer to the
chapter on land and inland waters in the first volume of this set of annual reports.
Wildlife conservation plans (section 298 report)
The Wildlife Conservation Plan for Migratory Shorebirds was made in
February 2006 and is the first wildlife conservation plan developed under the
Act. The plan outlines the range of research and management activities to be
implemented over the next five years in support of the conservation of 36 species
of migratory shorebirds. The plan also represents national level action within
the broader Implementation Strategy for the East–Asian Australasian Flyway
Partnership 2007–2011.
In 2006–07 the department contributed over $350,000 to the implementation
of the plan. Projects funded included $165,000 towards a nationally coordinated
monitoring programme. An additional $140,000 was provided to support
Australia’s international efforts to conserve migratory shorebirds and their habitats
across their full range. These efforts include bilateral treaties with China, Korea and
Japan and a multilateral partnership for the conservation of migratory shorebirds
in the East–Asian Australasian Flyway.
Exemptions under section 303A

No applications under section 303A were received for exemptions from Part 13 of
the Act.
2.3 International movement of wildlife

The EPBC Act regulates the export of Australia’s native wildlife and the import of
live exotic species. The EPBC Act also regulates the movement of internationally
recognised endangered species, thereby fulfilling Australia’s obligations under
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES).
The EPBC Act provides good conservation outcomes and supports sustainable
commercial activity by:
• promoting the humane treatment of animals
• requiring an assessment of any proposal to import a new live species to
determine the potential for that species to have a significant impact on the
Australian environment
• ensuring that any commercial use of Australian native wildlife for export is
managed in an ecologically sustainable way
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• providing a streamlined and transparent system for commercial operators
• strictly controlling the commercial export of live native mammals, birds,
amphibians and reptiles
• requiring that the assessment of permit applications for wildlife trade includes
proper consideration of broader ecosystem impacts
• ensuring that any other requirements under the EPBC Act in relation to
environmental assessment and approvals or other permits are met before
making a decision to issue a permit.
Sustainable wildlife industries

In 2006–07 representatives for the Australian Government and all state and
territory governments prepared national guidelines for the harvesting of tree ferns
and grass trees. Both of these are slow-growing and maturing species, valuable
in the horticultural trade. The guidelines cover best practice for regulation and
harvesting of these species to meet the sustainability requirements of the EPBC Act
Part 13A and to facilitate the development of consistent harvesting practices across
states and territories.
Wildlife trade management plans and wildlife trade operations approved under
the EPBC Act govern the sustainable wild harvest of wildlife and the humane
treatment of animals. During the year, two wildlife trade management plans (for
the commercial harvest of tree ferns in Tasmania and the commercial harvest of
kangaroos in New South Wales) were submitted. The latter was approved, but
the former is still being considered. Wildlife trade management plans enable the
Australian Government to ensure that wildlife use is renewable.
Amendments to the EPBC Act of direct relevance to international wildlife trade
maintain the requirement for a wildlife trade import permit, but limit the need
for imports to be part of a commercial import programme. A commercial import
programme is now required only for specimens that have been identified as
declared specimens through publication of a gazette notice, and where the
specimen is not, or is not derived from, an animal bred in captivity or from a plant
that has been artificially propagated. The specimen must still be accompanied by
an export permit from the relevant CITES management authority of the exporting
country. This added regulation ensures a higher level of protection is provided
where required for CITES listed species.
Other amendments to the EPBC Act now require a cooperative conservation
programme to be established for the international movement of all cetacean
species, as they are now regarded as being listed in Appendix I of CITES. This is a
stricter domestic measure allowed by, but not required under, CITES.
Forty-eight applications were received to amend the list of specimens suitable for
live import and 20 amendments to this list were registered on the Federal Register
of Legislative Instruments and tabled (including two corrections).

Wildlife trade permits and programmes
For information on wildlife trade permit efficiencies, see Part 1.4 of this report.
In 2006–07, 2810 wildlife trade permits and 24,908 personal accompanied baggage
permits were issued.
A total of 240 non-commercial wildlife trade permits were issued to zoological
institutions and scientific researchers. Three cooperative conservation
programmes (breeding programmes that are operated with the intention of
conserving a species) for a number of CITES I listed species were developed. This
enabled the export of gorillas to zoos in Portugal, Germany and Japan and approval
for Perth Zoo to export a female captive-born orang-utan for rehabilitation and
release into the wild under the Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Project at Bukit
Tigapuluh National Park in Indonesia.
This is the first approved cooperative conservation programme that has included
the release of an animal into the wild. It represents an important step towards
establishing new populations and achieving increased gene diversity for this
critically endangered species. In 2006–07 the Australian Government provided
funding for the rehabilitation programme in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park under
the Regional Natural Heritage Programme.
The import of Asian elephants in 2006 raised some concerns over welfare aspects
associated with international wildlife trade. The department continued to consult
with key stakeholders, in particular the Australasian Regional Association of
Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in relation to this issue.
As a result of the increasing number of requests to import or export live wildlife
specimens from persons interested in starting up new zoos, aquaria and wildlife
parks, the department developed guidelines and assessment criteria. These will
provide a more simplified and consistent method for assessing such applications in
the future.
The department enters into ambassador agreements with overseas countries to
export native species including koalas, wombats and EPBC Act listed threatened
species. These agreements require the receiving institution to comply with specific
conditions on husbandry requirements, health and the transfer of an animal and
its progeny. Agreements entered into in 2006–07 include the export of common
wombats to Dusit Zoo in Thailand and four koalas to Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand.
The department is working closely with ARAZPA to develop policies, within the
legislative framework, on assisted reproductive technologies such as in-vitro
fertilisation, sperm sorting and embryo transfer. These techniques are becoming
an important option to manage the future demography and genetic diversity of
animal populations in Australian and overseas zoos.
37
The minister refused an application for a commercial import programme for ramin
timber from Peninsula Malaysia, based on concerns raised within CITES on the
sustainability of the ramin harvest and the establishment of an effective harvesting
management regime.
The following wildlife programmes were approved:
• three cooperative conservation programmes

• one wildlife trade management plan
• 12 individual wildlife trade operations (non-fisheries)
• 30 artificial propagation programmes
• one aquaculture programme.
The department has enhanced its permit verification system as part of its efforts
to ensure compliance with the EPBC Act. The system combines desk top reviews
and site visits to measure the level of compliance by individuals and businesses
involved in the international trade of regulated species. The system provides an
opportunity for departmental staff to learn of issues faced by industry in complying
with the legislation, while educating business operators about international trade
requirements under the EPBC Act.
The department continued to cooperate with the Australian Customs Service
in regulating international wildlife trade, under an established memorandum of
understanding. Customs provide a range of border and post-border enforcement
services in partnership with the department. The department provides Customs
with training and decision support tools; 175 Customs officers attended training
sessions during the year. Training in international wildlife trade regulation was also
provided to 95 Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service officers.
2.4 Conservation agreements

The EPBC Act enables the environment minister to enter into conservation
agreements with another party to protect and conserve biodiversity or heritage.
Since the EPBC Act came into force in 2000, 10 conservation agreements have
been entered into to protect matters of national environmental significance,
such as threatened species and ecological communities, including the mountain
pygmy possum, the giant barred frog and the world heritage values of the Great
Barrier Reef. More information is at http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/species/
conservationagreements.html.

3. Managing heritage and protecting significant areas
Listing and managing heritage places in Australia
The Australian Government’s heritage system provides protection for national
heritage places as a matter of national environmental significance, complementing
the world heritage provisions within the EPBC Act.
The Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 established the Australian Heritage
Council as the Australian Government’s principal advisory body on heritage
matters. The Australian Heritage Council has responsibility under the EPBC Act
for assessing the heritage values of places for the National Heritage List and the
Commonwealth Heritage List.
Amendments to the EPBC Act and Australian Heritage Council Act 2003, which
came into effect on 19 February 2007, introduced some changes to the nomination
process and the role of the Australian Heritage Council. The amendments also
introduced a process under which the minister makes an annual call for public
nominations for the lists and decides on a finalised priority assessment list of
nominations which the council will assess in the forthcoming year. The council
provides its assessments to the minister who makes the decision on whether
places are listed.
World heritage
There are 17 Australian properties inscribed on the World Heritage List. The
Sydney Opera House was inscribed on the World Heritage List on 28 June 2007.
Under the EPBC Act, the Australian Government must use its best endeavours
to ensure that a plan for managing a world heritage property is prepared and
implemented cooperatively with the state or territory in which the property is
situated. The plan should be consistent with Australia’s obligations under the
World Heritage Convention and the Australian World Heritage Management
Principles.
Fifteen of the 17 Australian properties in the World Heritage List have management
plans. A number of management plans for Australia’s world heritage properties
were prepared before EPBC Act requirements applied. In 2006–07 work was
undertaken to bring several of these plans into line with EPBC Act requirements
as they become due for renewal under state statutory timeframes and processes.
They include:
• upgrades of the existing management plans for the Royal Exhibition Building
and Carlton Gardens
• a mid-term review of the 1999 Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
Management Plan
39
• revision and updating of the 1996 Plan of Management for the Willandra Lakes
region
• development of new management plans for Purnululu and Kakadu National
Park, given the expiry of the previous plans
• development of a new plan for Macquarie Island, given the expiry of the
previous plan
• a review of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Plan
• development of a strategic plan for the Greater Blue Mountains World
Heritage Area
• release of the Shark Bay World Heritage Property Draft Strategic Plan for public
comment in October 2006. The Western Australian Department of Environment
and Conservation is now in the process of reviewing public submissions.
Serial nomination of convict places to the World Heritage List

The Australian Government is currently preparing an Australian convict sites
world heritage nomination. The proposed serial listing includes 11 places from
around Australia. Two are already in the National Heritage List (Port Arthur and
Fremantle Prison). As of 30 June 2007, the Australian Heritage Council has assessed
eight others:
• Cockatoo Island Convict Site
• Hyde Park Barracks
• Old Government House and the Government Domain, Parramatta
• Old Great North Road
• Cascades Female Factory, Yards 1, 3, and Yard 4 South
• Darlington Precinct
• Coal Mines Historic Site
• Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area, Norfolk Island.
The remaining place (Brickendon and Woolmers, Tasmania) is still under
assessment by the Australian Heritage Council. The intention is to submit the
nomination to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) in 2007.
Most of the management plans for the individual places are in the process of
review or preparation. In 2006–07 the department provided $20,000 funding to
update the conservation management plan for Woolmers Estate and committed
approximately $70,000 for a management plan for Brickendon Estate.
The department provided comments on management plans being prepared for
the Cascades Female Factory in Hobart and the Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic
Area on Norfolk Island, and contributed to the management plan for the Fremantle
Prison currently in preparation.

List of Overseas Places of Historic Significance to Australia
The 2007 amendments to the EPBC Act established the List of Overseas Places of
Historic Significance to Australia. This list provides for symbolic recognition of
overseas places which are of outstanding historic significance to Australia. The
minister subsequently entered Anzac Cove, Turkey; the Kokoda Track, Papua New
Guinea and Howard Florey’s laboratory, United Kingdom in the list.
National heritage
As at 30 June 2007 there were 59 places in the National Heritage List, with 28
places added to the list in 2006–07 following assessments by the Australian
Heritage Council. These include 16 places added to the list following new
legislative provisions that allow the inclusion in the National Heritage List of places
in the World Heritage List. These places were:
• Lord Howe Island Group, New South Wales
• Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, New South Wales
• Willandra Lakes Region, New South Wales
• Greater Blue Mountains Area, New South Wales
• Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte), South Australia
• Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
• Fraser Island, Queensland
• Wet Tropics of Queensland
• Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh), Queensland
• Purnululu National Park, Western Australia
• Shark Bay, Western Australia
• Macquarie Island, Tasmania
• Tasmanian Wilderness
• Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
• Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory
• External Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands.
The other places added to the National Heritage List in 2006–07 were:
• Warrumbungle National Park, New South Wales
• Sydney Harbour Bridge, New South Wales
• Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, New South Wales
• Lion, Long and Spectacle Island Nature Reserves, New South Wales
• Royal National Park and Garawarra State Conservation Area, New South Wales
• Grampians National Park (Gariwerd), Victoria
• Echuca Wharf, New South Wales–Victoria border
• Flora Fossil Site, Yea, Victoria
• Flemington Racecourse, Victoria
• Rippon Lea House and Garden, Victoria
• Ediacara Fossil Site (Nilpena), South Australia
41
• Glass House Mountains National Landscape, Queensland
• Stirling Range National Park, Western Australia.
The minister decided not to include seven places in the national list in 2006–07.
Under the EPBC Act prior to 19 February 2007, the Australian Heritage Council
was requested by the minister to undertake 54 new assessments of places for

the National Heritage List. Following the amendments, 23 nominations were
forwarded to the Australian Heritage Council for consideration for inclusion in
the first proposed priority assessment list under section 324JA. As at 30 June 2007
the council had completed a total of 97 assessments for the National Heritage List
(21 in 2006–07).
Provisions in the EPBC Act enable the minister to include in the National Heritage
List a place that the minister believes may have national heritage values which
are under threat. In 2006–07 the minister received requests to emergency list six
places in the National Heritage List. As at 30 June 2007 no places were emergency
listed, two had been rejected, and four had been withdrawn or had not proceeded.
One of these emergency listing requests related to the Burrup Peninsula. The
request was to include the entire Dampier Archipelago in the list. The minister
declined the request. However, under the standard listing provisions of the EPBC
Act, the minister included the Dampier Archipelago, including Burrup Peninsula,
in the National Heritage List on 3 July 2007 ensuring protection of Indigenous
heritage without compromising the viability of nationally important industries.
Progress in developing management plans for national heritage places

To ensure the protection of a national heritage place, the EPBC Act provides
for the preparation of management plans which set out how the significance of
the site will be protected or conserved. Where a national heritage place is not
entirely within a Commonwealth area and is in a state or territory, the Australian
Government must use its best endeavours to ensure that a management plan is
prepared and implemented in cooperation with the relevant state or territory
government. The minister is responsible for preparing management plans for
national heritage places in Commonwealth areas.
Many of the places included in the National Heritage List have management plans
prepared under state or territory legislative arrangements which may not fully
satisfy the requirements of the EPBC Act. Sometimes multiple plans exist for the
same place, often because of the different institutional owners involved. A study
commissioned by the department and completed in December 2006 (Management
Plans for National and World Heritage Properties) noted that most national
heritage places had some form of management plan in place. However, as the
great majority of management plans pre-date the Act, most plans do not meet its
requirements. The study also found that while a management plan may not meet
the requirements of the Act, a number were effective in complying with current

conservation planning best practice and were likely to lead to the conservation of
national heritage values.
As a result of the study, and the development of a priority list for the development
of management plans, the Australian Government provided financial assistance
(in accordance with section 324ZB of the Act) towards the development of
management plans for Richmond Bridge (Tasmania), Batavia Shipwreck Site
and Survivor Camps Area 1629 – Houtman Abrolhos (Western Australia), the
Dirk Hartog Landing Site 1616 – Cape Inscription Area (Western Australia) and
Recherche Bay North-east Peninsula (Tasmania).
Work began on two management plans for the Point Nepean Defence Sites and
Quarantine Station Area after the place was added to the National Heritage List.
The Quarantine Station is also on the Commonwealth Heritage List. The plans,
prepared by Parks Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, and the Point
Nepean Community Trust, include an integrated management plan for the entire
area and a conservation management plan for the Quarantine Station. The plans
address the requirements of the Act for national and Commonwealth heritage
listed places. It is anticipated that the plans will be finalised by the end of 2007.
In 2006–07 the department was involved in consultations over the development
of plans for other national heritage places: Mawson’s Huts Historic Site (Australian
Antarctic Territory), Recherche Bay North-east Peninsula (Tasmania), and Old
Parliament House (Australian Capital Territory).
National Heritage List communications themes

One of the objectives of the National Heritage List is to achieve greater protection
through promoting greater public awareness and understanding of Australia’s
heritage and its importance to Australia’s national identity. A branding framework
and four-year communication strategy have been developed to help the long-
term protection of places on the National Heritage List by increasing Australians’
involvement in, understanding of, and commitment to Australia’s heritage. As part
of this strategy, additions to the National Heritage List have achieved extensive
media coverage of the list and individual sites.
The first half of 2006–07 saw the completion of the 2006 national heritage theme,
‘coastal and maritime heritage’.
The Australian Government sponsored part of the voyage of the Duyfken (a replica
of a small Dutch ship which in 1606 landed on the western side of Cape York) to
mark the 400th anniversary of the first documented European contact with and
mapping of Australia. The voyage also served as the centrepiece of the government’s
coastal and maritime heritage theme for 2006. The Duyfken stopped in 25 ports
around Australia, and was open for tours by the public and schools in each port.
It is estimated that 80,000 people toured the ship over the 10-month period, and
376 media stories and interviews featured in metropolitan and regional media.
43
The second half of 2006–07 saw the development and implementation of the 2007
annual national heritage theme, ‘the Australian spirit’. The objective was to honour
the people, events, and places significant to all Australians using three sub-themes:
ingenuity, courage under adversity, and unique lifestyle.
Activities included:
• a partnership with the Australian Football League to promote Australia’s
military heritage through the ANZAC Day game at the Melbourne Cricket
Ground
• a travelling photographic exhibition featuring key stories under the three
sub-themes
• a calendar based on the theme
• a partnership with Qantas (which will reflect the theme in its magazine and
in-flight video)
• a partnership with the National Archives of Australia (which will promote
theme stories through its existing public exhibitions).
Commonwealth heritage
The Commonwealth Heritage List includes natural, Indigenous and historic places
in Commonwealth areas (land and waters owned or leased by the Commonwealth)
identified by the minister as having Commonwealth heritage values.
Amendments to the EPBC Act which came into effect in early 2007 also changed
the nomination and assessment process for the Commonwealth Heritage List. The
changes are similar to changes to the national heritage listing process, with the
exception that there is no provision for a statutory theme for the Commonwealth
Heritage List.
By 30 June 2007 the Commonwealth Heritage List included 340 places. One place
was added in 2006–07: the Tasmanian Seamounts.
In 2006–07 three places were nominated for inclusion in the Commonwealth
Heritage List. Two nominations were in response to the public call for nominations.
These were for the RAAF Williams Base, Laverton, Victoria, and for the Eastern ACT
Grasslands. The third nomination came in before the amendments were passed;
it is for the Officers Mess, Glenbrook RAAF Base, New South Wales. All are being
considered by the Australian Heritage Council for inclusion in its first proposed
priority assessment list.
Provisions in the EPBC Act enable the minister to directly include a place
in the Commonwealth Heritage List when the minister believes it may have
Commonwealth heritage values which are under threat. In 2006–07 the minister
received no such listing requests.

Progress in developing management plans for Commonwealth heritage places
The department continued to advise and work with Australian Government
agencies on their responsibilities to prepare management plans for
Commonwealth heritage places under their ownership or control. Before an
agency finalises a plan, it must invite members of the public, Indigenous people
with rights and interests in the place and, where relevant, a state or territory to
comment on the draft plan.
If plans are already in place and are consistent with the new Commonwealth
heritage management principles prescribed in Regulations to the EPBC Act, a new
plan may not be required.
In 2006–07 the minister advised the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the National Capital Authority that their
management plans for two places under their responsibility satisfy Commonwealth
heritage management principles. The places are CSIRO’s Building 101
(Entomology) at Black Mountain, and the National Capital Authority’s High Court–
National Gallery Precinct.
The department consulted with Commonwealth agencies on draft management
plans for Lady Elliott Island in Queensland; the National Gallery of Australia, Old
Parliament House Gardens, Old Parliament House, and York Park in the Australian
Capital Territory; the Perth General Post Office and Kalgoorlie Post Office in Western
Australia; the Defence Explosives Factory at Maribyrnong, and Point Nepean
Quarantine Station in Victoria; Mawson’s Huts Historic Site in the Australian Antarctic
Territory; and Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area on Norfolk Island.
Progress in preparing heritage strategies for Commonwealth heritage values

Australian Government agencies that own or control one or more places with
Commonwealth heritage values must prepare a written heritage strategy for
managing the places to protect and conserve their values. The principal objective
of a heritage strategy is to outline a strategic approach for the agency to effectively
manage places which it owns or controls for the long-term protection and
conservation of their Commonwealth heritage values. Before developing a heritage
strategy, the agency is required to consult the Australian Heritage Council and take
its advice into account.
A heritage strategy must address the matters set out in the Regulations under the
EPBC Act. In 2006–07 heritage strategies for the National Library of Australia, the
Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, and Parks Australia were
completed. The Australian Heritage Council provided advice on heritage strategies
for the Australian National University and the Australian Customs Service. The
department provided comment on draft heritage strategies for the Australian
Broadcasting Commission, the Australian Film Commission, the Department of
45
Parliamentary Services and the National Gallery of Australia. Twelve agency heritage
strategies have been completed.
The department also held discussions with the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship, the High Court of Australia and the Office of Australian War Graves
about the preparation of their heritage strategies.
By 30 June 2007 the department had reminded all Australian Government agencies
of their obligations under the EPBC Act to prepare heritage strategies.
Wetlands of international importance

Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance listed through an Australian
Government nomination on the Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (the Ramsar Convention).
The department continued to assist in the development and review of
management plans for Australian Ramsar sites. Under the EPBC Act all Ramsar sites
in Commonwealth areas are required to have, and do have, management plans.
To date 55 of the 64 listed Australian Ramsar wetlands have management plans
or draft plans. The management status of Australia’s Ramsar sites including their
management plans is currently under review.
In December 2006 the department notified the Ramsar secretariat of a change in
the ecological character of the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar
site, in accordance with Article 3.2 of the Ramsar Convention.
Section 336 of the EPBC Act allows the Commonwealth to provide assistance
for the protection or conservation of a Ramsar wetland. No direct assistance has
been provided under this section of the Act. However, projects have been funded
under the national and regional components of the Natural Heritage Trust and
the Coastal Catchments Initiative to assist the conservation and management of
Ramsar wetlands in Australia, including descriptions of the ecological character of a
number of Ramsar wetlands. These projects will inform future management of the
wetlands and EPBC Act decision-making.
The details of these projects are in the section on water strategies in the chapter
on land and inland waters in the first volume of this set of annual reports
Biosphere reserves
A biosphere reserve is a unique concept which includes one or more protected
areas and surrounding lands that are managed to combine both conservation
and sustainable use of natural resources. ‘Biosphere reserve’ is an international
designation made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). The department is the focal point for biosphere reserves
in Australia, while the Australian National Commission for UNESCO has overall
responsibility for UNESCO activities.

