On 13 April 2018, a delegate of the Minister for Environment and Energy decided that construction of North East Link is a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act 1999).
North East Link Authority (NELA) will need to prepare a Public Environment Report (PER) to be assessed by the Department of Environment and Energy (DoEE).
The DoEE has advised NELA that the following controlling provisions under the EPBC Act 1999 apply to the PER:
- Listed threatened species and communities
- Listed migratory species
- Environment on Commonwealth lands
The DoEE will shortly issue guidelines so that NELA can commence preparation of a draft PER.
The public will have an opportunity to provide comment once the draft PER has been prepared.
More information about North East Link's EPBC referral can be found on the DoEE website at http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/publicnoticesreferrals. The referral reference number is 2018/8142.