Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search

Queensland and NSW floods 2022

Visit recovery.gov.au to see what help is available.

Close
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Ministers
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Climate change
    Climate change Driving climate action, science and innovation so we are ready for the future.
    • Climate science and adaptation
    • Australia's climate change strategies
    • Emissions reduction
    • Emissions reporting
    • International commitments
    • Climate Active
    • Climate change publications and data
    • Australia’s National Greenhouse Accounts (Emissions Data)
    Stronger action on climate change

    Stronger action on climate change

    See how the Australian Government is committed to taking more ambitious action on climate change.

    Find out more

  • Energy
    Energy Building a secure and sustainable energy system for all Australians.
    • Energy policy in Australia
    • Energy ministers
    • Renewable energy
    • Energy publications
    • energy.gov.au
    • Energy Rating
    • Commercial Building Disclosure Program
    • Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS)
    • Your Home
    Decorative image

    Australian Energy Employment Report survey

    Share insights to help the energy workforce plan for the future

    Find out more

  • Environment
    Environment Improving stewardship and sustainable management of Australia’s environment.
    • Bushfire recovery
    • Climate change and the environment
    • Biodiversity
    • EPBC Act
    • Environmental information and data
    • International activities
    • Invasive species
    • Land
    • Marine
    • Partnerships
    • Protection
    • Report a breach of environment law
    • Threatened species & ecological communities
    • Waste and recycling
    • Wildlife trade
    Decorative image

    Read our Nature Positive Plan

    Our plan sets out the Australian Government’s commitment to environmental law reform

    Find out more

  • Water
    Water Improving the sustainable management of Australia’s water supply for industry, the environment and communities.
    • Coal, Coal seam gas (CSG) and water
    • Commonwealth Environmental Water Office
    • Water policy and resources
    • Wetlands
    Water matters

    Water Matters

    Keep up with the latest news on the department's work in managing Australia's water resources.

    Read the latest edition here

  • Parks and heritage
    Parks and heritage Managing Australia’s iconic national parks, historic places and living landscapes.
    • Australian Marine Parks
    • Australian National Botanic Gardens
    • Booderee National Park
    • Kakadu National Park
    • Christmas Island National Park
    • National parks
    • Norfolk Island National Park
    • Heritage
    • Pulu Keeling National Park
    • The Great Barrier Reef
    • Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park
    The reef

    Great Barrier Reef

    Australia is protecting and conserving this World Heritage Area.

    Find out more

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Climate change
    • Australia's biological resources
    • National Environmental Science Program (NESP)
    • Our science strategy
    • Australian Biological Resource Study (ABRS)
    • State of the Environment (SoE) reporting
    • Bird and bat banding
    • Supervising Scientist
    Our climate is changing

    Our climate is changing

    Find out more about how climate science helps Australians with the impacts of climate change.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We lead Australia’s response to climate change and sustainable energy use, and protect our environment, heritage and water.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Decorative image

    Juukan Gorge response

    Read the Australian Government's response to the destruction at Juukan Gorge and the recommendations

    Read the response

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Climate Change, Energy, Enviroment and Water

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Environment
  3. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)
  4. EPBC Act publications and resources
  5. Guidance on ‘new or increased impact’ relating to changes to approved management plans under EPBC Act environmental approvals

Sidebar first - EN - EPBC

  • EPBC Act
    • Our role in protecting the environment
      • What is protected?
      • EPBC Act lists
      • Business improvements
      • Our performance
        • Quarterly performance report
          • Response to 2020 ANAO Audit Report
      • Advisory committees
        • Indigenous Advisory Committee
      • Independent reviews
        • Hawke Review 2008
    • EPBC Act reform
    • Protected Matters Search Tool
    • Referral and assessment
      • Shared assessments with states and territories
        • ACT bilateral agreement
        • NSW bilateral agreement
        • NT bilateral agreement
        • Qld bilateral agreement
        • SA bilateral agreement
        • Tas bilateral agreement
        • Vic bilateral agreement
        • WA bilateral agreement
      • Information about your industry
        • Farmers
        • Mining industry
        • Local governments
        • State agencies
        • Indigenous
        • Commonwealth agencies
      • What are significant impacts?
      • Pre-referral meeting
      • Cost recovery
      • Strategic assessments
      • Environmental offsets under the EPBC Act
        • EPBC Act environmental offsets policy
        • Environmental offsets guidance
          • Offset policy principles
          • Offsets mitigation hierarchy
          • Direct and indirect offsets
          • Advanced environmental offsets
          • Offsets assessment guide
      • Register of exemptions
    • Advice for applicants and approval holders
      • Self assessment
      • Pre-referral meeting
      • Referral applications and proposals
      • Decisions on referred actions
      • Actions without approval
      • Community consultation
      • Surveys and data
      • Bushfires and other natural disasters
      • Action management plans
      • Renewable energy projects
      • Fees, exemptions and waivers
      • Decisions on assessment method
      • Approval notices, conditions and making changes after approval
    • Public comment and decisions
    • Compliance and enforcement
      • Compliance audits
      • Audit outcomes
      • Infringement notices
      • Report a breach
      • Advice for approval holders during COVID-19
    • Permits and other regulation
      • Conservation agreements
    • EPBC Act resources