The EPBC Act allows the minister to cooperate with states and territories on
biosphere reserves while the Regulations contain principles for the management
of biosphere reserves.
A nomination for a new biosphere reserve in Noosa was submitted in 2006–07.
The Noosa nomination was considered at the International Advisory Committee
for biosphere reserves meeting in June 2007 with a final decision due to be made
by the International Coordinating Council of Man and the Biosphere meeting in
February 2008. The international Man and the Biosphere Programme is a UNESCO
initiative.
Technical advice was provided to community and other organisations and groups
involved in biosphere reserve development.
Commonwealth marine reserves

The Australian Government establishes and manages an estate of marine protected
areas that are Commonwealth reserves under the EPBC Act.
The Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve was declared on 28 May 2007 to
protect a key aggregation site for the critically endangered grey nurse shark. The
reserve is located off the coast of northern New South Wales near Laurieton.
The South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network, comprising 13 individual
reserves, was declared on 28 June 2007 and will take effect 3 September 2007. It is
the world’s first network of temperate deep sea marine reserves.
For more information on the South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network
and the marine bioregional planning process, refer to the chapter on coasts and
oceans in the first volume of this set of annual reports.
In accordance with the February amendments to the EPBC Act, new
Commonwealth reserves will be managed under approvals issued by the Director
of National Parks until management plans are developed and come into operation
following a period of public consultation. The interim management arrangements
commence when the network comes into effect. The management plan for the
network will be developed in accordance with section 176 of the EPBC Act, and is
expected to take approximately 12 months to prepare.
47
4. Monitoring and compliance
The department’s post referral and approval verification, monitoring and
auditing effort increased. Teams of audit staff were trained and a full programme
of audits undertaken. Amendments to the EPBC Act introduced important new
investigative powers, increased the Act’s effectiveness and increased the range of
enforcement responses.
In-house compliance and enforcement training increased. Investigation and
monitoring operations conducted in collaboration with others increased. This has
meant a more effective use of resources in Australia and overseas.
Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Network

The Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Network,
launched in 2004, continued to successfully promote cross-jurisdictional
dialogue and cooperation for environmental law enforcement and regulation.
The network now has 24 agency members, including at least one agency in every
Australian jurisdiction.
The network held its 3rd national conference in Sydney in November 2006 on
the theme ‘working together for regulatory compliance’. The conference drew
over 250 delegates, another record registration. Participants attended almost 60
presentations on such issues as regulatory management and theory, audit and
monitoring, training, and evidence collection.
The network has several working groups, and through the Audit Working Group
the department worked with partner agencies to develop a national training
programme for member agencies and agreed national standards for compliance
audits. The network is an excellent forum for sharing experience and provides a
range of benefits through co-regulation and joint compliance activities.
Audit programme
The department commenced its compliance auditing programme in July 2006 to:
• monitor compliance with conditions of approval and particular manner
requirements
• evaluate the conditions and requirements attached to audited projects in
relation to their ability to be understood and complied with
• evaluate the effectiveness of the conditions and requirements in protecting the
relevant matter of national environmental significance for each audited project
• review the department’s processes and systems with a view to continual
improvement.
The initial compliance audit programme involved 110 projects. These were
projects judged at the time of approval to have a higher than average risk of

non-compliance. From these, 12 randomly selected projects were audited.
These included a seismic survey, aerial baiting, construction of a school building,
extension of an existing coal mine, a new mining operation, replacement of
bridges, rail link construction, road works, sewerage and irrigation.
In general, the audits identified a high level of compliance with conditions. Some
non-compliances were identified and rectified. The audits’ recommendations
enabled the department to improve its processes, develop more effective
conditions and improve compliance with the EPBC Act. Another benefit of the
audit programme was increased liaison with co-regulators such as state and local
government agencies, enabling joint audits to be carried out and improving
information sharing.
All employees involved in undertaking audits have received training, including
taking part in audits by state agencies.
Compliance
In 2006–07 the department worked to develop a database to streamline and
support its procedures for responding to the growing number of reports of alleged
breaches of Part 3 of the EPBC Act. As a result of increased awareness of the Act
and an improved capacity to respond to reports, the department dealt with over
580 reports about 370 incidents or activities potentially in breach of provisions
relating to activities that may have a significant impact on matters of national
environmental significance. These reports come from a variety of sources and each
report is carefully investigated to determine whether or not the Act does or should
apply. The department works cooperatively with state and local government
agencies to improve compliance with the Act.
The department receives many reports of activities that are primarily of state
or local concern, but which nevertheless need to be investigated sufficiently to
establish that the EPBC Act does not apply. As a result of the enhanced procedures
to manage the volume of compliance work, recording and tracking of all new
reports and cases through the relevant databases is now comprehensive.
Consistent with the department’s compliance and enforcement policy, a range of
flexible and targeted measures are used to promote compliance and to respond
to breaches. Where compliance approaches fail, enforcement sanctions are
applied. The recent amendments to the EPBC Act have considerably increased the
investigative tools, compliance approaches and enforcement sanctions available.
Many compliance incidents dealt with by the department involve actions that
have not yet taken place. In these cases, the department investigates to determine
whether or not the activity should be regulated by the EPBC Act. In 2006–07,
approximately 15 per cent of all referrals received by the department resulted from
active compliance intervention.
49
Case study: Facilitating voluntary compliance
The department encourages and assists people planning developments

which may impact on protected matters to engage with the requirements of
Part 3 of the EPBC Act.

The department often receives reports about developments which may
require regulation under the Act. Such reports come from many sources
including neighbouring residents, local environment groups, environmental
experts, rival companies, and local and state governments.
In March 2007 the department was notified that a subdivision that could affect
a substantial area of known southern cassowary habitat was proposed near
Kuranda, Queensland. The southern cassowary is listed as endangered under the
Act. The subdivision had the potential to isolate about 150 hectares of essential
habitat in addition to alienating the 50 hectares of the subdivision itself.
The department contacted the developer’s planning consultant to alert
them to the potential application of the Act. The consultant responded
with appreciation, as these requirements had been overlooked in the
planning process, which to date had been concerned with local and state
development controls.
Subsequently, the proposal was referred under Part 7. The proposal
was determined to be a controlled action as it would be likely to have a
significant impact on the southern cassowary. Assessment under Part 8 of
the Act began immediately.
This sequence is typical of many reports that the department investigates
each year before the substantial action has taken place. The department’s
capacity to respond to reports in this way ensures that proposals such as this
are captured before a breach occurs and enables proper consideration to be
given to impacts on matters of national environmental significance through
environmental impact assessment.
The department undertook a risk assessment of administration of Parts 3, 7, 8

and 9 and related sections of the Act. The assessment documented known risks
and established a framework for reducing potential risks. A major factor identified
in the risk assessment and in the Australian National Audit Office’s audit of the
administration of the EPBC Act was the lack of resources available for compliance
and enforcement work. Additional resources were therefore provided in the
2007–08 Budget. The department has developed plans for the most effective use
of the additional resources that will enable a considerable increase in compliance
and enforcement in 2007–08.

Investigations
The department continued to operate its investigative activities in conjunction
with the Australian Federal Police and Australian Customs Service, and hosts
outposted officers from these agencies. Efforts to increase and improve
cooperation with other environmental law enforcement agencies are ongoing and
have already yielded improvements in protection of the environment.
In 2006–07 the department’s Environment Investigations Unit investigated
44 cases. Investigations commenced following a variety of information reports
that originated from the general public, and state, territory and Australian
Government partner agencies. The unit uses multi-disciplinary teams drawing
on knowledge from within the department and externally, depending on each
specific investigation.
Matters of national environmental significance

At 30 June 2007 the department was investigating 19 allegations of non-compliance
with Part 3 of the EPBC Act. The allegations relate to non-compliance with
conditions of EPBC Act approvals and permits and taking of actions likely to have a
significant impact on a protected matter without EPBC Act approval.
Allegations include impacts on listed threatened species and ecological
communities, world heritage properties and wetlands of international importance,
and allegedly occurred in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia,
the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. Persons under investigation
include individuals and companies.
Investigations comply with Australian Government Investigations Standards, and
the department works with the Australian Federal Police to ensure policies and
methodology are best practice.
Marine
The Environment Investigations Unit worked with the department’s Marine
Division, conducting investigations and training wardens throughout Australia.
The unit advised the division on incident management, risk assessment and
pre‑operational issues.
A Marine Operations Team was formed to improve the department’s management
of incidents and investigations that breach marine provisions of the Act. The team
worked with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority on investigations into
illegal fishing in Commonwealth waters.
International wildlife trade

There was an increase in the number of monitoring warrants executed, mainly in
the exotic bird keeping industry, to check for compliance with EPBC Act provisions.
51
The department participated in joint investigations with state co-regulators
resulting in several prosecutions. The department has found that whilst joint
investigations can provide some management challenges they are resource
efficient and broaden the range of statutory responses.
The department provided investigative support to the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service in relation to two allegations of unlawful hunting made against

Australian citizens. The department has also jointly managed intelligence probes
into exotic reptile smuggling, coordinating the activities of Australian Government
and state and territory agencies with New Zealand’s Wildlife Enforcement Group.
Education and policy development

The department continued to be a leader in developing educational and training
tools for compliance and law enforcement. The department worked to refine
the existing Certificate IV in Investigations and Statutory Compliance, aiming to
make the course more streamlined, shorter and less disruptive to participants’
work. The department has moved to develop a Diploma in Government
(Investigations) to better equip senior investigations personnel. It is intended to
offer the diploma through the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and
Regulation Network.
Recognising that multidisciplinary teams outperform individuals acting
alone or in larger organisational groupings, especially when performance
requires multiple skills, judgment and experience, the department developed
multidisciplinary team protocols in relation to departmental compliance and
enforcement actions. The protocols will apply throughout the department, and
across jurisdictions in the network.
The department is also developing guidelines for providing in-house expert
opinion on the environmental legislation it administers. The guidelines
incorporate current case law relating to expert witness evidence and will increase
consistency in expert witness management across the department, and across
jurisdictions in the network. After a period of field testing, the guidelines may be
published for wider use next year.
Prosecutions
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has responsibility for
prosecuting criminal EPBC Act offences referred by investigating agencies. EPBC
Act charges can be brought by state police and other agencies, and prosecutions
can be conducted by state prosecutors.
Sixteen matters were commenced under the EPBC Act in 2006–07 and eight were
commenced under the Regulations. Seventeen matters were successfully finalised
under the Act and 17 of 18 proposed for prosecution under the Regulations were
successfully finalised.

Requirements for environmental approvals (Part 3)
The department continued to be a responsive regulator resorting to prosecution
in the most appropriate cases. The department monitors investigations by state
and local government that have an EPBC Act component and decides whether
additional action under the EPBC Act is appropriate. Such a case was the alleged
clearance of native grassland containing the spiny rice-flower (Pimelea spinosa).
A Victorian council sought an enforcement order that prevents further development
and vests the site in the Crown. That application is currently subject to appeal.
Another investigation related to the alleged illegal clearing of a listed threatened
ecological community and its associated impacts on a listed threatened species on
an airport site. The matter has been referred to the Commonwealth Director of
Public Prosecutions for consideration of criminal contraventions of the EPBC Act.
A third investigation related to a residential property developer in Western
Australia. The developer engaged consultants who advised against the
development proceeding without modification. The developer is alleged to have
ignored this advice and completed the project. The matter has been referred to
the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration of criminal
contraventions of the EPBC Act.
Particular manner decisions (Part 7) and conditions on environmental approvals

(Part 9)
The department investigated a number of alleged breaches of particular
manner decisions. In one example a residential property developer in northern
Queensland agreed that he had not complied with the condition. The department
is now seeking an enhanced environmental outcome.
The department also investigated a number of alleged breaches of conditions
of approval.
It is expected that the enhanced audit programme will result in the department
responding to more such instances in the coming year.
Species and communities (Part 13)

The department continued to work with the Australian Fisheries Management
Authority in relation to illegal fishers and EPBC Act offences. Prosecutions against
five alleged illegal fishers began. There is some overlap between the EPBC Act and
fisheries legislation and the department is clarifying the circumstances in which an
EPBC Act prosecution should be preferred.
International wildlife trade (Part 13A)

In 2006–07 two charges were laid under the EPBC Act by the department against
two defendants and a further four defendants are expected to be charged with
multiple wildlife offences following an extensive investigation into the illegal exotic
bird trade in Australia. No charges were laid under the EPBC Regulations. A total of
7,533 seizure notices were issued.
53
The Australian Customs Service used the criminal offence provisions in the EPBC
Act to prosecute individuals with offences relating to the illegal import and export
of wildlife. The penalties for wildlife offences include fines and imprisonment.
Activities in protected areas (Part 15)

Twelve rangers and two wardens were appointed in 2006–07. Six people were
prosecuted for taking squid in Booderee National Park in excess of the recreational
limit of 10. Four prosecutions involved taking migratory species (red-footed
boobies and frigatebirds) in the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands contrary to
the provisions of Part 13 of the Act. One person was convicted of seven offences in
relation to commercial crabbing at Field Island, Kakadu National Park.
The department successfully made a civil penalty application against the skipper of
a commercial fishing vessel for illegal fishing in the Mermaid Reef Marine National
Nature Reserve. A pecuniary penalty of more than $50,000 was imposed by the
Federal Court.
In the amendments to the EPBC Act a new criminal penalty provision was created
to broaden the range of regulatory options for deliberate commercial incursions
into Commonwealth marine protected areas.
Review of decisions
High Court and Federal Court
The Wilderness Society and Investors for the Future of Tasmania challenged the
validity of the delegate’s decision regarding assessment of a referral submitted by
Gunns Ltd of a proposal to construct and operate a kraft pulp mill in the Tamar
Valley in Tasmania. This followed withdrawal of a previous referral which was to
be assessed by the Tasmanian Resource Planning and Development Commission
as part of an integrated impact assessment process. This matter is set down for
hearing commencing 3 July 2007.
Anvil Hill Project Watch Association sought review of the minister’s decision that
the Anvil Hill coal project is not a controlled action. This matter is scheduled to be
heard in August 2007.
Mr Lansen and others applied for review of the 13 February 2007 decision to
approve with conditions the McArthur River mining proposal under the EPBC Act.
The applicants are the registered native title claimants in the land affected by the
mining proposal.
The Humane Society International applied for an injunction under the EPBC Act
to restrain a Japanese company from conducting whaling activities in the Exclusive
Economic Zone adjacent to the Australian Antarctic Territory. On 14 July 2006 the
Full Federal Court upheld an appeal to allow Humane Society International to
serve the application on Kyodo Senpaku in Japan, and to seek an injunction from
the Federal Court. On 2 February 2007 the court made orders regarding the mode
by which service of the originating process was to be effected. This matter was
listed for further directions on 24 July 2007.

Senator Bob Brown applied for an injunction to restrain forestry operations
by Forestry Tasmania in the Wielangta area on the basis that the operations
contravene the EPBC Act. The Commonwealth was given leave to intervene to
argue points related to the operation of the EPBC Act and the Tasmanian Regional
Forest Agreement. The Federal Court held that the operations had a significant
impact on threatened species and were not in accordance with the Tasmanian
Regional Forest Agreement, and granted an injunction restraining Forestry
Tasmania from conducting the operations without an approval under the EPBC
Act. Forestry Tasmania appealed the decision to the Full Federal Court. The
Commonwealth sought to be joined as a respondent to the appeal but the Court
has instead allowed the Commonwealth the status of an intervener only. The
appeal will be heard in the Full Court in Hobart in August 2007.
In 2005–06 applications for judicial review under the Administrative Decisions
(Judicial Review) Act 1977 were made in relation to the Bald Hills Wind Farm
proposal. In particular, the Victorian Minister for Planning and Bald Hills Wind
Farm Pty Ltd sought review of the minister’s decision not to approve the wind
farm proposal. On 4 August 2006 the minister and Bald Hills Wind Farm Pty Ltd
agreed to settle the court case and for the minister to remake the approvals
decision.
Administrative Appeals Tribunal

On 10 November 2006 the tribunal decided to uphold the minister’s decision
of 30 November 2005 to approve two wallaby management plans in Tasmania
(for harvesting wallabies on King and Flinders islands) as approved wildlife trade
management plans with the proviso that the management plans be amended to
require the Tasmanian Government to gather and record information on the sex
and estimated age of the harvested animals.
On 27 February 2007 the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia lodged an
appeal against the minister’s decision to approve the New South Wales kangaroo
management plan. At the time of writing, the matter was yet to be listed for hearing.
Humane Society International sought review of the minister’s decision to declare
the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery an approved wildlife trade
operation under section 303FN of the EPBC Act. A hearing date on this matter had
not been set as at 30 June 2007.
Nature Conservation Council of NSW Inc sought a review of the minister’s decision
of 27 July 2006 to declare the harvesting of specimens taken in the New South
Wales Ocean Trap and Line Fishery to be an approved wildlife trade operation
under section 303FN of the EPBC Act. A decision on this matter was still to be
handed down as at 30 June 2007.
Freedom of information
Thirty-three requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 were processed
by the department during 2006–07. Eight of these requests related to EPBC Act
decision-making processes.
55
5. Reporting
State of the Environment report
The EPBC Act requires that a report on Australia’s environment be prepared
every five years. The third State of the Environment report was published in
December 2006.
Section 516A report

Section 516A of the EPBC Act requires Australian Government organisations
to include in their annual reports a section detailing their environmental
performance and the organisation’s contribution to ecologically sustainable
development.
The department’s report under section 516A is in the first volume of this set of
annual reports.

Appendix 1—Statistics on the operation of the
EPBC Act in 2006–07
Table 1: Overview of referrals, assessments and approvals
Referrals 2006–07 Total 1
Total referrals received 347 2,278
Referrals being processed at 1 July 2006 36 N/A
Referrals withdrawn or lapsed before decision 8 45
Action clearly unacceptable 0 0
Referral decisions made (after reconsideration) 336 2,194
Approval required—controlled action 73 495
Approval not required—action to be taken in a particular manner 75 358
Approval not required—no conditions on action 188 1,341
Referrals being processed at 30 June 2007 39 39
Controlled actions
Total controlled actions (after reconsideration) 73 495
Assessments/recommendation reports completed 39 224
Under bilateral agreements 12 26
Preliminary documentation 20 142
Public environment report 2 8
Environmental impact statement 2 15
Referral information 0 0
Public inquiry 0 0
Accredited assessment 3 33
Approval decisions
Total approval decisions 45 196
Approved with no conditions 0 10
Approved with conditions 44 182
Approval not granted 1 4
1 Since the commencement of the EPBC Act in July 2000.
57
Table 2: Referrals, referral decisions and reconsideration of decisions
Referrals
Referrals being processed at 1 July 2006 36
Referrals received 2006–07 347

Deemed referrals 0
Referrals withdrawn or lapsed before decision 81
Referral decisions made (initial decisions, before reconsideration) 336
Approval required—controlled action 74
Approval not required—action to be taken in a particular manner 74
Approval not required—no conditions on action 188
Referrals being processed at 30 June 2007 39
Reconsideration of decisions
Reconsideration decisions being processed at 1 July 2006 0
Reconsideration requests received 2006–07 7
Reconsideration decisions made 7
No change in decision 3
Controlled action decision changed to not controlled action 0
Controlled action decision changed to action to be taken in a particular manner 3
Not controlled action decision changed to action to be taken in a particular manner 0
Particular manner decision changed to new manner 1
Controlled action decision changed to revised controlling provisions 0
Not controlled action decision changed to controlled action 0
Particular manner decision changed to not controlled action 0
Particular manner decision changed to controlled action 0
Reconsiderations pending at 30 June 2007 0
1 This number was wrongly reported in 2005–06. The correct number was 7 not 47.

Table 3: Referrals and referral decisions made by jurisdiction1
Referrals Decisions made in 2006–07

received
in Approval Approval not required
2006–07 required
Total
CA 2 PM 3 NCA 4 decisions
Antarctica 1 0 2 2
Christmas Island 4 0 1 3 4
Cocos (Keeling) Islands 1 0 0 2 2
Commonwealth marine areas 19 1 10 7 18
Norfolk Island 5 0 1 2 3
ACT 9 1 6 7
NSW 49 18 9 19 46
NT 15 5 2 9 16
Qld 92 26 11 53 90
SA 24 3 1 15 19
Tas 15 2 1 13 16
Vic 60 5 20 41 66
WA 53 14 15 18 47
Total 347 74 74 188 336
1 The counts of referrals received and of decisions made relate to events occurring in 2006–07 before
reconsideration. However some decisions made in 2006–07 may relate to referrals received in earlier years.
2 CA = controlled action.
3 PM = particular manner. Refers to decisions made by the minister under section 77(3) that an action is not
a controlled action if taken in a particular manner.
4 NCA = not a controlled action.
59
Table 4: Referrals and referral decisions by activity category 1
Referrals Decisions made in 2006–07

received
in Approval Approval not required
2006–07 required
CA 2 PM 3 NCA 4 Total
decisions
Agriculture and forestry 3 0 0 4 4
Aquaculture 3 0 0 3 3
Commercial development 23 7 4 11 22
Commonwealth 6 0 0 5 5
Energy generation and supply (non- 17 5 3 11 19

renewable)
Energy generation and supply 9 0 0 12 12

(renewable)
Exploration (mineral, oil and gas—marine) 31 0 21 7 28
Exploration (mineral, oil and gas— 1 0 0 1 1

non-marine)
Manufacturing 3 1 0 3 4
Mining 46 15 3 29 47
Natural resources management 11 3 4 4 11
Residential development 66 24 14 23 61
Science and research 9 0 2 7 9
Telecommunications 3 1 1 2 4
Tourism and recreation 29 5 8 16 29
Transport—land 28 2 4 17 23
Transport—water 9 2 2 3 7
Waste management (non-sewerage) 3 0 1 2 3
Waste management (sewerage) 9 0 2 10 12
Water management and use 38 9 5 18 32
Total 347 74 74 188 336
1 The counts of referrals received and of decisions made relate to events occurring in 2006–07 before reconsideration.
However some decisions made in 2006–07 may relate to referrals received in earlier years.
2 CA = controlled action.
3 PM = particular manner. Refers to decisions made by the minister under section 77(3) that an action is not a controlled
action if taken in a particular manner.
4 NCA = not a controlled action.

Table 5: Number of matters protected by the EPBC Act for which adverse
impacts have been addressed 1
Matter protected Nominal Controlled

controlled action
action 2
Division 1 Matters of national environmental significance
Section 12 World heritage values of a world heritage listed 7 12

property
Section 15B National heritage values of a national heritage listed 1 0

place
Section 16 Ecological character of a declared Ramsar wetland 9 17
Section 18 Listed threatened species or ecological community 64 65
Section 20 Listed migratory species 35 23
Section 21 Nuclear activities with a significant impact on the 0 1

environment
Section 23 Commonwealth marine environment 23 5
Division 2 Proposals involving the Commonwealth
Section 26 Commonwealth land 6 3
Section 27B Activities involving Commonwealth heritage listed 0 0

places overseas
Section 28 Commonwealth or Commonwealth agency activity 4 1
Total 149 127
1 Numbers of matters protected are after reconsideration of decisions.

2 Arising from decisions made by the minister under section 77(3) that an action is not a controlled action if taken in a
particular manner.
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Table 6: Decisions on assessment approach and assessments by type of assessment
Level of Assessments Recommendation Assessments Recommendation

assessment completed reports in progress reports in
decided in in 2006–07 completed in at 30 June progress at
2006–07 2006–07 2007 30 June 2007
Commonwealth assessments
Preliminary 44 19 1 29 4
documentation
Referral information 1 0 0 1 0
Public environment 6 2 0 11 0
report
Environmental impact 1 2 0 5 0
statement
Public inquiry 0 0 Not applicable 0 Not applicable
State/territory assessments
Bilateral agreement 26 12 Not applicable 39 Not applicable
Accredited assessment 1 3 Not applicable 25 Not applicable
Total 79 38 1 110 4
Table 7: Approvals
Type of approval Number of approvals
Approved with no conditions 0
Approved with conditions 44
Approval not granted 1
Total decisions 45
Awaiting approval at 30 June 2007 6

1
Awaiting section 130(1B) notice from state/territory 13
2
Awaiting further information from proponent 4
1 Applies to the approval process in operation prior to the February 2007 amendments to the EPBC Act. The amended section
130(1B) no longer requires these notices. The new section 132A allows the minister to request notices from appropriate
state/territory ministers about certain actions.
2 Where the minister believes, on reasonable grounds, that he or she does not have enough information to make an informed
decision to approve an action, the minister may request further information under section 132. In these cases the approval
process statutory timeframe is stopped until all of the information requested is received (section 130(5)).

