EIS information guideline  Matters of national
environmental significance
This section applies only where the proponent has received confirmation from the Australian Government
Environmental Agency that the project is a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and that it is to be assessed under an EIS accredited under the bilateral
agreement.
Note: The guidance material included here is advanced working drafts developed by the Australian Government
Environmental Agency. When fully developed they will be replaced in this guideline with a link to the appropriate
location on the Australian Government web site.
EIS Guidance for MNES
The EIS needs to enable interested stakeholders and the Commonwealth Minister to understand the environmental
consequences of the proposed development on matters of national environmental significance (MNES).
Identification and discussion of impacts needs to consider the EPBC Act Significant Impact Guidelines, which can
be downloaded from http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/publications/significant-impact-guidelines-11-mattersnational-environmental-significance.
All relevant impacts of the action need to be addressed in the EIS. Proponents must be up-front about relevant
impacts as understating, obfuscating, or ignoring relevant impacts can lead to a longer assessment process,
additional conditions of approval or in extreme cases weaken the legal standing of an approval. The EIS should be
written so that any conclusions reached are substantiated with evidence and rationale, and can be independently
assessed.
Information provided in the EIS must be objective, clear, and succinct, and where appropriate, supported by maps,
plans, diagrams or other descriptive detail. The body of the EIS is to be written in a clear and concise style that is
easily understood by the general reader. Technical jargon should be avoided wherever possible. Cross-referencing
should be used to avoid unnecessary duplication of text.
Information sources and standards
There are multiple policies, guidelines, standards, tools and publications to aid and guide proponents through the
EPBC assessment process. All of these resources are publicly available through the Department of the
Environment’s website, http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/publications:
EPBC Act policy statements
http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/guidelines-policies.html - these policy statements are public policy documents
which provide guidance on the practical application of EPBC Act.
Protected matters search tool
http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/about-us/legislation/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservationact-1999/protected - Use this search tool to generate a report that will help determine whether matters of national
environmental significance or other matters protected by the EPBC Act are likely to occur in the project area of
interest. Any information provided through this facility is indicative only, and local knowledge and information
should also be sought where possible.
Controlling provisions
Specific direction for proponents on dealing with each of the controlling provisions (as relevant to a particular
project) is as follows:
World heritage properties
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world-heritage-list - in preparing their EIS proponents need to
consider:
EIS information guideline  Matters of national environmental significance
 the statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) for the property
 Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention - http://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/
 the Australian World Heritage management principles – available at Schedule 5 of the Environment Protection
and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000
 a management plan for a World Heritage property.
The Department has also developed guidance on understanding what OUV is,
http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/understanding-world-heritage-what-outstanding-universal-value
With respect to development in or near the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area the Department has developed
specific guidance - http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/epbc-act-referral-guidelines-outstanding-universalvalue-great-barrier-reef-world-heritage
National Heritage places
http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/heritage/heritage-places/national-heritage-list in preparing their EIS
proponents need to consider:
the National Heritage values of a National Heritage place
the National Heritage management principles
an agreement to which the Commonwealth is party in relation to a National Heritage place
a plan that has been prepared for the management of a National Heritage place.
Ramsar wetlands
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/wetlands/alphablist.pl - in preparing their EIS proponents need to consider
the impacts to the ecological character of the wetland and Australia’s obligations under the Ramsar Convention.
Information on the ecological character of a Ramsar wetland can be requested at
wetlandsmail@environment.gov.au
Threatened species and endangered communities
In preparing their EIS proponents need to consider:
 Australia’s obligations under:
o the Biodiversity Convention - https://www.cbd.int/convention/text/
o CITES - http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/text.php
 a recovery plan - www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/recovery.html
 threat abatement plan - www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/tap/index.html
 any approved conservation advice for a listed threatened species or ecological community.
Other useful sources of information include:
Species Profile and Threats Database, http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl - The
database is designed to provide information about species and ecological communities listed under the EPBC Act.
Through the database proponents are able to access Recovery Plans, Conservation Advice and Threat abatement
plans; all of which must be considered in the EIS.
Survey Guidelines, http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/policystatements#Survey_Guidelines_for_Nationally_Threatened_Species - Survey guidelines provide advice on survey
techniques for specific threatened species and give guidance on the Department's expectations with regard to
surveys, and should be read in conjunction with the significant impact guidelines.
Offsets, http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/publications/epbc-act-environmental-offsets-policy - in preparing
their EIS proponents need to consider if, after avoidance and mitigation measures are taken, their action will have
residual significant impacts on the environment that require offsetting. Offsets are considered during the
assessment phase of an environmental impact assessment under the EPBC Act and need to be prepared using
the EPBC Act environmental offsets policy.
Migratory Species, http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowmigratory.pl - in preparing their
EIS proponents need to consider Australia’s obligations under whichever of the following conventions and
agreements the species is listed:
 the Bonn Convention
 CAMBA
 JAMBA
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EIS information guideline  Matters of national environmental significance
 (an international agreement approved under subsection 209(4) of the EPBC Act
 http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/what-is-protected/migratory-species.
Protection of water resources from coal seam gas development and large coal mining development,
http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/what-is-protected/water-resources
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