Guidance on ‘new or increased impact’ relating to changes to approved management plans under EPBC Act environmental approvals

2017
Department of the Environment and Energy
Download
Guidance on ‘new or increased impact’ relating to changes to approved management plans under EPBC Act environmental approvals (PDF 913KB)

Introduction

Environmental approvals under Part 9 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) may contain an approval condition which uses the reference ‘new or increased impact’ in relation to revisions to approved management plans. This condition, referred to in this document as the Revised Management Plan condition, allows revised plans to be implemented without approval by the Minister, provided that the proposed changes are unlikely to have a new or increased impact on matters protected under the approval.

The aim of this guidance is to assist approval holders and officers of the Department of the Environment and Energy in determining whether or not a change is likely to have a ‘new or increased impact’ on a protected matter.

Background

Many EPBC Act Part 9 approvals include conditions for management plans, strategies or programs to be implemented, and usually these documents must be submitted for approval by the Minister prior to implementation. For the purposes of this guidance, such documents are referred to collectively as ‘plans’.

From late 2015, the Revised Management Plan condition was included in new approvals where appropriate. The Revised Management Plan condition has also been retrospectively added to many projects with an existing EPBC Act approval through formal variations to conditions.

Comparing plans

In considering whether a revised plan is likely to have a ‘new or increased impact’, a comparison is made between the requirements of the revised plan and the last plan that was formally approved by the Minister. In other words, all deviations (including incremental or cumulative changes) from the last plan formally approved by the Minister must be considered when making a decision on whether there is a new or increased impact. It is the approval holder’s responsibility to implement effective version control for plans.

New or increased impact

A ‘new or increased impact’ includes any direct or indirect increase in the impacts of an action, an increase to the risk of an impact occurring, a reduction to the monitoring or mitigation measures for a protected matter, or a change to the nature or management of an environmental offset.

What is a new impact?

A ‘new impact’ may be caused by a change to an activity or a change to circumstances surrounding the activity, and can include:

  • new activities that may impact on protected matters
  • any change to an activity that creates a new potential impact to a protected matter
  • an impact to a protected matter that was not previously foreseen.

It should be noted that in some cases, a new activity may also require a formal variation to approval conditions (under section 143 of the EPBC Act); or may be beyond the scope of an approved action and therefore require separate EPBC Act approval.

What is an increased impact?

A change to a plan may result in an increase to an existing impact, and can include:

  • an increase in the scale, intensity or duration of impacts
  • an increase in the likelihood or consequences of an impact occurring
  • a change to a measure designed to avoid, mitigate or offset an impact
  • a reduced capacity to identify or measure an impact
  • any other change that increases the risks or uncertainty associated with an impact.

Examples of a new or increased impact

The following changes to a plan would be likely to result in a new or increased impact:

  • changing a plan to address different project stages
  • increasing the amount of habitat for a listed threatened species that will be cleared
  • a change in a measure designed to mitigate the impacts of an action on a RAMSAR wetland
  • a delay to the start of an environmental offset
  • a change in the timing of construction to when a listed migratory species is more likely to be present
  • a reduction in the frequency of monitoring.

What is unlikely to be a new or increased impact?

Changes unlikely to be a new or increased impact include:

  • changes to the structure or layout of a plan or other administrative changes that are unrelated to environmental impacts or risks
  • a change to a plan which does not affect EPBC Act protected matters
  • a clear improvement that avoids, mitigates or offsets environmental impacts.

Who decides whether a revised plan is likely to have a ‘new or increased impact’?

The approval holder decides if a revision to a plan is likely to result in a new or increased impact.

If, after considering this guidance, approval holders are unsure whether a proposed revision to a plan is likely to result in a new or increased impact, they may request advice from the Department.

If the Minister disagrees with the approval holder’s assessment that the revised plan is unlikely to result in a new or increased impact, the Minister may require implementation of the previously approved plan. In order to reduce the likelihood of the Minister making this decision, the approval holder should contact the Department for advice if they have any doubt about whether a change is likely to result in a new or increased impact.

How does an approval holder submit a revised plan to the Department?

All revised plans under the Revised Management Plan condition should be submitted to the Department. When submitting a revised plan, the approval holder should include a document clearly explaining the revisions (including a ‘tracked changes’ version of the plan and/or a table detailing the changes) and the reasons why they believe that the revisions will not have a new or increased impact. Approval holders should be mindful of their obligations under the conditions of the project in terms of whether they are also required to publish the revised version of the plan.

Option to submit a revised plan to the Minister for approval

Nothing in the Revised Management Plan condition prevents an approval holder from submitting a revised management plan to the Minister for formal approval under section 143A of the EPBC Act at any time.

Advice and further Information

Approval holders may request advice relating to the matters described in this document by emailing: post.approvals@environment.gov.au.

  • Environment assessment and approval process
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI
Last updated: 03 October 2021

© Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.