Table 8: Advice requested and provided under section 160
Authorisation provision Requests for Advice not Assessment Advice

advice required completed provided
Airspace management 0 0 0 0
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority 0 0 0 0
permit/authority
Airport major development plan 11 3 5 7
Sea dumping permit 0 0 0 0
Total 11 3 5 7
Approvals granted 2006–07

Arafura Resources NL—Open cut gold mine, Pine Creek, NT
Aztec Resources Ltd—Iron ore mine, Kimberley region, WA
Baillie Lodges—Southern Ocean Lodge, Hanson Bay, Kangaroo Island, SA
Boyd Cook Cove—Cooks Cove development project, Cooks Cove, NSW
Callide Coalfields Pty Ltd—Coal mining lease 6993 (The Bluff), Biloela, Qld
Cape View Developments WA Pty Ltd—Cape View Resort at Lot 190 Little Colin Street,
Busselton, WA
Cardwell Shire Council—Construction of breakwaters, Port Hinchinbrook Resort and Boat
Harbour, Oyster Point, Qld
Cedar Woods Properties Ltd—Laverton activity centre and residential development, Laverton, Vic
Cooloola Shire Council—Construction of new landfill, Cooloola, Qld
CSR Ltd—Industrial development on Lot 141 DP843899 and Lot 5 DP1094504, Erskine Park
Employment Area, Erskine Park, NSW
DBNGP (WA) Nominees Pty Ltd—Natural gas pipeline expansion, Dampier to Bunbury, WA
Department of Defence—Operation of 17 Tiger helicopters at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, NT
Department of Defence—Sale of Commonwealth land, Maribyrnong, Vic
Emirates Hotels Australia—Emirates tourist resort and associated facilities, Wolgan Valley, NSW
Ensham Resources P—Expansion of Ensham mine, Emerald, Qld
FKP Commercial Developments Pty Ltd—Industrial estate Cooper Road, Cambellfield, Vic
Forrester Residential Developments—Coolum Ridges subdivision and development, southern,
Peregian Beach, Qld
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd—Cloud Break open pit iron ore mine, Pilbara, WA
Fraser Panarama Pty Ltd—Residential subdivision, Lot 2 on RP171875, Samarai Drive,
Hervey Bay, Qld
Gunson Resources Ltd—Coburn mineral sand project, Shark Bay, WA
HEZ Pty Ltd—Development of the Hunter Economic Zone Industrial Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW
Kinsmen Ltd—Meningie canal-based housing development, Meningie, SA
Main Roads Western Australia—Construction of new Perth–Bunbury Highway project, Bunbury
to Perth, WA
63
Matilda Minerals Ltd—Andranangoo Creek and Lethbridge Bay mineral sand mining,
Tiwi Islands, NT
MIM Holdings Ltd—McArthur River mine expansion, McArthur River, NT
Mr Louis Campagnolo—Vegetation clearing, Kurrimine Beach, Qld
NCA Joint Venture—Wollombi open cut coal mine (Suttor Creek ML4761 Extension),
near Glenden, Qld
New Acland Coal Pty Ltd—New Acland mine expansion, Darling Downs, Qld
Newcastle Port Corporation—Hunter River south arm dredging, Newcastle, NSW
Newnes Kaolin Pty Ltd—Newnes Kaolin friable sandstone mine project, Newnes Junction, NSW
Northern Territory Department of Planning and Infrastructure—Victoria Highway upgrade,
Victoria River, NT
Oxiana Ltd—Prominent Hill copper–gold project, Prominent Hill, SA
Penola Pulp Pty Ltd—Pulp mill and associated infrastructure near Penola, SA
Queensland Department of Main Roads—Kuranda Range Road (Kennedy Highway) Upgrade,
Kuranda, Qld
Queensland Parks and Wildlife—Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk, Lamington National Park, Qld
Southern Regional Water Pipeline Company—Southern Regional Water pipeline, south-east, Qld
Stockland Developments Pty Ltd—Residential development on a 929 hectare site located adjacent
to the Bohle River and Bruce Highway, Bohle, Qld
Telstra Corporation Ltd—Telstra optic fibre cable installation, Jabiru–Rikurdji, NT
Territory Iron Ltd—Frances Creek iron ore mine, Frances Creek, NT
Watsons Pty Ltd—Wyndham Cove marina and residential development, Werribee South, Vic
Westfield Management Ltd—Development of Plenty Valley Town Centre, South Morang, VIC
Wind Power Pty Ltd—Bald Hills Wind Farm 80 turbines, Bald Hills, Tarwin Lower to
Cape Liptrap Road, Vic
Woodside Energy Ltd—Site preparations, Burrup Peninsula, WA
Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd—Efficiency and growth increase of alumina production,
Darling Plateau, WA
Approvals not granted 2006–07

Phosphate Resources Ltd—East Christmas Island phosphate mines (9 sites), Christmas Island
Awaiting approval 30 June 2007

Australian Pipeline Trust Group—275 kilometre gas pipeline from Wadeye to existing Darwin gas
pipeline, Wadeye to Amadeus Basin, NT
Barry Humfrey—Development of land based tourist facilities on Long Island, Houtman Abrolhos
Islands, WA
Humfrey Land Development—Tourism facility and associated infrastructure, Houtman Abrolhos
Islands, WA
Luddenham Management Pty Ltd—Twin Creeks Estate stage 4, 26 rural residential allotments,
Luddenham, NSW
Meridien Marinas Horizon Shores—Horizon Shores marina redevelopment, Steiglitz, Qld
Stockland Developments Pty Ltd—Residential subdivision and town centre development,
Vincentia, Jervis Bay, NSW

Assessments completed 2006–07
Assessed by preliminary documentation
Aztec Resources Ltd—Iron ore mine, Kimberley Region, WA
Boyd Cook Cove—Cooks Cove development project, Cooks Cove, NSW
Callide Coalfields Pty Ltd—Coal mining lease 6993 (The Bluff), Biloela, Qld
Cape View Developments WA Pty Ltd—Cape View Resort at Lot 190 Little Colin Street,
Busselton, WA
Cardwell Shire Council—Construction of breakwaters, Port Hinchinbrook Resort and Boat
Harbour, Oyster Point, Qld
Cedar Woods Properties Ltd—Laverton activity centre and residential development, Laverton, Vic
CSR Ltd—Industrial development on Lot 141 DP843899 and Lot 5 DP1094504, Erskine Park
Employment Area, Erskine Park, NSW
DBNGP (WA) Nominees Pty Ltd—Natural gas pipeline expansion, Dampier to Bunbury, WA
Department of Defence—Operation of 17 Tiger helicopters at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, NT
Department of Defence—Sale of Commonwealth land, Maribyrnong, Vic
Kinsmen Ltd—Meningie canal-based housing development, Meningie, SA
Main Roads Western Australia—Construction of new Perth–Bunbury Highway project, Bunbury to
Perth, WA
Meridien Marinas Horizon Shores—Horizon Shores marina redevelopment, Steiglitz, Qld
Mr Louis Campagnolo—Vegetation clearing, Kurrimine Beach, Qld
Penola Pulp Pty Ltd—Pulp mill and associated infrastructure near Penola, SA
Queensland Department of Main Roads—Toowoomba bypass highway corridor, Toowoomba, Qld
Stockland Developments Pty Ltd—Residential subdivision and town centre development,
Vincentia, Jervis Bay, NSW
Telstra Corporation Ltd—Telstra optic fibre cable installation, Jabiru–Rikurdji, NT
Westfield Management Ltd—Development of Plenty Valley town centre, Vic
Assessed by environmental impact statement

ChevronTexaco Australia—Gorgon gas development, Gorgon, WA
Phosphate Resources Ltd—East Christmas Island phosphate mines (9 sites), Christmas Island
Assessed by public environment report

Emirates Hotels Australia—Emirates tourist resort and associated facilities, Wolgan Valley, NSW
HEZ Pty Ltd—Development of the Hunter Economic Zone Industrial Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW
Assessed through an accredited process

Australian Rail Track Corporation—South Sydney freight rail line, Sefton Park to Macarthur, NSW
Baillie Lodges—Southern Ocean Lodge, Hanson Bay, Kangaroo Island, SA
Oxiana Ltd—Prominent Hill copper–gold project, Prominent Hill, SA
Assessed under a bilateral agreement

Arafura Resources NL—Open cut gold mine, Pine Creek, NT
Australian Pipeline Trust Group—275 kilometre gas pipeline from Wadeye to existing Darwin gas
pipeline, Wadeye to Amadeus Basin, NT
65
Barry Humfrey—Development of land based tourist facilities on Long Island, Houtman Abrolhos
Islands, WA
Department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage and the Arts—Centralised sewage scheme,
Cradle Valley, Tas
Ensham Resources P—Expansion of Ensham mine, Emerald, Qld
Humfrey Land Development—Tourism facility and associated infrastructure, Houtman Abrolhos

Islands, WA
NCA Joint Venture—Wollombi open cut coal mine (Suttor Creek ML4761 extension), near
Glenden, Qld
New Acland Coal Pty Ltd—New Acland mine expansion, Darling Downs, Qld
Northern Territory Department of Planning and Infrastructure—Victoria Highway upgrade,
Victoria River, NT
Southern Regional Water Pipeline Company—Southern Regional Water pipeline, south-east, Qld
Territory Iron Ltd—Frances Creek iron ore mine, Frances Creek, NT
Woodside Energy Ltd—Site preparations, Burrup Peninsula, WA
Assessments in progress at 30 June 2007

Assessments by preliminary documentation
AcroPlan—Subdivision of portion of Lot 46, North Rothbury, NSW
ATA Environmental—Residential development at Shenton Park, Shenton Park in the City of
Nedlands, WA
Bayeux Investments Pty Ltd—Construction of a dam, adjacent to Mount Cone, SA
Broadcast Australia Pty Ltd—Management and control of serrated tussock, Delahey, Vic
Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School—Construction of new sporting field, Gelorup, WA
Burtonia Pty Ltd and Carine Nominees—Peel’s Retreat Estate residential development,
Mandurah, WA
CabWater, Caboolture Shire Council—Groundwater extraction and treatment to supply to Bribie
Island, Bribie Island, Qld
Content Living Pty Ltd—Residential development, Lot 3 and 4 Dorsett Street, West Busselton, WA
Everett Family Trust—Residential development and resort, Mount Separation Road,
Bemerside, Qld
Flashpast Pty Ltd—Residential development Lots 8 and 9 King Street, West Busselton, WA
Folkestone Ltd—Industrial subdivision, 720–808 Kororoit Creek Road, Altona, Vic
Gunns Ltd—Kraft pulp mill and ancillary chemical production and infrastructure, Bells Bay, Tas
J&G Rover Holdings Pty Ltd—Country living residential development, Paringa, SA
JAG Marine Group Pty Ltd—Expansion of Bowen Marina, Lot 310 on SP143899, Bowen, Qld
Leopold Property Developments Pty Ltd—Residential estate, 251–319 Melaluka Road, Leopold, Vic
Mary Donald Nominees Pty Ltd—Residential/industrial subdivision, Lot 18 Vasse Highway, Shire of
Busselton, Yalyalup, WA
Moolarben Coal Mines Pty Ltd—Moolarben coal mine project, Ulan north-east of Mudgee, NSW
Nobbys Lighthouse Pty Ltd—Nobbys Lighthouse redevelopment, Newcastle, NSW
Nonda Street Pty Ltd—Residential estate, Lot 97 Nonda Street, Mission Beach, Qld
Norman Properties Pty Ltd—Rural residential subdivision, Lot 1 RP728479, Douglas Track,
Speewah, Qld

NSW Roads and Traffic Authority—Hume Highway upgrade, Mullengandra to Tarcutta, NSW
Pine Water—Redevelopment of waste water treatment plant, Murrumba Downs, Qld
Queensland Transport—Townsville port access project (road and rail), Townsville, Qld
R & E Developments Pty Ltd—Residential development, Wongalin Beach, Qld
R and E Plapp—Tourist–residential development off Jackey Jackey Street, South Mission Beach, Qld
ROCLA Ltd—Kurnell sand extraction and backfilling proposal, Kurnell Peninsula, NSW
Watermark Enterprises—Subdivision Lot 1 Dawesville Road, Dawesville, WA
Westerly Projects Pty Ltd—Residential subdivision of Lot 12 on SP105732, Bentley Park, Qld
Your Resort Home Pty Ltd—Lilliponds residential resort estate, Tully Mission Beach Road, Mission
Beach, Qld
Assessments by environmental impact statement

AGL Petronas Consortium—Papua New Guinea–Queensland gas pipeline Gove Lateral, Cape York
Peninsula Queensland to Gove NT, Commonwealth marine
Inpex Browse Ltd—Develop Ichthys gas-condensate field permit area WA-285-P R1 WA North‑West
Shelf, Browse Basin, WA
Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd—Floating liquefied natural gas facility, Timor Sea,
Commonwealth marine
TransGrid—Electricity transmission line, Buronga (south-west NSW) to Robertson
(mid‑north SA), NSW
WMC (Olympic Dam Corporation) Pty Ltd—Expansion of the Olympic Dam copper, uranium,
gold and silver mine, processing plant and associated infrastructure, Olympic Dam, SA
Assessments by public environment report

Apache Energy Ltd—Van Gogh petroleum field development, Exmouth sub-basin,
Commonwealth marine
Cairns City Council—Groundwater extracted from Mulgrave River aquifer, bore field and
associated infrastructure, Aloomba, Qld
Cultus Timor Sea Pty Ltd—Audacious oil field standalone development, Timor Sea,
Commonwealth marine
GFB Developments Pty Ltd—Expansion of fish farm activities, Saltwater Creek, Qld
Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd—Beverley uranium mine extension, Beverley, SA
Mr K Williams and Cardwell Properties Pty Ltd—Port Hinchinbrook Resort stage II, Cardwell, Qld
PGP Developments Pty Ltd—Whitsunday Shores Estate residential subdivision, golf course,
facilities and infrastructure, Bowen, Qld
Shoalhaven City Council—Rezoning of land and associated public works to facilitate residential
development, Worrowing Heights (Heritage Estates), NSW
UP NCI Property Management Pty Ltd—Tourist resort and subdivision development, North Curtis
Island, Qld
Waterman Agriculture Pty Ltd—Irrigated cotton development expansion, Pillicawarrina,
Macquarie Marshes, NSW
Woodside Energy Ltd—Pluto gas project including site B, Burrup Peninsula–North-West Shelf, WA
Assessments through an accredited process

Astron Ltd—Donald mineral sands project, western Vic
Austeel Pty Ltd—Steel mill, Newcastle, NSW
67
Barro Group—Extension of Mountain View basalt quarry by 490 hectares (stage 2), Port Wilson, Vic
Brisbane Airport Corporation Pty Ltd—Brisbane Airport new parallel runway project, Brisbane
Airport, Qld
Burnett Water Pty Ltd—Walla Weir raising of dam, Bundaberg, Qld
City of Cockburn—Extension of Beeliar Drive between the junction of Mayor and Fawcett Roads
and Cockburn Road, City of Cockburn, WA

Compass Resources NL—Polymetallic project lead, copper, nickel, cobalt and silver, Rum Jungle/
Browns, Browns East, NT
Iluka Resources Ltd—Mineral sands mining, Woornack, Rownack, Rainlover, Pirro and Kulwin,
Ouyen, Vic
Lake Wellington Estates—Wellington Waters canal estate, Wellington Lakes, Vic
LG Chem Ltd—Construction of a chlor-alkali/ethylene di-chloride (CA/EDC) plant, Gladstone
State Development Area, Landing Road, Gladstone, Qld
Lonsdale Golf Club Inc—Lonsdale Golf Club redevelopment, Point Lonsdale, Vic
Michael Jolly and Classpoint Pty Ltd—Waterfront residential estate development (Narnu
Waterways), Hindmarsh Island, SA
Mineralogy Pty Ltd—Binowee iron ore project, Cape Preston, WA
Orange City Council—Resource reprocessing facility, near Molong, NSW
Pacific Reef Fisheries (Bowen) Pty Ltd—Proposed Guthalungra aquaculture facility,
Guthalungra, Qld
PF Formation—Sand extraction, Maroota, NSW
Port of Melbourne Corporation—Port Phillip Bay channel deepening, Port Phillip Bay, Vic
RMI Pty Ltd—Irrigated intensive crop production, Goondiwindi, NSW
Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW—Great Western Highway upgrade, section 1A, Lawson, NSW
Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW—Pacific Highway, Bulahdelah upgrade, Bulahdelah, NSW
Selwyn Mines Ltd—The Selwyn copper–gold project, Mount Isa–Carpentaria, Qld
Shute Harbour Management Pty Ltd—Construction of marina facility, Shutehaven, Qld
Stockland Development Pty Ltd—Residential and golf course development project,
Point Lonsdale, Vic
Tarong Energy Corporation Ltd—Glen Wilga open cut coal mine, Surat Basin, Qld
Wind Power Pty Ltd—Wind turbines, Swan Bay, Vic
Assessments under a bilateral agreement

AGL Petronas Consortium—Ballera lateral gas pipeline, Qld
Albany Port Authority— Albany Port Authority dredging project, Port Albany, WA
BEMAX Cable Sands (WA) Pty Ltd—Mining of titanium mineral sands in Happy Valley north and
south, on private land and state forest, Happy Valley, WA
BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance—Norwich Park coal mine, development of east pit, Norwich Park
Mine, Qld
BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Ltd—Goonyella riverside coal mine expansion, Bowen Basin, Qld
Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd—Cadia East project, extension of copper–gold mine within mining lease
1405, Cadia Valley near Orange, NSW
Cape Bouvard Investments Pty Ltd—Rural subdivision of a 975.2 hectare property, Mandurah, WA
CBH Sulphur Springs Pty Ltd—Panorama copper–zinc mine, Pilbara, WA

Central Queensland Ports Authority and Queensland Rail—Wiggins Island coal terminal, Port of
Gladstone, Qld
City Pacific Ltd—Townsville ocean terminal, Townsville, Qld
Dallis Park Residents’ Association—Relocation of grey-headed flying-foxes from Dallis Park,
Murwillumbah, NSW
Daracon Quarries—Ardglen Quarry extension, Murrundi, NSW
Darwin Clean Fuels Pty Ltd—Condensate processing facility, East Arm, Darwin Business Park, NT
East Wing Corporation Pty Ltd—Hummock Hill Island development, Hummock Hill Island, Qld
Enertrade—Install and operate gas pipeline, Moranbah–Gladstone, Qld
Gladstone Pacific Nickel—HPAL nickel plant, Gladstone, Qld
Gold Coast City Council—Hinze Dam upgrade, Nerang, Qld
Grange Resources Ltd—Open cut ore mine and 110 kilometres of pipeline, Wellstead, WA
Iluka Resources Ltd—Tutunup South mineral sands project, Busselton, WA
Karara Management Services Pty Ltd—Karara magnetite project, Shire of Morawa, WA
Kemerton Silica Sand Pty Ltd—Silica sand mine expansion, Kemerton, WA
Moly Metals Australia Pty Ltd—Spinifex Ridge molybdenum project, near Marble Bar, WA
Mount Gibson Mining Ltd—Open cut mine and associated infrastructure, Mount Gibson, WA
New Acland Coal Pty Ltd—Stage 3 expansion of New Acland coal mine, Darling Downs, Qld
Northeast Business Park—Northeast Business Park, Caboolture, Morayfield, Qld
Olympia Resources Ltd—Mineral sands mine, Keysbrook, WA
P3 Prestige Property Partnership—Ella Bay residential and tourism development, Ella Bay, Qld
Pacific Hydro Ltd—White Rock Ridge Wind Farm, Robbins Island, Tas
Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd—Traveston Crossing Dam, Mary River, Qld
Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd—Wyaralong Dam, Teviot Brook near Boonah, Qld
Rosecorp Ltd—Residential subdivision, Catherine Hill Bay and Gwandalan, NSW
Shute Harbour Marina Development Pty Ltd—Construction of marina facility, Shute Bay, Qld
Southern Regional Water Pipeline Company Pty Ltd—Borefield and new pipeline, North
Stradbroke Island water treatment plant, North Stradbroke Island, Qld
Stanthorpe Shire Council—Construction of a dam at Emu Swamp, Stanthorpe, Qld
Straits Salt Pty Ltd—Yannarie solar salt project, Exmouth Gulf, WA
SunWater—Water for Bowen project, Clare Weir, Bowen, Qld
Walker Corporation—Lauderdale Quay waterfront housing and marina development,
Ralphs Bay, Tas
Woodside Energy Ltd and Alcan Gove Pty Ltd—Trans-territory gas pipeline, Wadeye to Gove
(Galupa), NT
ZeroGen Pty Ltd—Construct and operate a coal gasification plant and carbon dioxide capture and
storage, Stanwell Energy Park, Qld
69
Recommendation reports completed 2006–07
Assessed by preliminary documentation

Fraser Panarama Pty Ltd— Residential subdivision, Lot 2 on RP171875, Samarai Drive,
Hervey Bay, QLD
Recommendation reports in progress at 30 June 2007

Joan Busby—Dawson Beach Estate stage 2, Busselton, WA
Mr T and Mrs G Masella—Construction of residential dwelling, Ozone Terrace, Kalamunda, WA
TransGrid—High voltage electricity transmission line, Wollar to Wellington, NSW
VicUrban—Riverwalk project residential development, Werribee, Vic
Table 9: Processing of nominations and changes to the lists of threatened species,

ecological communities and key threatening processes
Key
Ecological
Species threatening
communities
processes
New public nominations received under the EPBC Act 22 4 4
Nominations on which the Threatened Species Scientific

20 2 0
Committee has provided advice to the minister
Threatened Species Scientific Committee advice to the

1 2 0
minister carried over from 2005-06
Ministerial decisions made on Threatened Species

90 1 2 0
Scientific Committee advice
Number uplisted, downlisted, new, delisted, rejected 42, 6, 10, 29, 3 0, 0, 2, 0, 0 0

2
Number of amendments to the list 87 2 0
Total number of listings as at 30 June 2007 1697 38 17
Number of public nominations where an extension to the

16 28 4
12-month timeframe was required
Number of ministerial decisions made on Threatened Yes No Yes No Yes No

Species Scientific Committee Advice where the minister’s
90-day deadline was met 14 7 0 2 0 0
1 This number includes public nominations and species brought to the minister’s attention via the Australian Government’s
Species Information Partnerships with WA, NT and SA, plus other consultancies.
2 This number represents all ministerial decisions made on the Threatened Species Scientific Committee’s advice minus three
species that were found not to be eligible for listing.

Table 10: Species and ecological communities covered by recovery plans (at 30 June 2007)
Species Ecological communities
Vulnerable Endangered Critically Extinct in Vulnerable Endangered Critically

endangered the wild endangered Total
Total 861 639 90 1 1 28 7 1,627
number
of listed
entities1
Number 174 196 30 0 1 9 4 414

covered
by plans in
preparation
Number 137 215 42 1 0 15 0 410

covered
by plans in
place 2
Percentage 36% 64% 80% 100% 100% 86% 57% 51%

covered
by plans in
place or in
preparation
1 This figure does not include listings in the categories of ‘extinct’ or ‘conservation dependent’.
2 This figure includes revised recovery plans currently in preparation.
Table 11: Number of recovery plans in preparation and in place (at 30 June 2007)
Single species Multi-species Ecological Multi-regional Total

communities
Number of 266 27 15 0 308

plans in place
Number 234 38 111 6 289

of plans in
preparation
Number of 60 6 0 0 66
plans made
or adopted in
2006–07
1 This figure includes the revision of eight adopted recovery plans.
71
Table 12: Cetacean permits—applications received, decisions made on assessment
approach and permits granted 2006–07
Sub-section of Applications Decision made Permits Conditions Suspended or

EPBC Act received on assessment granted varied or cancelled
approach revoked
238 (3) (a) 3 1 1 0 0
238 (3) (b) 3 1 0 0 0
238 (3) (c) 0 0 0 0 0
238 (3) (d) 0 0 0 0 0
238 (3) (e) 0 0 0 0 0
Total 6 2 1 0 0
Table 13: Assessments of Commonwealth and state managed fisheries

completed 2006–07
State/Commonwealth Fishery Decision date
Commonwealth Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery 21 December 2006
Commonwealth Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fishery 9 May 2007
New South Wales Lobster Fishery 28 March 2007
Queensland Developmental Jellyfish Fishery 14 June 2006

(Gazetted 6 September 2006)
Queensland Spanner Crab Fishery 29 January 2007
South Australia Giant Crab Fishery 12 March 2007
Tasmania Giant Crab Fishery 14 July 2006
Tasmania Octopus Fishery 7 August 2006
Tasmania Rock Lobster Fishery 29 January 2007
Tasmania Abalone Fishery 31 January 2007
Tasmania Native Oyster Fishery 7 May 2007
Victoria Syngnathid Fishery (PQ Aquatics) 14 December 2006
Victoria Giant Crab Fishery 12 March 2007
Victoria Jellyfish Fishery 10 April 2007
Western Australia West Coast Deep Sea Crab Interim Managed Fishery 12 March 2007

Appendix 2—EPBC Act related publications in 2006–07
EPBC Act Policy Statement 3.7
Peppermint Box (Eucalyptus odorata) Grassy Woodland of South Australia and
Irongrass Natural Temperate Grassland of South Australia
Booklets
Get the Facts on Hoodia
Keeping it Legal – Exotic Birdkeeping in Australia
National Tree Fern Harvesting Guidelines
National Grasstree Harvesting Guidelines
Newsletter
Communities for Communities issues 4–6. Online
Management plan
Kakadu National Park Management Plan 2007–2014
Report
Australian Heritage Council Periodic Report: March 2004–February 2007
Fact sheets
Australian Government and Western Australian Government Species
Information Partnership
Australian Government–Northern Territory Government Species Information
Partnership
Australian Government–South Australian Government Species Information
Partnership
Caviar
Crocodiles
Elephants
Household Pets
Hunting Trophies
Kangaroos
Listing Threatened Species, Ecological Communities and Key Threatening Processes
Butterflies
Permits
What is CITES?
All Heritage Division fact sheets were updated due to changes to the EPBC Act.
73
Appendix 3—Functions and membership of advisory
committees established under the EPBC Act
Threatened Species Scientific Committee
Under section 503 of the EPBC Act, the functions of the Threatened Species
Scientific Committee are:
• to advise the minister in accordance with Division 5 of Part 13 in relation to
recovery plans, threat abatement plans and approved conservation advice
• to advise the minister (on the minister's request or on the committee's
initiative) on the amendment and updating of the lists established under
Part 13
• to advise the minister, at the minister’s request, on matters relating to the
administration of this Act
• to give the minister such other advice as is provided for in this Act
• to perform such other functions as are conferred on the committee by this Act.
Table 14: Membership of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee as at

30 June 2007
Associate Professor Robert Beeton (Chair) Dr Bill Humphreys

Associate Professor Peter Harrison Dr Tony Lewis
Mr Guy Fitzhardinge Dr Andrea Taylor
Professor Gordon Grigg Dr Rosemary Purdie
Professor Graham Harris Dr John Woinarski

