Key Point
- All jurisdictions except the ACT and Victoria now have
EPBC bilateral agreements, making assessment processes
clearer.
Last month the Commonwealth and South Australian Governments
signed a bilateral agreement under the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)
(EPBC Act). This means that all jurisdictions except the ACT
and Victoria now have EPBC bilateral agreements. Public
exhibition of a draft bilateral agreement for the ACT has just
concluded, and it may not be long before this agreement is also
signed.
All of the State or Territory bilateral agreements so far
are assessment bilateral agreements, which effectively provide
for the accreditation of a State or Territory assessment
process; they remove the requirement for separate assessment
under the EPBC Act, and allow an approval under the EPBC Act to
be given on the basis of the State
