Part 5Reporting requirements

Part 5—Reporting requirements 26—Annual licence report (1) Pursuant to section 46(1) of the Act, the licensee must, within 2 months after the end of each anniversary of the grant of a licence, provide to the Minister, in a manner and form determined by the Minister, a report for the relevant licence year on authorised operations (an annual licence report). (2) An annual licence report must include the following: (a) a summary of the authorised operations undertaken during the relevant licence year; (b) a report for the relevant licence year on compliance with the Act, the licence and any relevant statement of environmental objectives; (c) a report for the relevant licence year on the licensee's performance under the work program applying in relation to the licence; (d) a statement concerning any action to rectify non‑compliance with obligations imposed by the Act or the licence, and to minimise the likelihood of the recurrence of any such non‑compliance; (e) a summary of any system audits undertaken during the relevant licence year, including information on any failure or deficiency identified by the audit and any corrective action that has been, or will be, taken; (f) a summary of the work undertaken to monitor the effectiveness of systems during the relevant licence year, including details of auditing, monitoring and review of the effectiveness of controls necessary for compliance with a statement of environmental objectives; (g) a report on any reasonably foreseeable threats (other than threats previously reported on) that reasonably present, or may present, a hazard to infrastructure or authorised operations, and a report on any corrective action that has been, or will be, taken; (h) a report on any reasonable concerns reported to the licensee during the relevant licence year by— (i) any owner of land in the licence area; or (ii) members of the public, relating to authorised operations, including details of any action that has been, or will be, taken to address these concerns; (i) a list of all reports and data relevant to the operation of the Act generated by the licensee during the relevant licence year; (j) in relation to any incidents reported to the Minister under the Act during the relevant licence year— (i) an overall assessment and analysis of the incidents, including the identification and analysis of any trends that have emerged; and (ii) an overall assessment of the effectiveness of any action taken to rectify non‑compliance with obligations imposed by the Act or the licence, or to minimise the risk of recurrence of any such non‑compliance; (k) unless the relevant licence year is the last year in which the licence is to remain in force—a statement outlining authorised operations proposed for the ensuing year; (l) the day on which authorised operations are due to be completed (when known); (m) in the case of a hydrogen generation licence—an estimate of the volume of hydrogen and compounds of hydrogen to be generated as a result of authorised operations within the ensuing year (or such other period as determined by the Minister). (3) Subject to subregulation (4), for the purposes of section 46(3) of the Act, an annual licence report may be made publicly available in a manner determined by the Minister. (4) The Minister may, before making an annual licence report available under subregulation (3) and after consulting the licensee who provided the report, take steps to ensure that commercially or culturally sensitive information contained in the report is not publicly disclosed. (5) An appropriate note relating to the availability of a report under subregulation (3) must be included in the register. 27—Half yearly reports (1) Subregulation (2) applies to the holder of— (a) a renewable energy feasibility permit; or (b) a renewable energy licence; or (c) a special enterprise licence. (2) Pursuant to section 46(1) of the Act, the holder of a permit or licence to which this subregulation applies must, within 2 months after the end of each prescribed period, provide to the Minister, in respect of each prescribed period, a renewable energy resource data report. (3) Pursuant to section 46(1) of the Act, the holder of a licence to which this subregulation applies must, within 2 months after the end of each prescribed period, provide a report to the Minister of the daily quantity of hydrogen and compounds of hydrogen generated as a result of authorised operations undertaken within that prescribed period (to be expressed in a manner determined by the Minister). (3a) Subregulation (3) applies to the holder of— (a) a hydrogen generation licence; or (b) a special enterprise licence that authorises the holder of the licence to— (i) construct, install, operate, maintain and decommission a hydrogen generation facility; and (ii) generate hydrogen for a commercial purpose. (4) A report required under this regulation must be provided and expressed in a manner and form determined by the Minister. (5) For the purposes of section 46(3) of the Act— (a) a report required under this regulation must not, during the designated period, be made publicly available; but (b) the Minister may, during the designated period, after consultation with the licensee who provided the report, make the report or information or material in the report, publicly available in an aggregate form. (6) The Minister may, before making a report or information or material in a report available under subregulation (5)(b), and after consulting the licensee who provided the report, take steps to ensure that commercially or culturally sensitive information contained in the report is not publicly disclosed. (7) In this regulation— designated period, in relation to a report, means— (a) the term of the relevant licence or permit (inclusive of any extension or renewal of the relevant licence or permit) to which the report relates; or (b) any continuous period during which the holder of the licence or permit who provided the report (or a person to whom the licence or permit is transferred or assigned) holds any licence or permit under the Act in respect of the same area (either in whole or in part) of land; prescribed period means each period of 6 months after the day on which a permit or licence is granted; renewable energy resource data report means a report of the attributes of a renewable energy resource measured, in a manner determined by the Minister, by the holder of the permit or licence for the relevant renewable energy resource. 28—Requirement to provide report, information or material requested by Minister A report, information or material required to be provided on the written request of the Minister under section 46(1)(b) of the Act must be provided by the licensee within 2 months of the licensee receiving the request. 