Biological Diversity Advisory Committee
Under section 505 of the EPBC Act, the functions of the Biological Diversity
Advisory Committee are:
• to advise the minister, at his/her request, on matters relating to the
conservation and ecologically sustainable use of biological diversity
• to perform such other functions as are conferred on the committee by the
EPBC Act or the Regulations.
Committee members can be appointed for up to five years.
Table 15: Membership of the Biological Diversity Advisory Committee

during 2006–07
Name Section of EPBC Act/group represented
Professor Ralf Buckley (Acting chair) Tourism sector
Mr Kim Evans 504 (a) The body known as the Australian and New Zealand
Environment and Conservation Council (now Natural Resource
Management Ministerial Council)
Mr Alistair Graham 504 (4b) Conservation organisations that are not authorities of the
Commonwealth or of any state or territory
Mr Tim Low 504 (4c) Scientific community ‘terrestrial’
Dr Patricia Mather AO 504 (4c) Scientific community ‘marine’
Mr Bill Sloane 504 (4d) Rural community
Dr Cecil Camilleri 504 (4e) Business community
Associate Professor Stephan Schnierer 504 (4ea) Indigenous community
Dr Charlie Zammit 504 (4f ) Commonwealth
Dr Andrew Ash 504 (4b) Scientific community
Councillor Bill Mitchell Local government
All positions on the committee lapsed at the end of their term in February 2007.
The minister is currently considering candidates for appointment to the committee.
75
Indigenous Advisory Committee
Under section 505B of the EPBC Act, the Indigenous Advisory Committee provides
advice to the minister on the operation of the EPBC Act, taking into account the
significance of Indigenous people’s knowledge of land management and the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The committee:

• works with peak Indigenous bodies, experts, communities, and other
stakeholders to ensure the views of Indigenous peoples are incorporated in the
implementation and development of the Act
• works with key sections of the department to seek and provide advice and
make recommendations to the minister and the department on Indigenous
issues that are relevant under the Act
• monitors the implementation of bilateral agreements within the states and
territories and advises the minister of their impact on Indigenous interests
• provides the minister with an annual report on Indigenous issues under the Act
• responds to any issues of urgency that arise during the implementation of the
Act that require a response from the committee.
Table 16: Membership of the Indigenous Advisory Committee as at 30 June 2007
Name State or territory
Ms Melissa George (Chair) Queensland
Mr Dave Johnston (Deputy chair) Australian Capital Territory
Mr Rocky Sainty Tasmania
Mr Vic McGrath Torres Strait Islands
Mr Damein Bell Victoria
Ms Francine McCarthy Northern Territory
Mr Joe Morrison Northern Territory
Mr Glen Kelly Western Australia
Mr Robert Carroll New South Wales
Dr Ngiare Brown Northern Territory
Mr Daniel Oades Western Australia
Vacant New South Wales

Australian Heritage Council
Under the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003, the functions of the Australian
Heritage Council are to:
• make assessments of places under the national heritage criteria or the
Commonwealth heritage criteria
• advise the minister on conserving and protecting places included in, or being
considered for inclusion in the National Heritage List or Commonwealth
Heritage List
• nominate places for inclusion in the heritage lists
• advise the minister on any heritage related matters, including promotion,
research, training, national policies, the condition of places in heritage lists and
historic shipwrecks
• promote the identification, assessment, conservation and monitoring of heritage
• keep the Register of the National Estate
• organise and engage in research
• provide advice generally
• prepare reports on any matters related to the functions of the council and
provide them to the minister.
Amendments to the EPBC Act and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003
which came into effect on 19 February 2007 made changes to the nomination and
assessment process for the National Heritage List including the council’s role in
that process. The amendments also froze the Register of the National Estate.
Table 17: Membership of the Australian Heritage Council as at 30 June 2007
Mr Tom Harley (Chair) Mr Rodney Dillon
Dr Jane Lennon AM Dr Libby Mattiske
Dr Denis Saunders AM Mr Howard Tanner
Dr Gaye Sculthorpe Mr Richard Lewis (associate council member)
77
Appendix 4—Compliance with timeframes
(section 518 report)
The EPBC Act and Regulations specify timeframes within which decisions must
be made and other actions completed. If the timeframes are not met, then in
accordance with section 518 of the EPBC Act a statement must be provided setting
out the reasons for the delay. Things that were not done within the statutory
timeframes in 2006–07 are listed in Tables 16 and 17 below.
Table 18: Referrals, assessments and approvals in 2006–07
Section Total Late Reasons for delay
75(1) Decision on referral 241 40 Delay in obtaining sufficient information to make decision
75(1) Decision on referral 1 95 33 Delay in obtaining sufficient information to make decision
77(1)(b) Publishing notice of 336 12 Delay in automated notification due to technical difficulties
decision on referral
77(4) Providing reasons for 8 3 Availability of decision-maker; need to obtain legal

decision advice/review
88(1) Decision on assessment 23 5 Delay in obtaining sufficient information to make decision

approach
88(1) Decision on assessment 30 6 Delay in obtaining sufficient information to make decision

approach 1
91(1) Publishing notice of 53 13 Delay in notification that the level of assessment had been
decision on assessment approach made; proponents notified in writing by decision date but
delay in automated notification due to technical difficulties
95(1) Preparation of assessment 19 12 Need to adequately consider and test complex technical
report for preliminary issues raised in both the information provided by proponent
documentation and in the assessment process
100(1) Preparation of assessment 2 2 Need to adequately consider complex technical issues

report for public environment
report
105(1) Preparation of assessment 2 1 Joint assessment with state; need to ensure both jurisdictions
report for environmental impact satisfied with guidelines before finalising
statement
130(1) Approval decision 43 15 Need for ongoing consultation with proponents/states over
content of final approval conditions. Additional independent
work commissioned to inform decision
130(1B)(a) Approval decision 1 1 1 Need for ongoing consultation with proponents over content
of final approval conditions
1 Post 19 February 2007 timeframes.

Table 19: Other provisions
Section Total Late Reasons for delay
Part 13 Species and communities
189(4) Provide advice on 13 1 Administrative error
nomination of species
189(5) Decision on listing 16 9 These nominations were given to the minister before
commencement of amendments to the EPBC Act on
19 February. Their management through the relevant
transitional arrangements technically made the minister’s
decision late for the purposes of the 19 February
timeframe and this report. Through the transitional
arrangements, however, the minister’s decision will be
made sooner than if the nominations were subject to each
of the statutory requirements under the new Act
Part 13A International movement of wildlife specimens
303EG Decision on proposed 7 4 Administrative delays

amendment to the list of
specimens suitable for live
import
Part 15 Protected areas – managing national heritage places
324E(3) Requesting the chair of 54 2 Administrative delays

the Australian Heritage Council
to assess a nomination for the
National Heritage List
324J(2) Decision on national 19 11 Various reasons, principally timing of announcements to

heritage listing after receipt of better provide for publicity for heritage listing, but also
assessment report pressure of ministerial business and legal issues
324J(4) Providing to relevant 7 1 Administrative delays

persons and publishing on the
internet advice that nomination
rejected (including reasons)
Part 15 Protected areas – managing Commonwealth heritage places
341J(2) Decision on 7 6 Principally pressure of ministerial business

Commonwealth heritage listing
after receipt of assessment
report
79
Fuel quality
81
Operation of the Fuel Quality Standards
Act 2000
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 71 of the Fuel Quality
Standards Act 2000. It covers the operation of the Act from 1 July 2006 to
30 June 2007.
Purpose of the Act

Fuel quality
The purpose of the Act is to regulate the quality of fuel in Australia in order to:
• reduce the level of pollutants and emissions arising from the use of fuel that
may cause environmental and health problems
• facilitate the adoption of better engine technology and emission control
technology and allow for more effective operation of engines
• ensure that appropriate information about fuel is provided when the fuel
is supplied.
The Fuel Quality Standards Regulations 2001 cover the regulation of fuel and
fuel additives, the operations of the Fuel Standards Consultative Committee,
the publication of notices relating to entries in the Register of Prohibited Fuel
Additives, enforcement, and record keeping and reporting obligations.
Fuel quality standards

Fuel Standard Determinations set specific fuel quality standards for petrol,
automotive diesel, biodiesel and autogas (liquefied petroleum gas). The
determinations specify standards for a range of parameters which address both
environmental and operability performance.
The standards for petrol and diesel have been progressively tightened since they
were first introduced in 2002 with the regulated levels of sulfur in petrol to be
reduced further in 2008 and diesel in 2009. There were no changes to any of the
standards during the year.
In response to a request by the Australian Institute of Petroleum for a degree of
flexibility in setting olefin specifications, the olefin standard in the Fuel Standard
(Petrol) Determination 2001 was reviewed this year. The minister considered all
the issues and, in consultation with the Fuel Standards Consultative Committee,
decided that there was insufficient justification to relax the standard, particularly in
light of the need for Australia to keep pace with international best practice.

Future fuel standards—research and consultation
Diesohol
The department is in the process of finalising consideration of management
options for diesohol. Diesohol is defined in the Fuel Quality Standards Regulations
2001 as a blend primarily comprising diesel and an alcohol. Also known as e-diesel,
m-diesel and oxy-diesel, the fuel is used in specially modified compression ignition
engines. Diesohol is not currently subject to any formal or accepted industry
quality standards, either in Australia or internationally.
Fuel quality
Ethanol
The department released a paper for public comment in July 2005 stating the
Australian Government’s position on a fuel standard for ethanol blended with
petrol at 5 per cent (E5) or 10 per cent (E10). The government is in favour of
setting a standard for ethanol blend fuel to ensure that the environmental and
vehicle operability objectives of the Act are met, and to assist in building consumer
confidence by ensuring high quality ethanol blend fuel is available. There was no
public opposition to the introduction of a standard. A draft standard was circulated
to stakeholders for final comment in May 2007. It is proposed the standard will be
harmonised with the American standard (ASTM D4806).
Testing the operation of Australian vehicles on ethanol blend fuels

In March 2007 the Australian Government released the results of expert testing of
vehicles using ethanol blend fuels. The testing was carried out in response to the
Biofuels Taskforce report to the Prime Minister in 2005. The testing, conducted by
Orbital Australia, aimed to validate information available to Australian consumers
about the suitability of ethanol blend fuel for cars.
Using the most recent motor vehicle census (March 2006) and information from
the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the Orbital study estimated
that about 7.6 million (60 per cent) of petrol vehicles in Australia are suitable for
use with E10. The FCAI confirmed that all new Australian cars are suitable for E10
fuel and that the vast majority of new imported car models sold in Australia today
are also compatible with E5 or E10 ethanol blend fuels. Information about the
suitability of many vehicles for use with ethanol blend fuel is available from the
FCAI, along with manufacturer contact details at www.fcai.com.au/ethanol.
On the basis of the Orbital study, the government continues to recommend that
consumers check the FCAI list for information on ethanol use in their vehicle.
83
Motorists should also consult vehicle manufacturers for specific information about
their vehicle’s suitability if they have questions. The government is encouraging
manufacturers and the FCAI to work with fuel suppliers and retailers to provide
information to consumers wherever these fuels are sold.
The government capped the level of ethanol that can be added to petrol at
10 per cent (E10) in July 2003. That cap will remain, as will the requirement to
label ethanol blends above 1 per cent. The Orbital tests have established that it
would not be appropriate to allow 5 per cent ethanol (E5) to be sold unlabelled.
Health impacts of using ethanol blend fuels

Fuel quality
A $3.9 million study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research

Organisation (CSIRO) and Orbital Australia is under way and scheduled to be
completed in early 2008. The results will be used in conjunction with other
studies, such as the vehicle compatibility study, to inform future ethanol policy
decisions. Previous emissions studies have focused on cold climates and do not
apply to Australian conditions. Stakeholders were consulted on the methodology
for the study and the project steering committee assessed the comments provided
for incorporation into the study.
Setting standards for biodiesel blends

The setting of standards for biodiesel blends forms part of the government’s
response to the 2005 Biofuels Taskforce report. Standards already exist under
the Act for 100 per cent biodiesel (B100) and for petroleum diesel, but not for
blends of the two. Blends have proliferated on the Australian market and presently
include such variations as B5, B20 and B49. This year the department continued
consultation to develop a government position on setting standards for biodiesel
blends. The department released a discussion paper in December 2006 on
standardising diesel–biodiesel blends and, in light of comments from stakeholders,
is developing a whole-of-government position paper.
Biodiesel demonstration trial

In response to the report of the Biofuels Taskforce the Prime Minister announced
that a biodiesel demonstration trial (of 5 per cent biodiesel blended with
95 per cent diesel) would be undertaken in Kakadu National Park.
Due to extreme flooding, the demonstration trial was unable to go ahead and was
relocated to Booderee National Park. This site has easier access and more tourists
visit in peak season. The two-year demonstration trial in Booderee is expected to
commence in July 2007.

Statutory review of the Fuel Quality Standards
Act 2000—implementing recommendations
The statutory review of the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 was completed in
April 2005. In 2006–07 proposals were developed to implement the review’s
recommendations and to address a number of issues that had arisen, independent
of the review, through the day-to-day operation of the Act. A draft Bill is scheduled
to be introduced into parliament during the spring sittings which begin in
August 2007.
Fuel quality
Fuel Standards Consultative Committee
Section 24 of the Act establishes a Fuel Standards Consultative Committee as
a formal consultation mechanism. The committee is required to include one
representative from each state and territory, and the Australian Government.
It must also include at least one person representing fuel producers, one
representing a non-government body with an interest in the protection of the
environment and one representing the interests of consumers. The minister
may also appoint other members to the committee, which in 2006–07 included
representatives from the motor vehicle manufacturing industry, independent fuel
importers and suppliers, the alternative and renewable fuels industry, and the
trucking industry.
Table 1 lists members of the committee during 2006–07.
Under section 24A the minister must consult the committee before:
• granting an approval
• making a fuel quality standard
• making a fuel quality information standard
• deciding whether to enter a fuel additive on, or remove a fuel additive from,
the Register of Prohibited Fuel Additives
• preparing guidelines for more stringent fuel standards.
Under section 13 of the Act, the committee also provides advice on applications
to vary fuel standards including recommendations to the conditions to be applied.
In 2006–07 the committee considered and made recommendations on 52 new
applications under section 13 (see Table 2).
Monitoring and compliance

Ongoing monitoring tests fuel industry compliance with the fuel quality standards.
Fuel samples are taken in all states and territories of all grades of fuel covered by
the standards. The monitoring programme aims to take representative samples
in each of the fuel markets around Australia as well as responding to complaints
made by consumers about fuel.
85
Fuel quality
The Australian Government runs a fuel sampling programme to monitor the quality of fuels
sold in Australia. Fuels are sampled throughout the fuel supply chain, including at service
station forecourts. Photos: John Guilfoyle
Fuel sampling is undertaken at distribution terminals, depots, service stations

and other outlets. Samples are tested for compliance with the standards at
an independent laboratory accredited by the National Association of Testing
Authorities, Australia. Testing methods are accredited to international standards.
Fuel quality inspectors directly employed by the department and by some
state and territory agencies took a record number of samples during 2006–07.
Inspectors took 2,321 petrol, diesel, biodiesel and autogas samples from
approximately 750 sites around Australia. A total of 145 compliance incident
reports were received. In comparison 1,069 samples were taken during 2005–06
from 530 sites, and 160 compliance incident reports were received.
Test results indicate a high level of compliance with the fuel standards. Where
non‑compliance with a standard is detected, further investigation is undertaken
with a view to prosecution where an offence can reasonably be proven.

Table 1: Membership of the Fuel Standards Consultative Committee 2006–07
Member Representing Start date Finish date
Lynden Ayliffe Chair 18/07/2005 6/06/2007

Australian Government Department of the
Paul Kesby Acting chair 7/6/2007 31/07/2007

Australian Government Department of the
Nigel Routh NSW Government 28/01/2002 15/04/2010
Fuel quality
Geoff Latimer Victorian Government 11/10/2004 15/04/2010
Kelvyn Steer Tasmanian Government 17/07/2003 2/09/2006
Bob Hyde Tasmanian Government 27/11/2006 27/11/2009
Kelvyn Steer SA Government 9/10/2006 9/10/2009
Steven Saunderson NT Government 22/05/2004 15/04/2010
David Quinlan ACT Government 22/05/2001 21/06/2006
David Power ACT Government 9/10/2006 9/10/2009
Fred Tromp WA Government 10/09/2002 1/12/2006
John Sutton WA Government 16/04/2007 15/04/2010
Scott McDowall Queensland Government 22/05/2004 15/04/2010
Stephen Payne Australian Government Department of 22/05/2004 1/12/2006

Industry, Tourism and Resources
Marie Taylor Australian Government Department of 16/04/2007 15/04/2010

Industry, Tourism and Resources
Jon Real Australian Government Department of 16/04/2007 15/04/2010

Transport and Regional Services
David Bowman Environment non-government organisations 22/05/2004 15/04/2010
Paul Barrett Fuel producers 18/07/2005 15/04/2010
James Hurnall Consumer interests 3/02/2004 15/04/2010
Keith Seyer Light vehicle manufacturing industry 18/09/2003 15/04/2010
Mike McCullagh Independent petroleum distributors and 3/02/2004 15/04/2010

retailers
Stephen Schuck Alternative fuels 3/02/2003 3/02/2007
John Bortolussi Truck manufacturing industry 3/02/2004 15/04/2010
87
Table 2: Approvals granted in 2006–07 for a variation of Fuel Standard Determinations
Company name Date of Date Variation

approval approval
finishes
South Australian Hot 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Rod Association to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Australian Barefoot 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Racers Club to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Fuel quality
Australian Formula 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Jet Sprint Association to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Dry Lakes Racers 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Australia to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Ski Racing Australia 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Australian Powerboat 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Association to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Australian Tractor 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Pullers Association to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Street Machine 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Association of South to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
Australia more than 0.005g/L
Confederation of 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Australian Motor to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
Sport more than 0.005g/L
National Association 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
of Speedway Racing to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Australian Auto-sport 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Alliance to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Australian Street Rod 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Federation to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
BSA Motorcycle 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Association to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Queensland Racing 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Drivers Association to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L

Table 2: Approvals granted in 2006–07 for a variation (continued)

approval approval
finishes
A1 Advanced 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Automotive to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Competition Engines 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Fuel quality
Ford Muscle Parts 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Haddad Race Cars 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
and Engines to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Hercules Competition 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Engines to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Horsepower Research 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
and Development to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Hume Performance 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
LA Motor Repairs 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Nankervis 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Performance to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Neil Collins 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Pavtek Engines 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Terry Handley 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Craig’s Fibreglass 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Zig’s Marine 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
89

approval approval
finishes
BP Refinery (Bulwer 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Island) Pty Ltd Determination 2001 to permit the supply of diesel with a
density of 810kg/m3
Mini Racing Australia 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Northern Dynamics 12/03/2007 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Fuel quality
Pty Ltd to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of

more than 0.005g/L
IOR Energy Pty Ltd 20/12/2006 31/12/2007 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel with
a sulfur content of up to 85 parts per million until 31
December 2007. A sulfur content of up to 125 parts per
million in Eromanga Underground Mining Fuel will be
taken to comply with the sulfur parameter specified in
the determination until 30/6/2007
Ipswich City Dirt Kart 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Leaded fuel for motor sports Variation of the Fuel
Club Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001 to permit the supply
of petrol with a lead content of more than 0.005g/L
Drag Bike Riders 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Association Australia to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Pitstop Motorcycles 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Leaded fuel for engine building Variation of the Fuel
Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001 to permit the supply
of petrol with a lead content of more than 0.005g/L.
Allica’s Motorcycles 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Gene Cook Race 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Engines to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more than 0.005g/L
Galaxy Services 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
The Shell Company of 11/04/2007 31/10/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Australia Ltd Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel
(wintermix) with viscosity 1.4cSt at 40 degrees C, density
800 to 850kg/m3, and lubricity 620 mm maximum
Mobil Oil Australia 11/04/2007 31/10/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Pty Ltd Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel
BP Australia Pty Ltd 11/04/2007 31/10/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel


approval approval
finishes
Caltex Australia 11/04/2007 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Petroleum Pty Ltd Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel
(wintermix) with viscosity 1.4 cSt at 40 deg C, density
850 kg/m3, and lubricity 620 mm maximum
Caltex Refineries 26/07/2006 30/06/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
(QLD) Pty Ltd Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel when
cetane is measured by number instead of by index
Fuel quality
Stuart Petroleum Ltd 20/12/2006 31/12/2011 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Determination 2001 to allow the supply of diesel with a
density of not less than 790 kg/m3
Just Fuel Petroleum 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Service Pty Ltd to permit the supply of petrol with an ethanol content of
20% and oxygen content greater than 3.5%
Martini Racing 20/12/2006 21/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001 to
Products Pty Ltd permit the supply of petrol with an aromatic content of up
to 78% volume by volume and an oxygen content of more
than 3.5% mass by mass (for petrol containing ethanol)
Hi-Tec Pty Ltd 21/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001 to
permit the supply of petrol with an aromatic content of up
to 60% volume by volume oxygen content of more than
2.7% mass by mass (petrol not containing ethanol), or 3.5%
mass by mass (petrol containing ethanol); olefins content
of up to 37% by volume; MTBE 1 content of up to 10% v/v
VP Racing Fuels Pty 12/03/2007 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Ltd to permit the supply of petrol with lead content of more
than 0.005g/L, aromatic content of up to 42% v/v, oxygen
content of more than 2.7% mass by mass (m/m) (petrol
not containing ethanol), or 3.5% m/m (petrol containing
ethanol); olefins content of more than 18%v/v, DIPE 2
content of more than 1% v/v; and MTBE content of more
than 1% v/v
Shell Global Solutions 12/3/2007 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
to permit the supply of petrol with MTBE content of up to
15.1% v/v, aromatics up to 53.6%, TBA3 up to 7%v/v, and
DIPE up to 7%.
Netaway Pty Ltd 20/12/2006 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001 to
permit the supply of petrol with MTBE content up to 3.6%
v/v; ethanol content of up to 13% v/v; and oxygen content
of more than 3.5% m/m (petrol containing ethanol)
Netaway Pty Ltd 7/6/2007 21/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
more than 0.005g/L
Performance 7/6/2007 31/12/2008 Variation of the Fuel Standard (Petrol) Determination 2001
Engineering to permit the supply of petrol with a lead content of
more then 0.005g/L
1 MTBE = methyl tertiary-butyl ether

2 DIPE = di-isopropyl ether
3 TBA = tertiary butyl alcohol
91
Hazardous waste
93
Operation of the Hazardous Waste
(Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 61 of the Hazardous
Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989. It covers the operation of the
Act from 1 July 2006 until 30 June 2007.
Purpose of the Act

The purpose of the Act is to regulate the export, import, transit and disposal of
hazardous waste to ensure that human beings and the environment, both within
Hazardous waste
and outside Australia, are protected from the harmful effects of hazardous waste.
The Act and its 1996 amendments enable Australia to meet all its obligations
under the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements
of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. The Basel Convention regulates the
international movements of hazardous wastes.
Functions of the department

The main functions performed by the Department of the Environment and Water
Resources in relation to hazardous waste are:
• processing export, import and transit permit applications under the Act
• ensuring compliance with and enforcement of the Act
• preparing, implementing and amending legislation relating to the international
movements of hazardous waste to and from or through Australia
• formulating and implementing policies relating to the international movements
of hazardous waste to and from or through Australia
• providing administrative assistance to the Hazardous Waste Technical Group,
which provides advice to the department on hazardous waste management
• participating in international forums, such as the Basel Convention and the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which deal
with the international movements of hazardous waste
• providing information to stakeholders on the Act and the permit process.

