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We carry out environmental impact assessments under Parts 7 – 9 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
On 25 June 2020, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) tabled a performance audit report in Parliament. The report made 8 recommendations on our administration of controlled actions under EPBC Act, including:
We agreed to implement all 8 audit recommendations.
A copy of our response is available at Department response to ANAO Performance Audit: Referrals, Assessments and Approvals of Controlled Actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
We have made substantial progress in meeting the recommendations outlined in the ANAO audit report.
Six recommendations have been closed (Recommendations 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7).
Recommendation 1 has been completed and is awaiting closure through our departmental audit committee.
Substantial progress has been made on Recommendation 8. This recommendation is expected to be closed through our departmental audit committee by mid-2024.
Recommendation 1: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment develop and implement a plan to collect and use regulatory information, and address gaps and limitations in information management, to better enable information to be used to inform regulatory strategy and decision-making.
All measures are now in place.
In early 2022, we finalised the Compliance and Regulatory Information Strategy. This was in partnership with our strategic partners. We developed an implementation plan and roadmap. A Data Steward has also been established to drive implementation. Leveraging departmental guidelines, they will develop the data governance and collection framework. This will ensure our data is consistent and reliable. We established a mature foundation, enabling key tools for capability uplift. We also integrated compliance data, tools and capability into state-of-the-art analytical and automated activities in 2023. This is in collaboration with the Data Analytics Office (now Environment Information Australia).
Recommendation 2: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment conduct an up-to-date risk assessment of non-compliance across its environmental regulatory regimes and develop and implement arrangements to prioritise its strategic compliance assessments.
All measures are now in place.
In May 2021, consultants delivered the Environmental Compliance Regulatory Risk Review (McNally Review). In response, we initiated a comprehensive regulatory reform agenda. This included the establishment of the Environment Compliance Executive Board. The board has oversight of the reform agenda.
In late 2021, we engaged experts to build a Case Categorisation and Prioritisation Model (CCPM). This was to ensure correct compliance risk allocation and prioritisation across regulatory schemes. The new case management IT system also supported this. In early 2022, the experts provided training and guidance on the implementation of the CCPM. This training included delivery of the CCPM Assessment template and work instruction for undertaking assessments. There was also mentoring support to establish and operationalise the Operational Coordination Committee (OCC). Established in January 2022, the OCC has oversight over all responses to non-compliance. The OCC uses the CCPM to guide their decision-making about resource allocation.
Recommendation 3: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment ensure that its oversight of referrals, assessments and approvals is conducted in accordance with procedures, and conflict-of-interest risks are identified and treated.
All measures are now in place.
Since the audit, we have put in place new governance arrangements. These have improved our oversight of referrals, assessments and approvals under the EPBC Act. A new executive board has been set up, which also oversees our strategic reforms.
We moved quickly. Within one month of the release of the audit report, we set up new internal processes. These included:
We are actively managing our conflict-of-interest risks. We are also managing our fraud risks through our Fraud Risk Management and Control Plan.
Recommendation 4: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment establish internal and external performance measures on the effectiveness and efficiency of its regulation of referrals, assessments and approvals.
Recommendation 6: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment establish efficiency indicators to assist in meeting legislative timeframes for referrals, assessments and approvals.
All measures for Recommendations 4 & 6 are now in place.
We have adopted a new Performance Framework for the regulation of environmental approvals under the EPBC Act. This is in line with best-practice approaches to performance reporting.
The framework was prepared in consultation with an external performance reporting expert. It will improve how we measure, monitor and report on our regulatory efficiency and effectiveness over time. This includes environmental outcomes.
Data collection and reporting on the new performance measures commenced in July 2022.
Recommendation 5: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment establish and implement a quality assurance framework to assure itself that its procedural guidance is implemented consistently, and that the quality of decision-making is appropriate.
All measures are now in place.
A new Quality Assurance Framework, prepared by quality assurance experts, is now in place. The framework will provide ongoing confidence in the quality and integrity of decisions made under the EPBC Act.
We have also implemented a range of other measures. These will improve the quality and consistency of decisions, including:
Efficient IT systems and processes are essential for good regulation.
We are continuing to transform environmental assessments and approvals though streamlined processes. We are implementing integrated digital systems and a national, federated biodiversity data repository system. This is for the capture, harmonisation, exchange and sharing of authoritative ecological field survey data. Relevant data includes species observations.
Recommendation 7: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment improve its quality controls to ensure conditions of approval are enforceable, appropriate for monitoring, compliant with internal procedures and aligned with risk to the environment.
All measures are now in place.
We engaged external experts to advise us on best practice regulatory condition setting and monitoring processes. This was to improve the quality of approval conditions made under the EPBC Act.
Following delivery of the expert advice, a new condition setting process for approval conditions has been developed and implemented. We have established a dedicated team to review and comment on draft approval conditions. They also:
Recommendation 8: The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment develop guidance and quality controls to assure itself that pre-commencement conditions of approval are implemented and assessed consistently to protect matters of national environmental significance.
All measures for this recommendation are now in place and approval for closure is expected by mid-2024.
We have integrated compliance and environmental assessments systems to better monitor pre-commencement conditions.
We have improved our procedural guidance for assessing pre-commencement conditions of approval. This includes review and approval of environmental management and offset plans.
We have released the EPBC Act Public Portal Offsets Register. We will continue to publish relevant offset site information in stages.
Further information is available on: Department response to ANAO Performance Audit: Referrals, Assessments and Approvals of Controlled Actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999