29—Requirements relating to keeping of reports, information or material (1) For the purposes of section 46(2)(a) and (c) of the Act, a licensee must, during the designated period, keep in electronic form, any report, information or material provided to the Minister in accordance with section 46 of the Act. designated period, in relation to a report, information or material, means— (a) the term of the relevant licence or permit (inclusive of any extension or renewal of the relevant licence or permit) to which the report, information or material relates; or (b) any continuous period during which the holder of the licence or permit who provided the report, information or material (or a person to whom the licence or permit is transferred or assigned) holds any licence or permit under the Act in respect of the same area (either in whole or in part) of land. 29A—Definition of immediately reportable incident and reportable incident (1) Pursuant to paragraph (b) of the definition of immediately reportable incident in section 47(3) of the Act, the following incidents arising from activities conducted under a Schedule 1 licence will be immediately reportable incidents: (a) an incident in which a person is seriously injured or killed; (b) an incident during which an imminent risk to public health or safety arises; (c) disturbance to a site of cultural or heritage significance without the appropriate permits and approvals being held by the licensee; (d) an escape of a chemical, fuel or other potential contaminant to a water body, or to land in a place where it is reasonably likely to enter a water body by seepage or infiltration, or onto land where it is reasonably likely to affect the health of native flora and fauna species; (e) detection of a declared weed, animal or plant pathogen or plant pest species that has been introduced or spread as a direct result of activities; (f) any removal of flora or fauna without the appropriate permit or approval; (g) any event resulting in the activation of emergency response and/or evacuation procedures of an area, the declaration of an emergency or the need for emergency service personnel to attend; (h) an incident that results in significant environmental damage or in which an imminent risk of serious environmental damage arises; (i) an incident that compromises the continuity of hydrogen or renewable energy supply or creates an imminent risk of compromising the continuity of hydrogen or renewable energy supply. (2) Pursuant to paragraph (b) of the definition of reportable incident in section 47(3) of the Act, the following incidents arising from activities conducted under a Schedule 1 licence will be reportable incidents: (a) an escape of a chemical, fuel or other potential contaminant that affects an area that has not been specifically designed to contain such an escape; (b) malfunction or failure of critical plant or equipment that has the potential to cause an immediately reportable incident; (c) an event where an excursion outside a culturally cleared area has occurred or the conditions of a cultural heritage clearance have not been complied with. Schedule 1 licence means a licence granted in accordance with Schedule 1 Part 5 of the Act. 30—Incident reports (1) Pursuant to section 47(1)(a) of the Act, the initial report of an immediately reportable incident must be provided to the Minister in writing and include the following information: (a) the name and business address of the licensee; (b) the name and telephone number of a person who can be contacted about the incident; (c) the time and date of the occurrence of the incident; (d) the place where the incident occurred (using appropriate coordinates or distances from significant topographical features); (e) in a case involving a spillage—the approximate quantity of the spillage; (f) the approximate size of any area affected by the incident (if relevant); (g) the nature and extent of any injury to a person and, if death has occurred, the cause and place of death; (h) the steps that have been taken to control, minimise or address any damage to any area affected by the incident. (2) Pursuant to section 47(1)(b) of the Act, a comprehensive report of an immediately reportable incident must be made in a manner and form determined by the Minister and include the following information: (a) the results of any assessment or investigation of the conditions or circumstances that caused or contributed to the occurrence of the incident, including an assessment of the effectiveness of the design, procedures and management systems that were in place to prevent the incident occurring; (b) the nature and extent of any damage to the environment that occurred as a result of the incident; (c) the steps that have been taken, or are proposed to be taken, to clean up and rehabilitate any area affected by the incident; (d) the steps that have been taken, or are proposed to be taken, to prevent a recurrence of the incident. (3) Pursuant to section 47(2) of the Act, a report on a reportable incident— (a) must be provided on a quarterly basis within 1 month after the end of each quarter; and (b) must be made in a manner and form determined by the Minister and include the following information in relation to each incident to which the report relates: (i) the time and date of the occurrence of the incident and the time and date of its detection; (ii) the place where the incident occurred (using appropriate coordinates or distances from significant topographical features); (iii) in the case of a spillage—the approximate quantity of the spillage; (iv) the approximate size of any area affected by the incident (if relevant); (v) the cause of the incident, including an assessment of the effectiveness of the design, procedures and management systems that were in place to prevent the incident occurring; (vi) the steps that have been taken, or are proposed to be taken, to clean up and rehabilitate any area affected by the incident; (vii) the steps that have been taken, or are proposed to be taken, to prevent a recurrence of the incident. (4) A report under subregulation (2) or (3) must be signed by a person (being either the licensee or a person authorised by the licensee) who has taken reasonable steps to review the report to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in the report. (5) Subject to subregulation (6), information contained in a report made under subregulation (2) or (3) may be made publicly available in a manner determined by the Minister. (6) The Minister may, before making information available under subregulation (5), and after consulting the licensee who provided the information, take steps to ensure that commercially or culturally sensitive information is not publicly disclosed. (7) An appropriate note relating to the availability of a report under subregulation (5) must be included in the register.