Basel Convention
The Basel Convention was developed by the United Nations Environment
Programme and adopted on 22 March 1989. Australia ratified the convention on
5 February 1992 and it entered into force on 5 May 1992. The convention imposes
two kinds of obligations on members:
• specifically, to control the export and import of hazardous and other wastes
(other wastes being household wastes or incinerator residues), to provide for
notification and consent, as required by the convention, and to track shipments
to environmentally sound disposal
• more generally, to minimise the movement and generation of hazardous
and other wastes, and ensure that hazardous wastes are disposed of in an
Hazardouos waste
environmentally sound manner.
The 8th meeting of the conference of the parties to the convention was held in
Nairobi, Kenya from 27 November to 1 December 2006. Among other things,
the meeting began developing a work plan for the environmentally sound
management of electronic waste focusing on the needs of developing countries
and countries with economies in transition.
Regulations
Regulations made under the Act provide for:
• setting fees for permit applications
• the operation of arrangements under Article 11 of the Basel Convention, which
allows transboundary movements of waste between parties and non-parties or
under modified control procedures
• general administrative arrangements required by the Act.
Permits
In 2006–07 the department processed 48 applications for permits to import and
export hazardous wastes (31 exports, 16 imports and one transit). Twenty-one
permits were granted, two applications were refused and one was withdrawn;
25 applications were still to be resolved as at 30 June 2007. All permit applications
were processed within the statutory timeframes. Details of permit applications
received in 2006–07, including those not resolved by 30 June, are presented in the
tables below.
95
Fee income
This year $63,360 was received in income from fees.
Contraventions, enforcement and suspension

of permits
The department continued to focus on the need to strengthen enforcement
and take further actions to prevent and combat illegal traffic in hazardous waste.
Enforcement action this year included seizing illegal shipments of electronic waste,
household waste and used lead acid batteries.
Publications
Hazardous waste
Under section 33 of the Act particulars of all applications, permits and variations
were published in the Commonwealth of Australia Government Notices Gazette.
Table 1: Export permits granted in 2006–07
Applicant Quantity Granted Type of waste, disposal operation & destination

(tonnes) (d/m/y)
Sims Group Ltd 2,000 7/07/2006 Waste glass cullet from cathode ray tubes transported from Sims
Recycling Solutions (Australia) to LimburgGlas BV
(Sims-Mirec) (The Netherlands)
Exide Australia 8,400 15/09/2006 Spent wet automotive and industrial lead sulfuric acid batteries
Pty Ltd transported from Exide Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) to Exide
Technologies Vernon Smelter (United States)
Transwaste 240,000 20/09/2006 Waste from production, formulation and use of resins, latex,
Technologies litres plasticisers, glues and adhesives transported from Transwaste
Pty Ltd Technologies Pty Ltd (Australia) to New Zealand
Gritter 2.5 1/11/2006 Dental amalgam sludge transported from Gritter Instrument
Instrument Manufacturing Company Pty Ltd (Australia) to Dental Eco Service
Manufacturing GmbH (Austria)
MRI (Aust) 150 4/12/2006 Nickel, cadmium and metal hydride batteries transported from
Pty Ltd MRI (Aust) Pty Ltd (Australia) to Kobar Ltd (Republic of Korea)
Umicore 2,000 14/12/2006 Waste zinc residues containing lead and cadmium transported from
Australia Ltd Umicore Australia Ltd (Australia) to Umicore Oxyde (Belgium)
BP Refinery 600 21/12/2006 Unregenerated hydrotreater catalyst transported from BP

(Kwinana) Refinery (Kwinana) Pty Ltd (Australia) to Metrex B.V. (The
Pty Ltd Netherlands)
TES-AMM 500 28/05/2007 Electronic waste transported from TES-AMM Australia Ltd
Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) to TES-AMM Singapore Pty Ltd (Singapore)
Dodd and 3,500 01/07/2007 Used lead acid batteries transported from Dodd and Dodd
Dodd Group Group Pty Ltd (Australia) to Samji Metal Industrial Company Ltd
Pty Ltd (Republic of Korea)

Table 2: Import permits granted in 2006–07

(tonnes)
GHD Pty Ltd 13.3 04/05/2006 Pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyl contaminated oil &
equipment transported from Micronesia Department of Health,
Education and Social Services (Micronesia) to BCD Technologies
Pty Ltd (Australia)
GHD Pty Ltd 3.4 14/08/2006 Pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls transported from Niue
Health Department (Niue Island) to BCD Technologies Pty Ltd
(Australia)
GHD Pty Ltd 1.5 08/12/2006 Pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls transported from
Ministry of Environment, Land and Agriculture Kiribati (Kiribati) to
BCD Technologies Pty Ltd (Australia)
Hazardouos waste
Clinical and related waste. Waste solids containing toxic liquid
Stericorp Ltd 180 14/09/2006 transported from Stericorp Ltd (New Zealand) to Stericorp Ltd
(Australia)
Oceania 123 20/12/2006 Solid and liquid waste transported from Antarctica from Institut
Maritime 15,000 Polaire Francais, Dumont Durville Station (French Antarctica) to
Services Pty litres Veolia Environmental Services Aust. Pty Ltd (Australia)
Ltd
GHD Pty Ltd 14 13/02/2007 Pesticides and contaminated packaging, and polychlorinated
biphenyl contaminated capacitors transported from Ministry
for Forests, Environment and Conservation Solomon Islands
(Solomon Islands) to BCD Technologies Pty Ltd (Australia)
Universal 125 15/03/2007 Crushed waste lamps and fluorescent tubes containing mercury
Metals Pty Ltd transported from Medi Chem Waste Services Ltd (New Zealand)
to Advanced Recycling Australasia Pty Ltd (Australia)
Australian 2,000 26/03/2007 Used lead acid batteries transported from Sims Pacific Metals Ltd
Refined Alloys (New Zealand) to Australian Refined Alloys Pty Ltd (Australia)
Pty Ltd
Recyclers 500 27/03/2007 Used lead acid batteries transported from Pago Pago (American
Australia Pty Ltd Samoa) to Australian Refined Alloys Pty Ltd (Australia)
Holyman 50 26/04/2007 Discharged military communication batteries (lithium batteries)

Shipping transported from Holyman Shipping Services Pty Ltd (East Timor)
Services Pty to Thiess Services Pty Ltd (Australia)
Ltd T/A Patrick
Defence
Logistics
Holyman 50 12/06/2007 Discharged military communication batteries (lithium batteries)

Shipping transported from Holyman Shipping Services Pty Ltd (Solomon
Services Pty Islands) to Thiess Services Pty Ltd (Australia)
Ltd T/A Patrick
Defence
Logistics
97
Table 3: Transit permits granted in 2006–07

(tonnes)
Seawings 2,000 27/03/2007 Used lead acid batteries from Dominion Trading Company Ltd
Shipping (New Zealand) to Sang Shin Metallic Co Ltd (Republic of Korea)
Pty Ltd via Brisbane, Singapore and Taiwan
Table 4: Export applications received but not resolved by 30 June 2007
Applicant Quantity Received Type of waste, disposal operation & destination

(tonnes)
Austrade 10,800 17/07/2006 Used lead acid batteries from Total Auto Recyclers (Australia) to
Alliance Pty Ltd Sang Shin Metallic Co Ltd (Korea)
Hazardous waste
Orica Australia 600,000 27/10/2006 Hexachlorobenzene and related waste from Orica Australia
Pty Ltd litres Pty Ltd (Australia) to Bayer Industry Services GmbH and Co OHG,
Leverkusen (Germany)
Pty Ltd Pty Ltd (Australia) to SAVA GmbH (Germany)
Orica Australia 200 27/10/2006 Hexachlorobenzene and related waste from Orica Australia
Pty Ltd Pty Ltd (Australia) to Bayer Industry Services GmbH and Co OHG,
Leverkusen (Germany)
Pty Ltd Pty Ltd (Australia) to Bayer Industry Services GmbH and Co OHG,
Dormagen (Germany)
Pty Ltd Pty Ltd (Australia) to AGR Vertrieb GmbH (RZR) (Germany)
SAFT NIFE Power 300 18/12/2006 Waste comprising nickel-cadmium batteries from SAFT NIFE Power
Systems Australia Systems Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) to SAFT NIFE AB (Sweden)
Pty Ltd
Powerhouse 10,000 16/01/2007 Used lead acid batteries from Powerhouse Batteries (Australia) to
Batteries Korea Zinc (Korea)
Sims 150 24/01/2007 Waste nickel cadmium batteries and nickel metal hydride
E-Recycling batteries from Sims E-Recycling Pty Ltd (Australia) to S.N.A.M.,
Pty Ltd Viviez (France)
Exide Australia 12,000 07/02/2007 Waste comprising lead acid batteries and other lead scrap from
Pty Ltd Exide Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) to Exide Technologies (New
Zealand)

Table 4: Export applications received but not resolved by 30 June 2007 (continued)
Applicant Quantity Received Type of waste, disposal operation & destination

(tonnes)
Exide Australia 36,000 07/02/2007 Waste comprising lead acid batteries and other lead scrap from Exide
Pty Ltd Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) to Exide Technologies (New Zealand)
Consolidated 180 26/03/2007 Lead solder dross from Consolidated Alloys (Australia) to
Alloys Hydrometal S.A. (Belgium)
Metalcorp Pending 25/04/2007 Automobile shredder residue from Metalcorp Recyclers Pty Ltd
Recyclers (Australia) to Metal Tek Development (MTD) America Ltd (United
Pty Ltd States)
TIC Group (Third Pending 27/05/2007 Cathode ray tube glass cullet from TIC Group (Third Party
Party Services) Services) Pty Ltd (Australia) to Young Chang Co. Ltd (Republic of
Pty Ltd Korea)
Hazardouos waste
Fuji Xerox Asia 2,500 05/06/2007 Used Xerox office equipment from Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
Pacific Pte Ltd (Australia) to Fuji Xerox Eco-manufacturing Co. Ltd (Thailand)
Table 5: Import applications received but not resolved by 30 June 2007
Quantity
Applicant Received Type of waste, disposal operation & destination
(tonnes)
Simsmetal Ltd 300 14/03/2006 Drained lead acid batteries from Etablissement Metallurgiques
Caledoniens (New Caledonia) to Australian Refined Alloys
(Australia)
Recyclers 250 24/01/2007 Used lead acid batteries from Tarawa Materials Recovery Facility
Australia Pty Ltd (Kiribati) to Australian Refined Alloys Pty Ltd (Australia)
Recyclers 500 08/06/2007 Used lead acid batteries from Pacific Recycles Co. (Samoa) to
Australia Pty Ltd Australian Refined Alloys Pty Ltd (Australia)
Stericorp Ltd 60 16/06/2007 Waste solids containing toxic liquid not otherwise specified
(clothes, sharps and vials contaminated with cytotoxic
medicines) from United Environmental T/A Transpacific Technical
Services (New Zealand) to Stericorp Ltd (Australia)
OK Tedi Mining 500,000 19/06/2007 Contaminated transformer oil >50ppm polychlorinated

Ltd litres biphenyls from OK Tedi Mining Ltd (Papua New Guinea) to BCD
Technologies (Australia)
Ace Waste Pending 20/06/2007 Cytotoxic contaminated medical waste from International Waste
Group Pty Ltd Ltd (New Zealand) to Ace Waste Pty Ltd (Australia)
Table 6: Applications refused in 2006–07
Applicant Quantity Refusal Type of waste, disposal operation & destination

(tonnes) date
Exide Australia 8,400 13/09/2006 Spent wet automotive and industrial lead sulfuric acid batteries
Pty Ltd from Exide Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) to Joong-il Metals Inc
(Recycling Facility) (Republic of Korea)
Club Assist 6,500 16/03/2007 Used lead acid batteries from Club Assist Pty Ltd (Australia) to
Pty Ltd Joong-Il (Republic of Korea)
99
Ozone protection
101
Operation of the Ozone Protection and
Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management
Act 1989
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 68 of the Ozone
Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 and covers the
operation of the Act from 1 July 2006 until 30 June 2007.
Ozone depletion is a major global environmental problem. Left unchecked,
deterioration of the ozone layer will allow higher doses of ultra violet band B (UVB)
radiation to penetrate the earth’s atmosphere and will greatly increase the incidence
of skin cancer and eye cataracts, as well as affecting plants, animals and aquatic life.
The international community’s response to ozone depletion has been cohesive
and effective. Research indicates that the rate of ozone depletion has slowed and
Ozone protection
scientists predict a full recovery of the ozone layer in the mid-latitudes by around
2050 and over the Antarctic in the period 2060–2075. This predicted recovery
depends on full compliance with internationally agreed phase-out targets for the
use of ozone depleting substances.
Australia meets its international obligations to phase out the use of ozone
depleting substances and to control the use of synthetic greenhouse gas
replacements through the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas
Management Act 1989.
Montreal Protocol
The 1987 Montreal Protocol aims to promote international cooperation in
developing and implementing specific measures to control the consumption and
production of ozone depleting substances. Australia ratified the Montreal Protocol
in May 1989. The protocol was amended in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997 and 1999.
Australia has ratified all amendments. The protocol establishes total phase-out
dates for controlled substances. This year Australia continued to meet or exceed
its international obligations under the Montreal Protocol. Australia has met, or
is well in advance of meeting, all reduction obligations. Australia will essentially
phase out the import of hydrochlorofluorocarbons by 2015, five years ahead of our
international obligations. In doing so, Australia will consume almost 5,000 ODP
tonnes (or 63 per cent) less hydrochlorofluorocarbons than allowed for under the
Montreal Protocol in the period from 1996 to 2020.
Purpose of the Act
The purpose of the Act is to:
• implement the provisions of the 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of
the Ozone Layer and the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete
the Ozone Layer
• institute specific controls on the manufacture, import, export, distribution and
use of ozone depleting substances
• encourage Australian industry to replace, and achieve a faster and greater
reduction in the use of, ozone depleting substances
• control the manufacture, import, export and use of synthetic greenhouse
gases that are used to replace ozone depleting substances, to give effect to
Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
• promote the responsible use of ozone depleting substances and synthetic
Ozone protection
greenhouse gases to minimise their impact on the atmosphere.
Operational aspects of the Act

Licensing
The Act establishes a licensing system to enable Australia to meet its international
requirements under the Montreal Protocol and the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The Act manages the phase-out of ozone
depleting substances and establishes consistent requirements for synthetic
greenhouse gases that are used to replace ozone depleting substances. The Act:
• prohibits the import, export or manufacture of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
halons (halon 1211, 1301 and 2402), carbon tetrachloride, methyl chloroform,
bromochloromethane and hydrobromofluorocarbons (HBFCs) without an
essential use licence or used substance licence
• establishes a system of controlled substance licences and reporting
requirements for the import, export or manufacture of hydrochloro-
fluorocarbons (HCFCs), methyl bromide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and
perfluorocarbons (PFCs) consistent with Australia’s obligations under the
Montreal Protocol and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change
• establishes a licensing system for the import of refrigeration and air conditioning
equipment that contains an HFC or HCFC refrigerant charge (pre-charged
equipment), thereby applying the same conditions and responsibilities for the
import of these substances in equipment as apply to their import in bulk form.
103
Revenue
The Act establishes administrative fees for licences issued under the Act, with the
fees set under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management
Regulations 1995. The Act also establishes the Ozone Protection and Synthetic
Greenhouse Gas (SGG) Account to allow revenue from the licensing system,
import levies and the National Halon Bank to be directed towards the cost of the
Act’s administration, ozone depleting substance phase-out programmes, emission
minimisation programmes, and the operation of the National Halon Bank.
End use Regulations

The Act creates Regulation-making powers to allow the Australian Government
to develop end use controls on purchase, sale, handling, storage and disposal of
ozone depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases.
National end use Regulations have been implemented for the use of ozone depleting
and synthetic greenhouse gases in the refrigeration and air conditioning and fire
Ozone protection
protection industries, and for control of methyl bromide as a feedstock and its use as
a fumigant for approved critical uses and quarantine and pre-shipment uses.
These Regulations will ensure Australia meets its phase-out responsibilities under
the Montreal Protocol and will lead to reduced emissions of ozone depleting
substances and synthetic greenhouse gases through the establishment of national
knowledge, skills and working standards for industry.
The Australian Refrigeration Council and the Fire Protection Association of Australia
are the industry boards that assist with the administration of licensing in the
refrigeration and air conditioning industry and fire protection industry respectively.
Operational achievements in 2006–07

Licences issued
There are four types of licence that can be issued under the Act: controlled
substance, essential use, used substance, and pre-charged equipment. There is one
type of exemption: section 40 (essential use).
Licences for controlled substances, used substances, essential uses and pre‑charged
equipment are granted for a period of up to two years. The current licensing
period ends on 31 December 2007.
Essential use exemptions are granted for a period of up to one year. All current
permits will expire on 31 December 2007.
As of 30 June 2007 there were 733 active licences for the 2006–2007 licensing period.
Table 1: Active licences as at 30 June 2007
Type of licence Number
Import and export HCFC 8
Import and export methyl bromide 5
Import and export HFC and PFC 14
Import refrigeration and air conditioning equipment containing an HCFC or HFC 695
refrigeration charge
Export CFC—essential use licence to facilitate the re-export of bulk CFC no longer required in 0
Australia
Import and export used or recycled CFC, halon, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform— 1
used substance licence
Section 40 exemptions 1 10
1 Section 40 exemptions are issued only to enable the import of certain products and equipment containing or designed
to contain certain ozone depleting substances that are essential for medical or other purposes and for which practical
alternatives are not available in Australia.
Ozone protection
The Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Regulations 1995 permit
the use of methyl bromide for quarantine and preshipment uses, critical
non‑quarantine and preshipment uses that have been approved through the
Montreal Protocol and as a feedstock (i.e. an intermediate substance which is
used to manufacture other chemicals). A permit to use methyl bromide as a
feedstock is granted where the user demonstrates that it is a genuine feedstock
use. Three such permits were issued in 2006–07. These permits are issued on a
calendar year basis.
Australia’s imports of ozone depleting substances remain below the limits set
through the Montreal Protocol. Bulk imports of ozone depleting gases into
Australia during the 2006 calendar year amounted to an equivalent of 163 ozone
depleting potential (ODP) tonnes, a decrease of 70 ODP tonnes from 2005. The
import of ozone depleting substances, for use as refrigerants, solvents and fire
extinguishing agents, remained in line with the structured quota reduction system.
In addition, an estimated 25 ODP tonnes of ozone depleting refrigerants were
incorporated in pre-charged equipment imported in 2006.
Imports of bulk synthetic greenhouse gases into Australia during the 2006 calendar
year were 5,056.34 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent; imports of synthetic
greenhouse gases incorporated in pre-charged equipment were 2,170 kilotonnes
of carbon dioxide equivalent.
105
Revenue
The Act provides for licence and exemption application fees to be levied.
Table 2: Licence and exemption fees
Type of licence/exemption Fee
Controlled substance $15,000 per licence period
Essential use $3,000 per licence period
Used substance $15,000 per licence period
Pre-charged equipment $3,000 per licence period
Section 40 $3,000 per exemption period
Levies on import and manufacturing activity under a controlled substance licence are
payable each quarter under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas
Ozone protection
(Import Levy) Act 1995 and the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas
(Manufacture Levy) Act 1995 according to the quantity and ozone depleting potential
of HCFCs imported or manufactured; or the quantity of methyl bromide, HFC or
PFC imported or manufactured (see Table 3). Australia has not manufactured ozone
depleting substances since 1996, and has never manufactured HFCs or PFCs.
Table 3: Activity fees
Licensed activity Fee

1
Import HCFCs $3,000 per ODP tonne
Import HFCs and PFCs $165 per metric tonne
Import methyl bromide $135 per metric tonne
1 Ozone depleting potential (ODP) is a comparative measure using CFC as a base level of 1. For example 1 metric tonne of
methyl bromide equals 0.6 ODP tonne.
Licence fees and levies are set at the level estimated to be the cost to the Australian
Government of administering the legislation and undertaking programmes
associated with phase-out and emission minimisation. These fees are held in the
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (SGG) Account.
The purpose of the account is to reimburse the Australian Government for the
costs associated with:
• administration of the Act and Regulations
• furthering the ozone depleting substances phase-out, and ozone depleting
substance and synthetic greenhouse gas emission minimisation programmes
• management of the National Halon Bank.
Funds received during 2006–07 from operation of the National Halon Bank and
licence fees and levies are shown in Table 4. Spending on emission minimisation
and phase-out programmes was low this year as efforts were focused on
implementing amendments to the legislation.
Table 4: Ozone Protection and SGG Account receipts and expenditure
Activity Amount received ($) in 2006–07
Controlled substance licence fees:

   Methyl bromide licence fees 0
   HFCs licence fees 75,000.00
Pre-charged equipment licence fees 591,000.00
Section 40 exemption fees 6,000.00
Levies:
   HCFCs 464,747.85
   Methyl bromide 54,771.60
   HFCs 470,126.88
   Pre-charged equipment 404,374.23
Ozone protection
National Halon Bank:
   Commercial revenue 725,482.75
Total 2,791,503.10
Account Expenditure
Grants 0
Salary and administration 92,057.59
Total minus expenditure 2,699,445.72
Projects funded from the Ozone Protection and SGG Account

No new projects were approved for funding in 2006–07. A $1 million programme
to assist refrigeration and air conditioning technicians to comply with the
Regulations was advertised in May 2007. A wider emission minimisation and phase-
out programme is being developed for consideration in 2007–08.
Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund

Australia provides financial assistance, through the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral
Fund, to assist developing countries to comply with the phase-out requirements
under the protocol. Australia also provides direct technical and financial assistance
to other countries in the region. For example, this year Australia continued
to assist Pacific Island countries to meet their obligations under the Montreal
Protocol, including helping them to develop legislation to control the imports of
ozone depleting substances and to develop training for customs officers. Funding
for these projects is provided through Australia’s international aid programme.
107
Oil recycling
109
Operation of the Product Stewardship for
Oil Programme and the Product Stewardship
(Oil) Act 2000
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 35 of the Product
Stewardship (Oil) Act 2000, and covers the operation of the Act and the operation
of the Product Stewardship for Oil Programme from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
Purpose of the programme

The Product Stewardship for Oil Programme came into effect on 1 January 2001,
fulfilling the government’s May 1999 commitment outlined in the Measures for a
Better Environment package. The programme’s objectives are to:
• provide economic incentives to increase the uptake and appropriate recycling
and use of waste oil
• encourage the environmentally sustainable management and re-refining of
waste oil and its reuse
• support economic recycling options for waste oil.
Oil recycling
The programme aims to develop different forms of recycling and a diverse range of
products and markets for recycled oil to help ensure the long-term viability of the
used oil recycling industry in Australia.
Features of the programme

The Product Stewardship for Oil Programme consists of an economic incentives
package (levy/benefit scheme) and a transitional assistance grants package.
The product stewardship oil levy was introduced on 1 January 2001 and is
currently set at 5.449 cents per litre of lubricant oil produced or sold in Australia.
The levy applies to both domestic and imported oils and is paid by oil producers
and importers. Under the levy arrangements no ‘eligible’ lubricant escapes the
levy, imported and domestic oils are treated equitably, and exported oil is not
levied. The levy is collected as an excise by the Australian Taxation Office and as
customs duty by the Australian Customs Service.
While the levy is intended to offset the cost of benefits paid under the Product
Stewardship for Oil Programme, it is not directly connected with benefit payments.
Product stewardship benefits are paid to recyclers as a volume-based incentive
to encourage increased oil recycling. Benefits are provided at different rates,
depending on the type of product—the lowest benefits are provided for basic
burner fuels, and the highest for full recycling into as-new, re-refined base oil.
Table 1 shows the 2006–07 benefit rates.
Benefit rates do not directly reflect the comparative effort involved in recycling or
the environmental benefit achieved. Rates were set by determining the amount of
incentive required for industry to undertake and increase each form of recycling.
Some forms of recycling require more incentive than others.
Table 1: Product stewardship benefit rates in 2006–07
Category Benefit
(cents per litre)
1. Re-refined base oil (for use as a lubricant or a hydraulic or transformer oil) that meets 50
the prescribed criteria 1
2. Other re-refined base oils (for example, chain bar oil) 10
3. Diesel fuels that comply with the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel) Determination 2001, 7
as in force from time to time
4. Diesel extenders: 5
(a) that are filtered, de-watered and de-mineralised; and
(b) that, if combined with diesel fuels, would produce a combined fuel that complies with
the determination mentioned in category 3
Oil recycling
5. High grade industrial burning oils (filtered, de-watered and de-mineralised) 5
6. Low grade industrial burning oils (filtered and de-watered) 3
7. Industrial process oils and process lubricants, including hydraulic and transformer oils 0
(re-processed or filtered, but not re-refined)
8. Gazetted oil consumed in Australia for a gazetted use 5.499
9. Recycled oil mentioned in category 5 or 6 that has been blended with a petroleum 9.557
product that meets the criteria mentioned in schedule 2 of the Regulations of the Act 2
Additional benefit 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007 3 10.057
1 The Regulations specify a health, safety and environment standard for re-refined lubricants that is consistent with the
current requirements for ‘virgin’ products. The basic requirement of this standard is to produce a non-carcinogenic and
non-toxic product. Source: Product Stewardship (Oil) Regulations 2000 (as amended April 2004).
2 Category 9 ceased as of 30 June 2006. Claims may still be submitted if the used oil was recycled and sold for use
(or used by the claimant) prior to 30 June 2006.
3 The additional benefit is separate from categories 1 to 9. All category 5 and 6 claimants will be eligible to claim the
additional benefit. (See the Regulatory Amendments section on the next page.)
111
In establishing the Product Stewardship for Oil Programme, transitional assistance
funding of $34.5 million over seven years (2001–2007) was allocated to stimulate
the uptake of environmentally sustainable management and re-refining of waste
oil and its reuse. The funding complements the levy/benefit arrangements and is
an interim measure to engender change that will ensure the long-term viability of
Australia’s oil recycling industry.
Legislative basis of the programme

The programme is underpinned by a package of legislation and associated
Regulations.
• The Product Stewardship (Oil) Act 2000 is the primary piece of legislation that
establishes the general framework and benefit entitlements. The policy settings
for the stewardship arrangements are established and governed by the Minister
for the Environment and Water Resources. The Act also establishes the Oil
Stewardship Advisory Council (see Table 2).
• The Product Stewardship (Oil) Regulations 2000 prescribe the product
stewardship benefit rates.
• The Excise Tariff Amendment (Product Stewardship for Waste Oil) Act 2000
Oil recycling
and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Product Stewardship for Waste Oil)
Act 2000 and associated Regulations establish the product stewardship levy.
• The Product Stewardship (Oil) (Consequential Amendments) Act 2000
contributes to the establishment of the levy and the general administrative
provisions in the Product Grants and Benefits Administration Act 2000.
• The Product Grants and Benefits Administration Act 2000 sets out eligibility
criteria and establishes the administrative mechanisms used by the Australian
Taxation Office to pay benefits to recyclers.
• Transitional assistance administration, including general running costs of the
Product Stewardship for Oil Programme and general grant funding, is managed
under the Appropriation (Supplementary Measures) Act (No. 2) 1999.
Regulatory amendments to the product stewardship benefits

The Product Stewardship (Oil) Regulations 2000 were amended in December
2006 to increase the rate of additional benefit for categories 5 and 6. The extra
benefit will ensure that the oil recycling industry has time to adapt to changes
arising from the Australian Government’s Fuel Excise Reform. The definitions of
category 3 (diesel) and category 4 (diesel extender) were also changed to make it
clear that these products must comply with the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel)
Determination 2001 in order to be eligible for product stewardship benefits.
In 2006–07 the Australian Government announced an extra $10.6 million over
three years for the additional product stewardship benefits for categories 5 and 6.
All category 5 and 6 claimants are eligible to claim the benefit. Eligible recyclers
received an extra 10.057 cents per litre from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007, and will
receive 6.7 cents per litre from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 and 3.3 cents per litre
from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. The additional benefits will cease after 30 June 2009.
Oil Stewardship Advisory Council

The Oil Stewardship Advisory Council provides advice to the Minister for the
Environment and Water Resources on the product stewardship mechanisms
and their operation, on the oil recycling and oil production industries and
on markets for recycled used oil products. Part 3 of the Product Stewardship
(Oil) Act 2000 establishes the council. Members are drawn from a range of
backgrounds so that the oil producing and recycling industries, state and local
governments, consumers, and other non-government organisations can contribute
to formulating advice on the Product Stewardship for Oil Programme. The
Department of the Environment and Water Resources and the Commissioner of
Taxation represent the Australian Government.
Table 2: Membership of the Oil Stewardship Advisory Council as at 30 June 2007
Oil recycling
Member Representing
Mr Mike Williamson Chair
Mr Rory Collins Commissioner of Taxation
Ms Lynden Ayliffe Department of the Environment and Water Resources
Mr Paul Barrett Australian Institute of Petroleum
Mr Bob Pullinger Australian Oil Recyclers Association
Mr Gary O’Connor Environment Protection and Heritage Council
Mr Mark Borlace Royal Automobile Association of South Australia
Mr Paul Howlett Waste Management Association of Australia
Mr Harold Grundell Additional member (oil recycler)
Mr Fred Wren Additional member (oil recycler)
The council met in Canberra on 6 June 2007.
Financial information
This section reports on the financial arrangements for the Product Stewardship
for Oil Programme for the period 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007, including levy
collections and benefit payments. Transitional assistance expenditure is reported
under the Transitional Assistance Grants Programme.
113
General operation
The Department of the Environment and Water Resources, the Australian Taxation
Office and the Australian Customs Service continued to work together to ensure
that the programme is simple to administer and understand. Administration of
the programme is progressing well. There were seven applications for registration
during 2006–07: one under category 4, one under category 5 and five under
category 8. There were 78 recyclers registered for benefits, and 48 active recyclers,
as at 30 June 2007.
The Australian Taxation Office audit programme from previous years continued,
with two audits finalised in 2006–07.
Information on registering for benefit payments can be obtained from the
Australian Taxation Office fuel schemes website at www.ato.gov.au/businesses.
Product stewardship levy

In 2006–07 total revenue collected from the product stewardship levy was
$25.2 million, comprising $19.3 million in excise collection on domestic
production and $5.9 million in customs duty on imported oils. An amount of
$1.9 million was paid back to clients in the form of drawbacks (for export) and
Oil recycling
refunds, bringing the balance of revenue from the levy to $23.3 million.
Levy collections are recorded against a number of categories based on the type
of oil, and customs duty is recorded under international customs classifications.
Tables 3 and 4 show excise and customs tariff collections for 2006–07 by category.
Table 3: Product stewardship levy collection (excise) by category
Item Category Levy

number collected
15.1 Petroleum based oils (including lubricant/fluid/oil/products) and their synthetic $18,176, 763
equivalents but not greases
15.2 Petroleum based oils (including lubricant/fluid/oil/products) and their synthetic $512,314
equivalents, recycled for use as oils (including lubricant/fluid/oil products) but not
greases
15.3 Petroleum based greases and their synthetic equivalents $285,163
15A Lubricant base oils $299,801
15B Lubricant base oils (recycled) $11,009
15C Petroleum based greases and their synthetic equivalents $4,700
Total $19,289,750
Note: 15A, 15B and 15C relate to old codes which were changed in July 2006.
Total amount may differ slightly from the sum of the components due to rounding.
Table 4: Product stewardship levy collection (customs tariff) by category
Item Category Levy

number collected
27101991 Petroleum based oils including lubricants, hydraulic fluids and transformer oils $3,386,813
27101992 Petroleum based greases $440,038
27109191 Petroleum based oils including lubricants, hydraulic fluids and transformer oils $17,691
27109192 Petroleum based greases $439
27109991 Petroleum based oils including lubricants, hydraulic fluids and transformer oils $57,629
27109992 Petroleum based greases $30,192
34031110 Preparations for the treatment of textiles, containing petroleum oils, solid $5,712
34031190 Preparations for the treatment of textiles, containing petroleum oils, liquid $4,970
34031910 Other preparations (for example, cutting oil, anti-corrosion) containing $42,528
petroleum oils, solid
34031990 Other preparations (for example, cutting oil, anti-corrosion) containing $419,482
34039110 Preparations for the treatment of textiles, containing petroleum oils, solid $7,388
34039190 Preparations for the treatment of textiles, not containing petroleum oils, solid $17,379
Oil recycling
34039910 Other preparations (for example, cutting oil, anti-corrosion) not containing $108,475
34039990 Other preparations (for example, cutting oil, anti-corrosion) not containing $336,357
petroleum oils, liquid
38112110 Additives for lubricating oil, containing petroleum oils, solid $81,823
38112190 Additives for lubricating oil, containing petroleum oils, liquid $831,216
38190000 Hydraulic brake fluids $69,484
Total $5,857,616
Note: Total amount may differ slightly from the sum of the components due to rounding
115
Product stewardship benefits
A total of $31.9 million was paid as product stewardship benefits in 2006–07, with
$30.7 million paid to recyclers for recycling used oil. This is an increase of
$16.7 million in benefits for recycling compared to 2005–06 and is attributable to
the introduction of the additional benefit for categories 5 and 6.
The volume of oil on which benefits were paid in 2006–07 was 219 million litres,
compared to 211 million litres in 2005–06. Figure 1 shows the annual volume of
used oil recycled since the programme began. Industry estimates that 150–165
million litres of oil were being recycled annually before the Product Stewardship
for Oil Programme began in 2001.
Figure 1: Annual volume of oil recycled since the Product Stewardship for
Oil Programme began
250
200
Volume (million litres)
Oil recycling
150
100
50
0
pre-PSO 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07
Note: The pre-PSO programme value is an industry estimate. Programme benefits commenced in January 2001,
therefore the 2000–01 value was extrapolated from only six months data.
Figure 2 shows the annual volume of used oil claimed in each category since the
programme began. Table 5 provides a breakdown by product category for 2006–07,
indicating volumes recycled and benefit payments.
The volume of used oil claimed in category 1 in 2006–07 decreased slightly, after
increasing gradually since the programme began. The volume claimed in category 5
has grown steadily since the programme began while the volume in category 6
increased slightly after a two-year decline. The sharp decline in the volume of
category 3 is attributable to the changes to the definition of category 3 and the
additional benefit for categories 5 and 6. It is likely that these changes have led
to recycled oil previously claimed under category 3 now being claimed under
categories 5 or 6.
Figure 2: Annual volume of recycled oil in each category since the

Product Stewardship for Oil Programme began
120
100
Volume (million litres)
Oil recycling
80
60
40
20
0
2000–01 2001– 02 2002– 03 2003–04 2004–05 2005– 06 2006–07
Category 1 Category 3 Category 5 Category 6
Note: Categories 2 and 4 reported volumes are too small to chart. Categories 8 and 9 including the additional benefit
do not contribute to the overall volume of used oil recycled. Programme benefits commenced in January 2001,
therefore the 2000–01 value was extrapolated from only six months data.
117
Table 5: Product stewardship benefit payments by category in 2006–07
Category Benefit Litres

payments
1. Re-refined base oil (for use as a lubricant or a hydraulic or transformer $3,962,531 7,925,063
oil) that meets the specified criteria
2. Other re-refined base oils (for example, chain bar oil) 0 0
3. Diesel fuels that comply with the Fuel Standard (Automotive Diesel) $202,958 2,899,404
Determination 2001, as in force from time to time
4. Diesel extenders: 0 0
(a) that are filtered, de-watered and de-mineralised
(b) that, if combined with diesel fuels, would produce a combined fuel
that complies with the determination mentioned in item 3
5. High grade industrial burning oils (filtered, de-watered and de-mineralised) $6,567,543 131,350.851
6. Low grade industrial burning oils (filtered and de-watered) $2,319,727 77,324,219
7. Industrial process oils and lubricants, including hydraulic and 0 0

transformer oils (re-processed or filtered, but not re-refined)
8. Gazetted oil consumed in Australia for a gazetted use 1 $1,174,949 21,562,663
9. Recycled oil mentioned in item 5 or 6 that has been blended with a $4,593 48,060
petroleum product that meets the criteria mentioned in schedule 2 of
the Regulations of the Act 1
Oil recycling
Additional benefit 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007 2 $17,695,514 175,952,212
Amount of used oil recycled (excludes categories 8 & 9 and the 219,499,537

additional benefit)
Total $31,927,815 417,062,472
1 Benefits paid under categories 8 and 9 including the additional benefit do not contribute to the overall volume of used
oil recycled.
2 The additional benefit is separate from categories 1 to 9. All category 5 and 6 claimants will be eligible to claim the
additional benefit. The additional benefit is the only benefit payment that may be claimed if another category of benefit
payment (categories 5 or 6 only) has been claimed for the same recycled used oil.
Transitional Assistance Grants Programme
The last round of transitional assistance grants was conducted in 2006–07 with the
minister approving $0.91 million for 24 projects. In all, $34.5 million was provided
from July 2000 to June 2007 for grants, projects, consultancies and partnerships for
the provision of goods and services.
One aim of the grants programme was to remove structural barriers to oil
recycling, such as lack of adequate infrastructure or technology. Funding also
covered the operating costs of the Product Stewardship for Oil Programme,
including the relevant running costs of the department, the Australian Taxation
Office and the Oil Stewardship Advisory Council.
Grants were paid for the following:
• used oil collection infrastructure
• raising public awareness
• developing technology
• remote and Indigenous projects
• developing markets for used oil products.
Collection infrastructure
Oil recycling
From 2001 to 2007 transitional assistance grants of $9.8 million helped to establish
more than 950 waste oil collection units across Australia.
In 2006–07 more than $0.8 million was approved for used oil collection
infrastructure, adding 40 waste oil collection units to the national network.
Another grant will provide six units in the Lower Gwydir Valley.
The location of waste oil collection units is shown at www.oilrecycling.gov.au.
Raising public awareness

The department updates its public online database of waste oil collection facilities
to ensure accurate information continues to be available to the Australian public.
Grants recipients are also required to provide information to the public through
websites and signage on waste oil collection units.
119
Technology
Over the life of the transitional assistance grants programme, more than
$4.1 million has been provided for technology projects including:
• Wren Oil’s processing plant that will enable distillation residue from recycled oil
to be used in road bitumen
• the Australian Institute of Petroleum’s nationwide infrastructure project for the
collection and recycling of household plastic oil containers
• Transpacific Industries’ hydrogenation plant in the Hunter Valley to re-refine
used oil.
Remote and Indigenous projects

Since November 2004, when the programme was extended to remote and
Indigenous communities, more than $1 million has been provided for projects in
these communities. The projects contribute to improved environmental health
and Indigenous employment opportunities. They include used oil and integrated
waste management projects on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands in South Australia
and on Warabar Island in the Torres Strait.
In 2006–07 $0.16 million was provided for waste oil collection units in the Barkley
Tablelands and a bulk storage facility at Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory.
Oil recycling
Markets
In 2006–07 the programme provided more than $100,000 to the Australian Oil
Recyclers Association to develop standards for burner oil to meet the requirements
of both manufacturers and users and to develop a website that will make the
standards available to industry. The aim is to facilitate trade in one of the products
made from used oil.
Operating expenses
The department’s 2006–07 operating costs for the Product Stewardship for Oil
Programme, including staff salaries and allowances, consultancies, advertising and
other related expenses, were $773, 000.
The Australian Taxation Office’s operating costs for the programme were $289,800.
Services provided by the Australian Taxation Office include processing registrations
and claims for benefits, compliance monitoring and client liaison.
The department provided the Australian Taxation Office with an additional
$50,000 from transitional assistance grants funding to cover costs associated with
implementing the regulatory changes developed this year.
The Oil Stewardship Advisory Council’s operating costs were $36,400.
This includes all costs related to the activities of the council including venue hire,
sitting fees, air fares and other travel costs and allowances.
Monitoring and evaluation

In February 2007 the department commissioned a review of the Product
Stewardship for Oil Programme’s effectiveness following changes to excise
arrangements for recycled oil. The review is expected to be completed early
in 2007–08.
Oil recycling
121
Movable heritage
123
Operation of the Protection of Movable
Cultural Heritage Act 1986
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 47 of the Protection
of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 and covers the operation of the Act from
1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
Purpose of the Act

The Act regulates the export of cultural heritage objects from Australia. The
purpose of the Act is to protect, for the benefit of the nation, objects which
if exported would significantly diminish Australia’s cultural heritage. The Act
also includes provisions that allow Australia to respond to an official request
by a foreign government to return objects that have been illegally exported in
contravention of that country’s cultural heritage laws.
The Act defines certain heritage objects as ‘Australian protected objects’ and
implements a system of export control. Some Australian protected objects of
Aboriginal, military heritage and historical significance cannot be granted a
permit for export. Other Australian protected objects may be exported provided
a permit or certificate has been obtained. Permits are granted by the Minister
for the Environment and Water Resources on the advice of the National Cultural
Movable heritage
Heritage Committee and expert examiners. Heritage objects located overseas may
also be defined as Australian protected objects under the Act, and a certificate of
exemption may be issued for such an object to enter Australia and return overseas
without restriction.
The Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 was passed as the necessary
implementing legislation prior to Australia’s accession on 30 January 1990 to
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export
and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970).
National Cultural Heritage Control List

The National Cultural Heritage Control List sets out the categories of objects
classed as Australian protected objects and the criteria defining each of these
categories. These criteria include historical association, cultural significance to
Australia, representation in an Australian public collection, age and financial
thresholds. The control list includes Class A and Class B objects.
Class A objects are significant Australian heritage objects that cannot normally be
exported from Australia. They include:
• some of the most significant items of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
heritage: bark and log coffins, human remains, rock art, dendroglyphs (carved
burial and initiation trees), and sacred and secret ritual objects
• Victoria Crosses awarded to Australian recipients
• objects comprising the suit of armour worn by Ned Kelly at the event known as
the siege of Glenrowan in 1880.
If a Class A object is not in Australia and a person wishes to temporarily import the
object, the minister may grant a certificate authorising the subsequent export of
the object.
Class B objects which may be exported subject to a permit include:
• archaeological objects
• objects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage not covered under
Class A
• natural science objects
• objects of applied science or technology
• objects of fine or decorative art
• objects of documentary heritage
• numismatic objects and medals not covered under Class A
• philatelic objects
Movable heritage
• objects of historical significance not covered under Class A.
Review of the Act’s Regulations and administration

The review of the Act continued in 2006–07. Issues raised by key stakeholders are
being considered, with further targeted consultation with stakeholders in 2007–08.
Enforcement
The department continued to work closely with the Australian Federal Police and
Australian Customs Service to ensure the enforcement of, and compliance with,
the Act. The department responded to 80 enquiries on a diverse range of objects
being exported and imported including heritage machinery, fossils and antiquities.
Objects illegally exported from another country in contravention of the cultural
heritage laws of that country, and imported into Australia, may be subject to seizure
and forfeiture to the Commonwealth for return to the requesting government.
125
In 2006–07 the department liaised with foreign countries on cases involving such
objects as fossils from China and Argentina, and decorated skulls from Indonesia
and Malaysia. In December 2006 an illegally imported decorated Asmat skull was
returned to the Indonesian Government at a formal ceremony at the Indonesian
Embassy in Canberra. The department received support from the Australian
Quarantine and Inspection Service, Australian Customs Service and the Australian
Federal Police in the detection and recovery of this skull.
In May 2007 sixteen incised Dyak skulls were returned to the Sarawak Museum
in Kuching, Malaysia. The skulls were seized under the Act in 2005 after being
illegally imported into Australia. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service,
Australian Customs Service and the Australian Federal Police supported the
department in the detection and recovery of these skulls.
National Cultural Heritage Account

The National Cultural Heritage Account was established under section 25 of the
Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Amendment Act 1999 and in accordance
with the regulatory requirements of the Commonwealth Financial Management
and Accountability Act 1997. Its purpose is to facilitate the acquisition of
Australian protected objects for display or safekeeping.
Funding of $500,000 was allocated at Additional Estimates in 2006–07 to maintain
the National Cultural Heritage Account.
Movable heritage
This year, following advice from the National Cultural Heritage Committee, the
minister approved funding for Australian cultural organisations to acquire the
following objects:
• $2,000 to the Norfolk Island Museum Trust to acquire a c.1900 roll top desk
with strong associations with the whaling and communications operations on
Norfolk Island
• $31,360 to Museum Victoria to acquire two c.1890 drawings by Tommy McRae,
Another Fight, and A Fight. These drawings are a rare and important record of
Indigenous and non-Indigenous contact from an Indigenous artist
• $200,000 to the South Australian Museum to acquire a rare early 19th century
Wokali bark shield from the Adelaide Plains. No other Wokali shields of a
similar quality are known to exist
• $15,500 to the Powerhouse Museum to acquire a c.1856 double bass made
by John Devereux. John Devereux was Australia’s first professional maker of
stringed, bowed instruments
• $44,500 to the Powerhouse Museum to acquire the Australian Jockey Club’s
1950 Sydney Cup. This gold cup was made by WJ Sanders, Sydney’s leading
producer of gold and silverware during the 20th century
• $110,000 to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney to acquire a 1930 Genairco
biplane aircraft. This aircraft is one of nine designed and constructed by the
Australian company the General Aircraft Company
• $55,000 to the Nathalia and District Historical Society to acquire an 1884 Fowler
steam traction engine, serial number 4841. This engine is one of the first
steam traction engines to be used in the Victorian forestry and road transport
industries and was used from the 1880s to the 1940s
• $32,000 to the Australian War Memorial to acquire seven sketchbooks from the
official First World War artist Arthur Streeton.
Movable heritage
1856 double bass made The Australian Jockey Rare early 19th century
by John Devereaux. Club’s 1950 Sydney Cup. Wokali bark shield from the
Photo: Powerhouse Museum Photo: Powerhouse Museum Adelaide Plains. Photo: South
Australian Museum
Export permit applications

A total of 97 applications were finalised which included the assessment of
4,593 objects (including 59 for letters of clearance). A summary of export
applications processed in 2006–07 is at Appendix 1. The objects that were issued
permanent and temporary export permits and certificates of exemption are
described at Appendix 2.
127
Permits for permanent export (including conditional permits)
Permits were issued to permanently export 21 Australian protected objects. In
general, the exporters were seeking to sell the objects on the international market.
Permits for temporary export

Twelve permits were issued to allow the temporary export of 35 Australian
protected objects for exhibition or assessment. Objects included two Conrad
Martens sketchbooks, a 1925 Leyland F6 steam lorry and Australian stamps for an
exhibition in New York.
Letters of clearance
Letters of clearance may be issued for objects that have been assessed by expert
examiners as not being Australian protected objects, and therefore do not require
an export permit under the Act. Letters of clearance are normally issued by the
department to assist with the clearance of these objects through Customs.
A total of 59 letters of clearance were issued covering 4,486 objects.
Refusal of export permits

Eight objects were refused an export permit.
An export permit was denied for a Torres Strait Island arrowhead on 6 July 2006.
Movable heritage
This is a rare arrowhead with a carved double human figure below the bone
barbed point and tip. The arrowhead has traces of red pigment and is in excellent
condition despite a missing shaft. There are no examples of the Janus double
human figure in Australian museum collections.
A permit was refused for the 1972 painting Water Dreaming by Old Walter
Tjampitjinpa on 10 July 2006. As a senior law man and ‘boss’ for the key Water
Dreaming site of Kalipinypa, Walter Tjampitjinpa was a key figure in the seminal
period of Papunya Tula painting. The painting contains depictions of eight sacred
boards, and significant elements of the Eagle dreaming. There are no other works
of comparable quality by this artist available.
On 10 July 2006 an export permit was refused for the 1972 painting Women’s
Dreaming by Uta Uta Tjangala. The subject matter of this painting is ‘women in
ceremony’. Uta Uta Tjangala was a key figure in the early development of Papunya
Tula art and went on to become the most significant artist in its entire history. The
painting includes sacred and secret content in relation to women’s ceremonies.
A permit was refused on 20 December 2006 for the export of the 1972 painting
Wild Potato Dreaming by David Corby Tjapaltjarri. He was the youngest of the
early painters at Papunya 1971–1972, but Tjapaltjarri approached his work on
the basis of considerable ceremonial experience. He was a respected Nyunkari
(traditional healer) with a strong knowledge of the country to the north-west of
Papunya. This work shows the evolution of his decorative style and is critical to
an understanding of this aspect of his artistic development. The work depicts the
Wild Potato ceremony and contains explicit secret and sacred elements which
are usually withheld from public display. The painting is an unusually explicit
representation of the ceremony and a fine example of Tjapaltjarri’s delicate work.
A 1974 Papunya board painting, Men’s Corroboree Dreaming in a Cave by Anatjari
III Tjakamarra, was refused an export permit on 21 December 2006. Anatjari III
Tjakamarra is one of the most distinctive and highly regarded of the pioneering
Papunya painters. He was the first Australian Indigenous artist to have a solo
exhibition in North America, and the first Australian Indigenous artist to enter
the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s contemporary art collection. This painting has
secret and sacred material, depicting ceremonial participants and objects. There is
only one work by Anatjari III Tjakamarra in a public collection that resembles this
painting. This painting is of particular importance to the Pintupi people to whom it
has the highest level of cultural significance.
On 22 December 2006 an export permit was refused for Untitled (ceremony), a
bark painting by Charles Mardigan. This painting shows Mardigan’s high level of
skill with a combination of figurative elements, ceremonial boards and an extended
colour palette. This painting is of particular importance to the Murrinh-patha people
of Wadeye, Northern Territory. Its unusual and skilled imagery ensures that this
painting has continued meaning and remains a tool for conveying an understanding
of traditional cultural knowledge. The Murrinh-patha people are reliant on rare
Movable heritage
examples such as this painting as much of their traditional activity was disturbed
or destroyed by the Catholic mission in the 1900s. There is a small amount of
Mardigan’s work and of Wadeye art of this period in Australian public collections.
On 12 January 2007 an export permit was denied for the 1972 painting Budgerigar
Dreaming by Kaapa Tjampitjinpa. The work depicts a ceremony for young boys
and is regarded as Kaapa Tjampitjinpa’s masterpiece. The painting is an important
record of the cultural and artistic achievement of a unique episode in Australian
history. Tjampitjinpa is regarded as a highly significant artist in the development of
the Papunya Movement and in contemporary Indigenous art. There are very few of
his works in Australian public collections.
On 18 June 2007 an export permit was denied for the c.1950 painting Moorool
the Dreaming Man by Nym Djimurrgurr. The subject, an ancestral story of little
mimi, is unusual in style, not typical of the Jawoyn people of Western Arnhem
Land. There is documentation that links the subject and style to the earliest bark
painting collected in Western Arnhem Land in 1912. Works by Nym Djimurrgurr
are rare and works of this period, the 1950s, are rare and culturally important to
both the Indigenous and the wider Australian community. There are few of Nym
Djimurrgurr’s works in public collections.
129
Applications withdrawn
Seven applications were withdrawn.
Certificates of exemption
Four certificates of exemption covering 39 objects were issued. Certificates of
exemption allow Australian protected objects that are currently overseas to be
imported into Australia and subsequently re-exported. Owners of Australian
protected objects located overseas are encouraged to repatriate them to Australia
for display or sale. Objects imported for exhibition allow the Australian public
access to elements of their cultural heritage that would otherwise be unavailable.
National Cultural Heritage Committee

The National Cultural Heritage Committee is appointed under the Act to advise
the minister in respect to the operation of the Act, the National Cultural Heritage
Control List, and the National Cultural Heritage Account. Members serve terms of
up to four years, and are eligible for reappointment.
Table 1: Membership of the National Cultural Heritage Committee in 2006–07
Member Date/term of appointment

Movable heritage
Chair
Mr Craddock Morton, Director, National Museum of Australia
Appointed 9 March 2006 for 4 years
Professor Daryl Le Grew, Vice Chancellor, University of Tasmania Appointed 27 March 2006 for 4 years
Mr Simon Molesworth AM QC, barrister-at-law, Victoria Re-appointed 25 May 2006 for 4 years
Ms Deborah Tranter, Deputy Director, Cobb and Co Museum, Member until 12 July 2008
Queensland
Ms Jennifer Sanders, Associate Director, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Member until 12 July 2008
Dr Susan Marsden, historian, South Australia Member until 23 April 2008
Ms Kylie Winkworth, museum and heritage consultant, NSW Re-appointed 31 July 2006 for 4 years
Ms Avril Quaill, Principal Project Officer, Queensland Indigenous Arts Re-appointed 31 July 2006 for 4 years
Marketing and Export Agency
Mr Bill Bleathman, Director, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Member until 25 February 2007
Ms Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, CEO and State Librarian, State Library Appointed 9 May 2007 for 4 years
of Victoria
The committee held three face-to-face meetings (25 October 2006,
23 February 2007 and 7 June 2007) and one teleconference (30 January 2007)
to consider applications for export permits and for funding from the National
Cultural Heritage Account. Committee business was also conducted out of session,
including the consideration of export applications and funding applications and
advice to the minister on the significance of collections under the Act.
Committee-related expenditure for 2006–07 was $38,404 which included sitting
fees and travel and accommodation costs for attendance at meetings.
As part of the committee’s outreach activities, a workshop was organised in
conjunction with the Research School of Humanities at the Australian National
University and the National Museum of Australia. The workshop took place on
22 March 2007 at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra and considered
significance criteria, thresholds, heritage objects and the Protection of Movable
Cultural Heritage Act 1986. It was attended by over 80 people from museums,
universities and government heritage agencies across Australia. A follow-up
workshop was held in Brisbane on 6 June 2007 at the Queensland Museum’s
Workshops Rail Museum in Ipswich to consider revised guidelines for the
assessment of export permits and funding applications under the Act.
Register of Expert Examiners

The Register of Expert Examiners was maintained by the committee in accordance
with section 22 of the Act. The committee regularly invites individuals with
Movable heritage
appropriate expertise to be included on the register to broaden the expert advice
available to the committee.
The committee wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the expert examiners for
giving the benefit of their wide experience and practical support throughout the
year. Their specialist knowledge and advice in preparing reports for consideration
by the committee and the minister are vital in protecting Australia’s significant
movable cultural heritage, as is the specialist advice they provide to the Australian
Customs Service and the Australian Federal Police.
131
Appendix 1—Summary of export applications and
assessments in 2006–07
Export applications Number of applications Number of objects
Applications brought forward as at 1 July 2006 32 1,969
Applications received during 2006–07 90 4,606
Active applications during 2006–07 136 6,550
Applications finalised during 2006–07 107 4,593
Applications carried over as at 30 June 2007 19 1,957
Outcomes of applications finalised Number of outcomes Number of objects
Permanent export permits issued 20 21
Temporary export permits issued 12 35
Conditional permits issued 0 0
Letters of clearance issued 59 4,486
Certificates of exemption issued 4 39
Permits refused 8 8
Applications withdrawn 7 8
Total outcomes 221 4,596

Movable heritage
Appendix 2— Permits issued in 2006–07

Permanent export permits—description Finalised
1944 Buffalo MK4 (LVT4) tracked landing vehicle 07/07/2006
1943 General Stuart M3 A1 light tank 07/07/2006
1944 ¼ ton 4x4 Ford GPA amphibious jeep 07/07/2006
c1960 Centurion tank 20 pound gun 07/07/2006
c1960 Centurion tank 07/07/2006
1944 Bedford twin six twelve cylinder petrol engine for Churchill tank 07/07/2006
1942 Ford truck, 3 ton, breakdown 25/08/2006
1944 Indian Chief motorcycle 1200cc 25/08/2006
Rainforest shield, North Queensland 20/12/2006
Painting c1960 Kunapipi Sacred Ceremony by Samuel Wagbara 04/12/2006
Painting c1962 Shellfish attributed to Gulwarr 14/02/2007
Appendix 2—Permits issued in 2006–07 (continued)
Permanent export permits—description Finalised
Painting c1960 Untitled (spirit figures), artist unknown 15/12/2006
Painting c1950s Nulgoorook and Wife by Mandidja 04/12/2006
Painting c1950s Two Figures, artist unknown 14/12/2006
A fragment of an ordinary chondritic meteorite and a fragment of a mesosiderite

22/12/2006
meteorite
Foden double-crank compound steam traction engine c1908 02/04/2007
Parts of a Foden double-crank compound steam traction engine c1908 02/04/2007
Australian Cruiser tank Mk 1 (AC1) ‘Sentinel’ 03/01/2007
Painting 1971 Bush Tucker Story by Old Walter Tjamptjinpa 07/05/2007
Painting Untitled Spirit Figure c.1900 unknown artist (Western Arnhem Land) 16/05/2007
Temporary export permits—description Finalised
Stamps: postage rates of Victoria—128 pages for exhibition 13/09/2006
Stamp collection of NSW: Sydney views, laureates and diadems 13/09/2006
1854–1912 postal rates of Victoria 16/10/2006
1914–1936 Australian airmail covers 16/10/2006
1851–1933 trade exhibitions (documentation on Australian postal history) 16/10/2006
Movable heritage
Sketchbook of water colours and pencil sketches dated between 1835 and 1836,
31/10/2006
George Frederick Dashwood
Sketchbook Number II: Madeira, 1833 by Conrad Martens

31/10/2006
Beagle sketchbook IV, 1834 by Conrad Martens
1914 Hotchkiss fire engine 22/12/2006
18 philatelic items in the Arthur W Gray collection of kangaroo and map series
16/02/2007
stamps
1925 Leyland F6 steam lorry 02/04/2007
1970 yacht Gretel 11 04/05/2007
23 Indigenous artworks for temporary exhibition overseas prior to auction 07/05/2007
Certificates of exemption—description Finalised
35 objects of Ashes cricket memorabilia from the Marylebone Cricket Club, Lord’s
27/09/2006
Cricket Ground for a travelling exhibition
Racing car Type BT4 Climax used by Jack Brabham to win the 1963 Australian
09/11/2006
Grand Prix
Watercolour painting on paper, c.1952 by Albert Namatjira 02/04/2007
Painting Yipa Story, 1981, by Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula 18/06/2007
133
Water efficiency
135
Operation of the Water Efficiency Labelling
and Standards Act 2005
This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 75 of the Water
Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005. It covers the operation of the Act
from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
Purpose of the Act

The Commonwealth Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005 was
passed in March 2005 and came into effect on 1 July 2005. The Water Efficiency
Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme is a national regulatory system
administered by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and
Water Resources on behalf of all Australian governments.
The scheme is funded from industry registration fees and contributions from
federal, state and territory governments. Industry must register products that
come under the scope of the scheme with the WELS Regulator (the Secretary of
the Department of the Environment and Water Resources).
Since 1 July 2006 products identified under the WELS scheme must be tested for
their water efficiency and display a water efficiency rating label for sale in Australia.
The products identified under the scheme are:
• showers
• dishwashers
• clothes washing machines
Water efficiency
• lavatory equipment
• tap equipment
• urinal equipment
• flow controllers (registration of flow controllers is optional at this stage).
In early 2007 a minor amendment to the Act came into effect that changed the way
that the WELS Standard (AS/NZ 6400: 2005 Water Efficient Products—Rating and
Labelling) can be called up under a WELS determination. The standard can now
be called up by reference, rather than having to be set out in full as a schedule to
the determination.
Registrations
Since 1 July 2005 the scheme has registered 7,759 products, of which 4,161 were
registered in 2006–07.
Intergovernmental agreement and declarations
In March 2005, Environment Protection and Heritage Council ministers
representing all jurisdictions in Australia signed an agreement which outlined the
roles and responsibilities of jurisdictions for implementing the WELS scheme.
The agreement encouraged each state and territory government to submit
legislation to its parliament to form part of the scheme, in order to ensure that the
scheme applies consistently to all persons, things and activities within Australia. By
30 June 2006 the corresponding legislation of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania
and the Australian Capital Territory had been declared. The corresponding
legislation of the remaining jurisdictions was declared in 2006–07, with the process
completed in April 2007.
Determinations and standards

In 2006–07 the department facilitated a number of amendments to the WELS
Standard (AS/NZ 6400: 2005 Water Efficient Products—Rating and Labelling). The
amendments were finalised through the Standards Australia committee process in
February 2007. The amendments:
• clarify that only those performance requirements of supporting product
standards that relate to water efficiency are called up under the Water
Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005
• more clearly articulate the labelling requirements for plumbing products
• clarify the term ‘offer for retail sale’
• clarify when the scheme commenced and when product registrations are to occur.
Water effficiency
Communication
During 2006–07 the department’s Community Information Unit received 1,400
telephone calls requesting information about WELS. Many of the calls were from
suppliers seeking information about their obligations under the scheme. WELS
staff provided individual assistance, particularly giving guidance on product
registrations. The online registration system was improved to make the process
easier for applicants.
The department also remodelled the WELS website to make it easier to navigate.
As the department receives many enquiries about the availability of rebates
on WELS products, and these are not the domain of WELS, the Water Services
Association of Australia was contracted to develop a list of rebating authorities.
This list is now available via a link from the WELS website.
137
Compliance activities
The department worked with industry to ensure they were in compliance
with the requirements of the WELS scheme after the 1 July 2006 mandatory
commencement date. It focused on informing suppliers of their obligations and
assisting them to become WELS compliant, particularly in the lead-up to the end of
the grace period for unlabelled plumbing products on 31 December 2006.
The department acted in response to allegations made to the WELS Regulator or
through self-reporting. WELS inspectors also undertook inspections and follow-up
monitoring in several states and the Australian Capital Territory.
The department prioritised and assessed all allegations for possible action in
accordance with its compliance and enforcement policy. Compliance management
agreements have been finalised and implemented with several companies. These
agreements require that the company concerned takes specific action to rectify
errors or otherwise comply with the requirements of the scheme.
Further development of the WELS scheme

In November 2006 the Environment Protection and Heritage Council agreed to a
long-term programme of work to examine the possible introduction of minimum
performance standards for clothes washing machines, showers and urinals, and
to raise the minimum standard for toilets; and to explore the possible inclusion of
other water using products in the scheme.
Water efficiency
Index
141
A Approvals and Wildlife Division, 5, 6
aquaculture, 38
Aboriginal Australians, see Indigenous
Australians/communities ARAZPA, 37
accredited state/territory assessments, 11, 57, 62, Argentina, 126
65, 67–8 Arnhem Land, 31
matters of national environmental arrowhead, 128
significance, 9 artificial propagation programmes, 38
activity category, referrals by, 60 artworks and artefacts, 126, 127, 128–9
Acts, see legislation Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve, 13
Additional Estimates, 126 Asian elephants, 37
Adélie penguins, 31 Asmat skull, 126
Administrative Appeals Tribunal, 55 assessment and approval process, 14–21
Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) heritage, 39
Act 1977, 55 threatened species and ecological
advice on authorising actions, 10–11, 63 communities, 29–30
advisory committees, 25–7, 74–7 assessment reports, 57
fuel quality, 85, 87
late, 78
movable heritage, 130–1
assessments, 16–17, 62, 65–70, 78
oil product stewardship, 113, 121
cetacean permits, 72
see also Threatened Species Scientific
Commonwealth land/actions involved, 10
Committee
fisheries, 20, 72
agriculture, 25
land clearing, 53 heritage, 42, 44
air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, movable heritage export applications, 127, 132
103, 104, 105, 107 national environment significance matters, 9
aircraft, 127 assisted reproductive technologies, 37
airports, 63 audit programmes, 17, 48–9
Alice Springs, 120 Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement
ambassador agreements, 37 and Regulation Network, 48
Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands, 120 Australasian Regional Association of Zoological
Another Fight, 126 Parks and Aquaria, 37
Antarctica, 7, 54 Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
ozone layer, 102 Association, 21
permits issued, 31 Australian Antarctic Division, 28, 34
referrals and referral decisions, 59 permits issued by, 31
ants, tramp, 34 Australian Antarctic Territory, 7, 54
Anvil Hill Project Watch Association, 54
see also Antarctica
Anzac Cove, 6
Index
Australian Broadcasting Commission, 45

ANZAC Day, 44
Australian Capital Territory, 25
appeals against decisions, 54–5
Commonwealth heritage places, 44, 45–6
Appropriation (Supplementary Measures) Act
Commonwealth land/actions involved in
(No. 2) 1999, 112
proposals, 10–11
approvals, 17, 57, 62, 63–4
Commonwealth land/actions involved, 9 national heritage places, 43
fuel quality, 85, 88–91 referrals and referral decisions, 59
investigations after, 53 hreatened species, 30
by jurisdiction, 59 water efficiency labelling and standards,
late, 78 137, 138
national environmental significance matters, 9 Australian Centre for Applied Marine Mammal
see also permits Research, 28
Australian Customs Service, 45, 51, 110, 114, 126 benefits paid to oil recyclers, 110–13, 116–18
customs tariff levy collections, 115 registration numbers, 114
officers attending wildlife trade training bilateral agreements, 9, 11, 57, 62, 65–6, 68–9
sessions, 38 international, 35, 37
procurement of vessel, 13 Species Information Partnerships, 12
prosecutions by, 54 biodiversity conservation, 28–38, 70–2
Australian Federal Police, 51, 126 climate change impacts, 26
Australian Film Commission, 45 strategic planning, 24–5
Australian Fisheries Management Authority, 32, 53 see also threatened species and ecological
Australian Football League, 44 communities
Australian Fossil Mammal Sites, 41 biofuels, 83–4, 84
Australian Heritage Council, 23, 27, 39, 40, 77 Biofuels Taskforce report, 83, 84
Commonwealth heritage value advice, 45 Biological Diversity Advisory Committee, 26, 75
national heritage assessments, 42 bioregional planning, 7–8, 12–13, 23, 29
Australian Heritage Council Act 2003, 27, 39 biosphere reserves, 46–7
Australian Institute of Petroleum, 82, 120 biplane aircraft, 127
Australian Jockey Club, 127 birds, 31, 33, 34–5, 50
Australian National Audit Office report, 5–6, 50 illegal imports, 51, 53
Australian National Commission for UNESCO, 46 migratory, 31, 35
Australian National Guidelines for Whale and bitumen, 120
Dolphin Watching 2005, 32 Blue Mountains, 12, 41
Australian National University, 45 blue whales, 28, 32
Research School of Humanities, 131 bluegrass, 30
Australian Oil Recyclers Association, 120 Bonney Upwelling, 28, 32
‘Australian protected objects’, 124–5 booby birds, 31
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Booderee National Park, 54, 84
38, 126 Border Ranges region, 33
Australian Refrigeration Council, 104 breeding programmes, 37, 38
Australian sea-lion, 34 Brewarrina Fish Traps, 12
Australian snubfish, 28 Brickendon Estate, 40
‘Australian spirit’ communications theme, 44 Brigalow Belt, 30
Australian Taxation Office, 110, 112, 114 bromochloromethane, 103
Commissioner of Taxation, 113 Brown, Senator Bob, 55
operating expenses, 120 Budgerigar Dreaming, 129
Australian War Memorial, 127 Budget 2007 measures, 5
authorising actions, advice on, 10–11, 63 Bukit Tigapuluh Park, 37
aviation, 63 Burrup Peninsula, 23, 42
movable heritage, 127 bycatch, 34–5
Index
B C
Bald Hills Wind Farm, 55 calendar, 44
baleen whales, 28 Canberra, see Australian Capital Territory
bark paintings, 129 Canberra International Airport, 10–11, 30
bark shield, 126 capacity building, 107
Barkley Tablelands, 120 see also education and training
Barton, ACT, 30 Cape Inscription Area, 43
Basel Convention, 94, 95 captive breeding programmes, 37, 38
Batavia Shipwreck Site and Survivor Camps Area carbon tetrachloride, 103
1629, 12, 43 Cardell Shire, 24
beak and feather disease, 34 Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, 39
beluga sturgeon, 6 Cascades Female Factory, 40
143
Caspian Sea beluga sturgeon, 6 conserving biodiversity, see biodiversity
cassowaries, 50 conservation
cats, 34 consultative mechanisms, see advisory committees
Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, 9, 41 controlled actions, 9–11, 14–19, 57–70
Certificate IV in Investigation and Statutory referrals resulting from active compliance
Compliance, 52 intervention, 49–50
certificates of exemption, movable heritage, 130 review of decisions, 54–5
cetaceans, see whales and other cetaceans see also approvals; assessments; referrals
China, 35, 125 controlled substances licences, 103, 104, 106, 107
Chinese medicines, 21 conventions, see international conventions and
chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs), 103, 105 agreements
Christmas Island, 18, 31, 34, 59 convict sites, 40
chytrid fungus, 34 cooperative conservation programmes, 36, 37
CITES, 6, 22, 35, 36, 37 Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert
civil penalty applications, 54 Ramsar site, 46
climate change, 26, 103 Coral Sea Fishery, 30
clothes washing machines, 138 courts and prosecutions, 6, 52–5
Coal Mines Historic Site, 40 crabbing, 54
‘coastal and maritime heritage’ communications criminal offences provisions, 6, 54
theme, 43 crocodiles, 31
Cockatoo Island Convict Site, 40 CSIRO, 45, 84
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, 33, 54, 59 cultural heritage objects, 124–35
Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve, 47 Customs, see Australian Customs Service
Customs Tariff Amendment (Product
collection infrastructure for recycled oil, 119
Stewardship for Waste Oil) Act 2000, 112
commercial import programmes, 6, 36, 38
Commissioner of Taxation, 113
D
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Dampier Archipelago, 23, 42
referrals, 52, 53 Darlington Precinct, 40
Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities databases, 21, 32, 49, 119
programme, 28 dead specimen collections, 31
Commonwealth heritage, 44–6, 79 Defence Explosive Factory, Maribyrnong, 45
proposals impacting on heritage values, 10 Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Commonwealth land/actions, 10–11, 61 Forestry, 13
Commonwealth marine reserves, 29, 47 Department of Defence, 31
referrals and referral decisions, 59 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 46
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Department of Parliamentary Services, 45–6
Research Organisation, 45, 84 desk, roll top, 126
communication with stakeholders, 21–7, 120, 137 detention of non-citizens, 13
Index
National Heritage List themes, 43–4 Devereux, John, 126

see also publications; workshops and Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal
presentations Corporation, 8
Communities for Communities newsletter, 22 diesel fuel, 82, 90–1
Community Information Unit, 137 biodiesel blend standards, 84
complementary medicine, 21 product stewardship benefits, 111, 118
compliance, see monitoring and compliance diesohol, 83
compliance auditing programme, 48–9 Director of Public Prosecutions referrals, 52, 53
conditions attached to approvals, 17, 57, 62 Dirk Hartog Landing Site 1616, 43
conferences, 48, 95 Djimurrgurr, Nym, 129
see also workshops and presentations documentary film sponsorship, 22
conservation agreements, 38 dolphins, 6, 28, 32
double bass, 126 exotic bird trade, 51, 53
drawings, 126, 127, 128 expenses, see finance
dugongs, 13, 28 Expert Examiners Register, 131
Duyfken voyage, 43 exports and export permits
dwarf kerrawang, 31 hazardous waste, 91, 96, 98–9
Dyak skulls, 126 movable heritage, 124–5, 127–30, 132–3
ozone depleting substances, 103
E sustainable fishery assessments, 20, 72
e-diesel, 83
wildlife, 37
E5 and E10 fuel, 83–4
earless dragons, 30 F
East Asian–Australasian Flyway, 35 farming, see agriculture
east Australian humpback whales, 28 Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries
Eastern ACT Grasslands, 44 (FCAI), 83–4
Echuca Wharf, 41 Federal Court of Australia, 54–5
ecological communities, 30, 53, 70–1
Federal Register of Legislative Instruments, 36
ecologically sustainability reporting, 56
fee income, see finance
Ediacara Fossil Site, 41
feedstock, 105
education and training, 48, 49, 51, 52
feral animals, 34
ACS and AQIS officers, 38
A Fight, 126
see also workshops and presentations
film sponsorship, 22
efficiency labelling, 136–8
finance, 5
egg collection, 31
elephant seals, 31, 34 Australian Customs Service, 13
elephants, 37 hazardous waste fee income, 96
emergency national heritage listings, 42 movable heritage, 126–7, 131
emperor penguins, 31 ozone protection, 104, 106–7
end-use Regulations, 104 Product Stewardship for Oil Programme,
endangered species, see threatened species 110–21
energy generation and supply, 9 water efficiency labelling and standards, 136
enforcement, see monitoring and compliance Financial Management and Accountability Act
engines, 127 1997, 126
Environment Investigations Unit, 50–1 Fire Protection Association of Australia, 104
environment protection, 2–79 fish species, 28, 31, 34
Environment Protection and Heritage Council, 138 see also sharks
environmental impact assessments, 9–11, 14–19, fishing and fisheries, 20, 32, 72
57–70 Brewarrina fish traps, 12
late assessment reports, 78 exemption from use of mandatory turtle
strategic planning, 23–5 exclusion devices, 30
Index
environmental impact statements, 57, 62, 65, 67, 78

listed marine species permits, 31
guidelines finalised, 16
prosecutions, 53, 54
EPBC Act Information Officer, 25
threat abatement planning, 34
essential use licences (section 40 exemptions),
wildlife trade operations, 55
103–7
Flemington Racecourse, 41
ethanol, 83–4
ethics committee, 31 Flinders Island, 55
eucalypts, 30, 31 Flora Fossil Site, Yea, 41
Excise Tariff Amendment (Product Stewardship flora species, see native vegetation
for Waste Oil) Act 2000, 112 Florey, Howard, 6
exemptions, movable heritage certificates, 130 foreign historic places, 6
under section 40 (essential use licences), 103–7 forest products, 6, 22
under section 303A, 35 forestry operations, Tasmania, 54, 55
145
Forestry Tasmania, 55
fossil sites, 41
H
halon, 103
fossils, 126
Halon Bank, 104, 107
Fowler steam traction engine, 127
handfish, 34
foxes, 34
hazardous waste, 94–9
Framework Convention on Climate Change, 103
Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and
Fraser Island, 41
Imports) Act 1989, 94, 95
freedom of information, 55
health impacts of ethanol fuels study, 84
Fremantle Prison, 40
Heard Island and McDonald Islands, 7, 41
freshwater sawfish, 34
heritage management, 11–12, 27, 39–47
frigatebirds, 54
Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve, 13
Fuel Excise Reform, 112
controlling provision for proposed actions, 9
fuel quality, 82–91
Dampier Archipelago, 23
Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000, 82, 85
Fuel Quality Standards Regulations 2001, 82
prosecutions, 54
fuel sampling, 85–6
statutory timeframes, 79
Fuel Standards Consultative Committee, 85, 87
heritage strategies, 45–6
fur seal, 34
High Court–National Gallery Precinct, 45
furniture, 126
High Court of Australia, 46
G Hoodia, 22
Garawarra State Conservation Area, 41 Houtman Abrolhos, 43
gazetted oil, 111, 118 Humane Society International, 54, 55
Genairco biplane aircraft, 127 humpback dolphins, 28
General Aircraft Company, 127 humpback whales, 28, 29
Germany, 37 Hunter Valley, 120
ghaap, 6 Hyde Park Barracks, 40
ghost pipefish, 31 hydrobromofluorocarbons (HBFCs), 103
Glass House Mountains National Landscape, 42 hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), 103, 105,
Glenbrook RAAF Base, 44 106, 107
goats, feral, 34 import phase out date, 102
Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk, 9 hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs), 103, 106, 107
golden sun moth, 30 hydrogeneration plant, 120
gorillas, 37
Government Domain, Parramatta, 40 I
Grampians National Park, 41 identifying and monitoring biodiversity and
grass trees, 35 making bioregional plans, 28–9
Index
grassland earless dragon, 30 illegal activities, 21–2, 51–4, 125–6

grasslands, 30, 44, 53 Implementation Strategy for the East Asian–
Great Barrier Reef, 24, 41 Australasian Flyway Partnership 2007–2011, 34
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 13 imports and import permits
Greater Blue Mountains, 12, 40, 41 hazardous waste, 91, 97, 99
great white shark, 34 lubricant oil, 110, 114
grey nurse shark, 34, 47 movable heritage, 130; illegal, 125–6
growth areas, see residential development ozone depleting substances, 103, 105–6, 107
guidelines, 16 wildlife, 6, 38, 79
in-house expert opinion, 52 incidental catch (bycatch), 34–5
sustainable flora harvesting, 36 income, see finance
Gunns Limited, 54 Indigenous Advisory Committee, 27, 76
Indigenous Australians/communities, 13, 27 Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area, 40, 45
heritage sites, 12 koalas, 37
movable cultural heritage, 126, 128–9 Kokoda Track, 6
waste oil management in remote Korea, 35
communities, 120 kraft pulp mill, Tamar Valley, 54
Indonesia, 37, 126 Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, 41
Indo–Pacific humpback dolphins, 28 Kuranda, 50
industrial oils, 111, 118
insects, 30, 34 L
intergovernmental cooperation, 11–13 labelling, 136–8
recovery planning, 33–4 Lady Elliott Island, 45
water efficiency labelling and standards, 137 Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, 46
whales and other cetaceans, 32 land, Commonwealth, see Commonwealth land/
see also bilateral agreements actions
International Advisory Committee for Biosphere land clearing, 53
Reserves, 47 Lansen, Mr, 54
international capacity building, 107 Laverton RAAF Base, 44
international conferences, 95 legislation, 52
international conventions and agreements fisheries, 53
hazardous waste, 94, 95 fuel quality, 82, 85
migratory species, 35 hazardous waste exports and imports, 94, 95
movable heritage, 124 heritage protection, 27, 39
ozone protection, 102–3, 107 movable heritage, 124, 125, 126
Ramsar, 7, 46 oil product stewardship, 110, 112, 113
wildlife trade, 6, 22, 35, 36, 37 ozone protection, 102, 103, 104
International Coordinating Council of Man and water efficiency, 136, 137
the Biosphere, 47 legislation, amendments to, 4–7
international movement of wildlife, see wildlife Commonwealth marine reserves
trade management, 47
invasive species, 10, 34 criminal offences provisions, 6, 54
inventories, 28 detention of non-citizens, 13
investigations, 51–2, 53 heritage management arrangements, 39, 44
Investors for the Future of Tasmania, 54 stakeholder information sessions, 21
Ipswich Workshops Rail Museum, 131 threatened species and ecological
J communities assessment cycle, 29–30

whale and other cetacean permit
Japan, 35, 37
arrangements, 32, 33
whaling activities, 54
wildlife trade provisions, 36
Index
Jawoyn people, 129

legislative instruments, 6, 36
Johnstone Shire, 24
letters of clearance, 128
K levies
Kakadu National Park, 40, 41 oil product stewardship, 110, 112, 114–15
biodiesel demonstration trial, 84 ozone protection, 106, 107
migratory species permits, 31 Leyland P6 steam lorry, 128
prosecutions, 54 licences for ozone depleting substances, 103–7
weeds management, 10 lighthouses, 10
Kalgoorlie Post Office, 45 Lion, Long and Spectacle Island Nature Reserves, 41
kangaroos, 36, 55 List of Overseas Places of Historic Significance to
key threatening processes, 70 Australia, 6
King Island, 55 listed migratory species, see migratory species
147
listed species and ecological communities, see Measures for a Better Environment package, 110
threatened species and ecological communities medicine, 21
litigation and prosecutions, 6, 52–5 Melbourne Cricket Ground ANZAC Day game, 44
long-finned pilot whale, 28 memoranda of understanding (MOUs), 12
longline fishing, 34–5 Men’s Corroboree Dreaming in a Cave, 129
Long Nature Reserve, 41 Mermaid Reef Marine National Nature Reserve, 54
Lord Howe Island Group, 41 methyl bromide, 103, 105, 106, 107
Lower Gwydir Valley, 119 methyl chloroform, 103
lubricant oil, 110–21 migratory species, 22, 31
controlling provision for proposed actions,
M 9, 18, 61
m-diesel, 83 prosecutions, 54
McArthur River, 54 wildlife conservation plans, 35
McDonald Islands, 7, 41 military heritage, promotion of, 44
Macquarie Island, 7, 40, 41 mining, 14, 54
McRae, Tommy, 126 Christmas Island, 18
Magnetic Island, 24 world heritage values controlling provision
Malaysia, 126 for proposed action, 9
management plans ministerial guidelines, 16
Commonwealth heritage places, 7, 43, 45 Mission Beach development zone, 24
Commonwealth marine reserves, 47 monitoring and compliance, 17, 48–55
national heritage places, 40, 42–3 Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve, 13
Ramsar wetlands, 46 biodiversity, 28–9
wildlife trade, 36, 55 controlled action referrals resulting from, 14
world heritage properties, 12, 39–40 fuel quality, 85–6
managing heritage and protecting significant hazardous waste, 96
areas, see heritage management movable heritage, 125–6
manufacture of ozone depleting substances, 103, Product Stewardship for Oil Programme,
106 114, 121
Mardigan, Charles, 129 water efficiency, 138
Maribyrnong Defence Explosives Factory, 45 see also permits
marine debris, 34 Montreal Protocol, 102–3, 107
research project, 8 Moorool the Dreaming Man, 129
Marine Division, 51 Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, 43
marine environment, 61 moths, 30
bioregional planning, 7–8, 12–13, 23, 29 motor vehicles, 128
controlling provision for proposed actions, 9 fuel standards, 82–91
reserves and protected areas, 29, 47; referrals Mount Lofty–Murray-Darling Basin region, 34
and referral decisions, 59
Index

see also fishing and fisheries multiple consignment permits, 20
marine mammals survey, 28–9 multiple species recovery plans, 34, 71
Marine Operations Team, 51 Murrinh-patha people, 129
marine species, 22, 31–3, 34, 51 Museum Victoria, 126
sustainable harvest, 13 musical instruments, 126
see also fish species; turtles; whales
‘maritime heritage’ communications theme, 43 N
market development, 120 Naracoorte Fossil Mammal Sites, 41
Martens, Conrad, 128 Nathalia and District Historical Society, 127
matters of national environmental significance, National Archives of Australia, 44
9–10, 23–5, 50, 61 National Capital Authority, 45
Mawson’s Huts Historic Site, 7 National Cultural Heritage Account, 126–7
National Cultural Heritage Committee, 130–1 Newcastle, 10
National Cultural Heritage Control List, 124–5 NFF, 25
national environmental significance matters, Nilpena, 41
9–10, 23–5, 51, 61 Nobbys Lighthouse redevelopment, 10
National Farmers’ Federation, 25 non-citizens, detention of, 13
National Gallery of Australia, 45, 46 Noosa, 47
National Halon Bank, 104, 107 Norfolk Island, 34, 40, 45, 59
national heritage, 41–4, 79 Norfolk Island Museum Trust, 126
controlling provision for proposed actions, 61 North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea
convict sites on, 40 Management Alliance, 8
Dampier Archipelago, 23 North-west Marine Region, 12–13
national heritage system, see heritage management Northern Prawn Trawl Fishery, 31
National Library of Australia, 45 northern river shark, 34
National Museum of Australia, 131 Northern Rivers region, 34
National Partnership Approach for the Northern Territory, 27
Sustainable Harvest of Marine Turtles and bilateral environmental impact assessment
Dugongs in Australia, 13 agreement, 11
National Representative System of Marine Commonwealth land/actions, proposals
Protected Areas, 29 involving, 10
National Strategy for the Conservation of national heritage places, 41
Australia’s Biological Diversity review, 26 oil recycling, 120
native vegetation, 33 referrals and referral decisions, 59
controlling provision for proposed actions, threatened species, 12, 31
10, 18 world heritage properties, 40, 41
ecological communities, 30 Northern Territory Department of Natural
harvesting guidelines, 36 Resources, Environment and the Arts, 13
Natural Heritage Trust, 28, 29 Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service, 8
Natural Resource Management Ministerial not-controlled actions, 14–15, 59–60
Council, 32 nuclear activities, 61
Nature Conservation Council of NSW, 55
New South Wales, 25 O
bilateral environmental impact assessment Ocean Trap and Line Fishery, 55
agreement, 11 Office of Australian War Graves, 46
Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-
Reserve, 47 General, 45
Commonwealth heritage nomination, 44 offshore seismic impacts on whales, 19, 28
Commonwealth land/actions involved in oil recycling, 110–21
proposals, 10 Oil Stewardship Advisory Council, 113, 121
fisheries assessments, 72 Old Government House, Parramatta, 40
Index
growth area strategic planning, 24–5 Old Great North Road, 40

national heritage places, 41 Old Parliament House, 43, 45
oil recycling, 119, 120 Old Parliament House Gardens, 45
referrals and referral decisions, 59 olefin standard, 82
threatened species, 31, 33, 34 operating expenses, see finance
water efficiency labelling and standards, 137 optical fibre cable installation, 10
wildlife trade operations, 36, 55 orang-utan, 37
world heritage properties, 12, 39, 40, 41 Orbital Australia, 83–4
New South Wales Department of outposted officers, 50
Environment and Climate Change, 24–5 overseas historic places, 6
New South Wales Ocean Trap and Line Fishery, 55 oxy-diesel, 83
New Zealand Wildlife Enforcement Group, 52 ozone protection, 102–7
149
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse pigs, feral, 34
Gas (Import Levy) Act 1995, 106 pilot whale, 28
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse pipefish, 31
Gas Management Act 1989, 102 plants, 6, 22
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas see also native vegetation
Management Regulations 1995, 104, 105 Point Nepean Community Trust, 43
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Point Nepean Defence Sites and Quarantine
Gas (Manufacture Levy) Act 1995, 106 Station Area, 43
Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Policy Statement on the Interaction between
(SGG) Account, 104, 106–7 Offshore Seismic Exploration and Whales, 19
Port Arthur, 40
P Portugal, 37
Pacific Island countries, 107 post referral verification, see monitoring and
paintings, 128–9 compliance
Papua New Guinea, 6 Powerhouse Museum, 126–7
Papunya Tula art, 128–9 pre-charged equipment/equipment licences,
Parks and Wildlife Service Northern Territory, 8 103–7
Parks Australia Division, 31, 45 preliminary documentation, assessments by, 57,
Parks Australia North, 10 62, 65, 66–7
Parks Victoria, 43 late assessment reports, 78
Parramatta, 40 recommendation reports completed, 70
parrot beak and feather disease, 34 presentations, see workshops and presentations
Part 3 protected matters, 9 Product Grants and Benefits Administration Act
Part 13, see threatened species and ecological 2000, 112
communities Product Stewardship for Oil Programme, 110–21
Part 13A, see wildlife trade Product Stewardship (Oil) Act 2000, 110, 112, 113
Part 15, see heritage management Product Stewardship (Oil) (Consequential
particular manner decisions, 14–15, 59 Amendment) Act 2000, 112
penalties, 54 Product Stewardship (Oil) Regulations 2000, 112
penguins, 31 prosecutions and litigation, 6, 52–5
People’s Republic of China, 35, 126 protected areas, see heritage management
perfluorocarbon (PFCs), 103, 106 protecting environment and heritage, 9–27, 57–70
permanent export permits, moveable heritage, protecting species and ecological communities,
128, 132–3 29–35
permits Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act
hazardous waste, 95, 96–9 1986, 124, 125, 126, 131
movable heritage, 125, 127–30, 132–3 public awareness, see stakeholder awareness
ozone depleting substance licences, 103–7 public environment reports, 57, 62, 65, 67
threatened species and ecological guidelines, 16
Index
communities, 30–1 late assessment reports, 78

whales and other cetaceans, 32–3, 72 publications, 73
wildlife trade and programmes, 20–1, 36–8 Australian Heritage Council report of
personal accompanied baggage permits, 37 operations, 27
Perth General Post Office, 45 fuel quality, 83
Perth Zoo, 37 hazardous waste exports and imports, 96
pests, 34 National Heritage List ‘Australian spirit’
petrol, 82, 88–90, 91 communications theme, 44
ethanol blend, 83–4 State of the Environment report, 56
PFCs, 103, 106 threatened species and ecological
phosphate mining, Christmas Island, 18 communities, 22
photographic exhibition, 44 whale and dolphin watching guidelines, 32
Phytophthora cinnamomi, 34 wildlife harvesting, 36
pulp mill, Tamar Valley, 54 Regulations, see legislation
Pulu Keeling National Park, 31 remote communities, 120
Purnululu National Park, 40, 41 reporting, 56
reptiles, 31
Q smuggling of exotic, 52
Qantas, 44 Republic of Korea, 35
Quarantine Station, Point Nepean, 43 residential development, 14, 49
Queensland, 25 investigations and prosecution referrals, 53
Commonwealth heritage places, 45 strategic state and local planning, 24–5
environmental impact assessments, 14 revenue, see finance
fisheries assessments, 72 review of decisions, 54–5
national heritage places, 41, 42 Richmond Bridge, 43
Noosa biosphere reserve nomination, 46 right whales, 28
referrals and referral decisions, 50, 59 Rippon Lea House and Garden, 41
strategic regional planning pilot, 24 risk assessment of Act administration, 50
threatened species, 31, 32, 33 Riversleigh Australian Fossil Mammal Sites, 41
world heritage properties, 12, 41 road bitumen, 120
Queensland Department of Primary Industries rodents, exotic, 34
and Fisheries, 32 roll top desk, 126
Queensland Environment Protection Agency, 13 root-rot disease, 34
Queensland Museum, 131 Royal Australian Air Force bases, 31, 44
R Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, 39
Royal National Park and Garawarra State
RAAF bases, 31, 44
Conservation Area, 41
rabbits, 34
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
rainforests, 18
ramin timber, 6, 22 Animals (RSPCA), 37
Ramsar wetlands, 7, 9, 46, 61
re-refined base oil, 111, 118
S
Sanders, WJ, 127
reasons, statement of, 16, 78
Sarawak Museum, 126
Recherche Bay North-east Peninsula, 43
sawfish, 34
recommendation reports, 70
scalefish, 55
reconsiderations of decisions, 14, 16, 58
sea dragons, 31
recovery planning, 6, 33, 71
sea horse, 31
recycling oil, 110–21
red-footed boobies, 54 sea lions, 34
referrals, 14–16, 57–60, 78 sea snakes, 31
to DPP, 52, 53 sea turtles, see turtles
resulting from active compliance seabirds, see birds
intervention, 49–50 seals, 28, 31, 34
Index
refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, section 40 exemptions (ozone depleting essential
103, 104, 105, 107 use licences), 103–7
refusals, 18 section 160 advice, 10–11, 63
commercial import programme, 38 section 284 report, 33–5
hazardous waste applications, 99 section 298 report, 35
movable heritage export permits, 128–9 section 303A exemptions, 35
regional and local planning, 7–8, 12–13, 23–5, 29 section 516A reporting, 56
threatened species recovery pilot projects, 33–4 section 518 report, 78–9
Regional Natural Heritage Programme, 37 sedge rich Eucalyptus camphora swamp
Register of Expert Examiners, 131 community, 30
registration, oil recyclers, 114 seismic impacts on whales, 19, 28
water efficiency (WELS) equipment, 136 seizures, 22, 53, 96, 125
151
seminars, see workshops and presentations steam traction engines, 127
Shark Bay, 40, 41 Stirling Range National Park, 42
sharks, 22, 34, 47 strategic planning, 23–5
wildlife trade operations, 55 Streeton, Arthur, 127
shield, 126 stringed musical instruments, 126
showers, 138 sulfur levels in fuel, 82
sketchbooks, 127, 128 Sumatra Orang-utan Conservation Project, 37
skulls, 126 surveys, see monitoring and compliance
snubfin, 28 sustainable fisheries assessments, 20, 72
South African ghaap, 6 sustainable wildlife industries, 36
South Australia, 25 Sydney Cup, 127
bilateral environmental impact assessment Sydney Harbour Bridge, 41
agreement, 11 Sydney Opera House, 39
fisheries assessments, 72 synthetic greenhouse gas replacements, 102–7
national heritage places, 41
oil recycling, 120 T
Ramsar wetlands, 46 Tamar Valley, 54
referrals and referral decisions, 59 Tasmania, 25
threatened species, 12, 32, 34 Commonwealth heritage places, 44
world heritage properties, 41 fisheries assessments, 72
South Australian Museum, 126 forestry operations, 54, 55
South-east Commonwealth Marine Network, 47 national heritage places, 41, 43
South Korea, 35 referrals and referral decisions, 59
South Pacific countries, 107 threatened species, 28, 33; listing decisions
South-west Marine Region, 7–8, 12 agreement, 12
Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark water efficiency labelling and standards, 137
Fishery, 55 wildlife trade management plans, 36, 55
southern cassowary, 50 world heritage properties, 40, 41
southern elephant seal, 34 Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and
southern right whales, 28, 29 Water, 15
Southern Swan Coastal Plain, 24 Tasmanian devils, 15
speartooth shark, 34 Tasmanian Seamounts, 44
species and communities, see threatened species Tasmanian Wilderness, 12, 41
and ecological communities taxonomy, 26
Species Information Partnerships, 12 technology development, 120
Spectacle Island Nature Reserve, 41 temporary export permits, moveable heritage,
spiny rice-flower, 53 128, 132
squid, 54 terrestrial threatened species recovery plans, 33–4
stakeholder awareness, 21–7, 119, 137 Thailand, 37
see also publications; websites; workshops The Thin Green Line, 22
and presentations threat abatement planning, 34–5
Index
stamps, 128 threatened species and ecological communities,

State of the Environment report, 56 22, 26, 28–38, 70–1
state/territory assessments, see accredited state/ Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine
territory assessments; bilateral agreements Reserve declaration, 47
statements of reasons, 16, 78 controlling provision for proposed actions,
statutory timeframes, 78–9 9, 18, 24, 50, 61
approvals, 17
investigations and prosecution referrals, 53
assessments, 16–17, 78
matters to be addressed in relation to ANAO
hazardous waste exports and imports, 95
report recommendations, 5–6
referrals, 14, 78
not-controlled actions affecting, 15
threatened species and communities, 29–30,
Species Information Partnerships, 12
70, 79 statutory timeframes, 29–30, 70, 79
Threatened Species Scientific Committee, 22, 26, 74 United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 52
nominations on which advice provided to Untitled (ceremony), 129
minister, 30, 70 urinals, 138
timeframes, see statutory timeframes used substance licences, 103, 104, 106
Tjakamarra, Anatjari III, 129
Tjampitjinpa, Kaapa, 129 V
Tjampitjinpa, Old Walter, 128 vegetation, see native vegetation
Tjangala, Uta Uta, 128 vehicles, 128
Tjapaltjarri, David Corby, 128–9 fuel standards, 82–91
Victoria, 25
toilets, 138
Bald Hills Wind Farm, 55
Torres Strait, 120
Commonwealth heritage places, 44, 45
arrowhead, 128
compliance investigations, 53
Torres Strait Fishery, 31
fisheries assessments, 72
Torres Strait Islanders, see Indigenous
national heritage places, 41, 43
Australians/communities referrals and referral decisions, 59
Torres Strait Regional Authority, 13 threatened species, 32, 33; listing decisions
tourism, 9 agreement, 12
Townsville City Council, 24 water efficiency labelling and standards, 137
trade world heritage properties, 39, 40
hazardous waste, 94–9 Victorian Department of Primary Industries, 32
ozone protection, 102–7 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the
see also exports and export permits; imports Ozone Layer, 103
and import permits; wildlife trade
training, see education and training W
tramp ants, 34 wallabies, 55
transit permits for hazardous waste, 98 Warabar Island, 120
Transitional Assistance Grants Programme, 119–20 Warrumbungle National Park, 41
Transpacific Industries, 120 washing machines, 138
transparency and public awareness, 21–7 waste, 94–9, 110–21
travelling photographic exhibition, 44 used ozone depleting substances, 103, 104, 106
Water Dreaming, 128
trawling, 30
Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act
treaties, see international conventions and
2005, 136
agreements
water efficiency labelling and standards (WELS),
tree ferns, 35
136–8
Turkey, 6
water management and use sectors, 14
turtles, 22, 34
websites, 21
exemption from use of mandatory exclusion oil stewardship, 120
devices, 30 WELS, 137
marine debris impact study, 8
Index
Weddell seals, 31
sustainable harvest, 13 weeds, 10
weight loss products, 22
U Western Australia, 25
Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park, 41
Commonwealth heritage places, 45
United Kingdom, 6 fisheries assessments, 72
United Nations Educational, Scientific and investigations and prosecution referrals, 53
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 40, 46–7 marine bioregional planning, 12–13
moveable heritage convention, 124 national heritage places, 23, 40, 41, 42, 43
United Nations Environment Programme, 95 referrals and referral decisions, 59
United Nations Framework Convention on strategic regional planning pilot, 24
Climate Change, 103 threatened species, 12, 34
United States, 83 world heritage properties, 40, 41
153
Western Australian Department of Environment Willandra Lakes Region, 40
and Conservation, 13 Williams RAAF Base, 44
Western Australian Marine Science Institution, 13 Williamtown RAAF Base, 31
Wet Tropics of Queensland, 12, 24, 42 wind farms, 55
wetlands, 7, 9, 46, 61 Wokali bark shield, 126
whale shark, 34
wombats, 37
whale watching guidelines, 32
Women’s Dreaming, 128
whales and other cetaceans, 32–3, 72
Woolmers Estate, 40
injunction against Japanese activities, 54
Working on Country programme, 27
international trade provisions, 6
seismic impacts on, 19, 28 workshops and presentations, 23
surveys and monitoring, 28–9 on ecological communities, 30
Wielengta area, 55 movable cultural heritage, 131
Wild Potato Dreaming, 128–9 Workshops Rail Museum, 131
Wilderness Society, 54 world heritage properties, 11–12, 39–40
wildlife conservation plans, 35 controlling provision for proposed actions, 9, 61
Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, 55 Wren Oil, 120
wildlife trade (international movement), 6, 20–2,
35–8 Y
AAT reviews, 7 Yea Flora Fossil Site, 41
investigations and monitoring warrants, 51–2 York Park, 45
prosecutions, 53–4
statutory timeframes, 79 Z
sustainable fishery assessments, 20, 72 zoos and zoo animals, 37
Index

Department of The Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006 - 2007, Part 2

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Legislation annual reports 2006–07

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Environment protection........................................ .......................................................... 1

1. Protecting environment and heritage. .......................................................... 9

2 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

4 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

community, multi-species/multi-community or regional recovery plan

6 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

8 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

1.1 Matters of national environmental significance

1.2 Proposals involving Commonwealth land and/or actions

Advice on authorising actions

10 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

1.3 Intergovernmental cooperation

Species Information Partnerships

12 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

National Partnership Approach for the Sustainable Harvest of Marine Turtles

Profile of actions referred under the EPBC Act

Meeting statutory timeframes (referrals)

Decision trends—‘particular manner’ decisions

14 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Case study: Capture of juvenile Tasmanian devils for conservation purposes

Assessment of controlled actions

Meeting statutory timeframes (assessments)

16 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Meeting statutory timeframes (approvals)

Post referral and approval verification, monitoring and auditing

A proposal to extend phosphate mining on Christmas Island required

the environment. Christmas Island is home to 16 threatened and migratory

18 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Commonwealth-managed fisheries and all state and territory fisheries with an

20 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

number of permits (including multiple consignment)

1.5 Transparency and public awareness

to the African Kalahari Desert). Approximately 30 per cent of all seizure notices

Listed threatened species and ecological communities

Migratory and marine biodiversity

22 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Presentations and workshops

Strategic assessments and regional planning

Strategic state and local planning

24 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

National Farmers’ Federation EPBC Act Information Officer

Biological Diversity Advisory Committee

26 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Australian Heritage Council

Inventories of listed threatened species etc. on Commonwealth land (section 172)

Surveys of cetaceans, listed threatened species etc. in Commonwealth marine

28 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Bioregional plans (section 176)

2.2 Protecting species and ecological communities

Permits for listed threatened species and ecological communities

30 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Permits for migratory species

Permits for whales and other cetaceans

32 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Recovery plans and threat abatement plans (section 284 report)

recovering habitat through fencing and revegetation, on-ground surveys and

Threat abatement planning

34 Department of the Environment and Water Resources Annual Report 2006–07

Exemptions under section 303A

to the African Kalahari Desert). Approximately 30 per cent of all seizure notices