4.1Assessment of proposals

4.1 Assessment of proposals

Our aim

The potential or likely impacts of proposed actions on park and botanic garden values are properly considered before such actions are approved.

Background

Activities proposed to be undertaken in the park or botanic garden by the Director and external stakeholders must be assessed for their potential impacts on the park and botanic garden values before a decision can be made on whether the activity should go ahead.

Some activities proposed to be undertaken in the park or botanic garden may be ‘controlled actions’ (see Appendix B, Legislative context) and may also require assessment and approval by the Minister under the EPBC Act because they are likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance (such as nationally listed threatened species) or the environment generally in Commonwealth land. The EPBC Act defines the ‘environment’ as including:

.1 (a) ecosystems and their constituent parts, including people and communities;
(b) natural and physical resources;
(c) the qualities and characteristics of locations, places and areas;
(d) heritage values of places; and
(e) the social, economic and cultural aspects of a thing mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).

Proposed actions that do not trigger the EPBC Act assessment and approval provisions may still have impacts that require assessment before a decision can be made on whether the action should go ahead. Proposed actions of a routine nature that are authorised by or under prescriptions and actions in this plan generally do not require impact assessment.

The Director makes decisions on whether or not to approve proposals using the park and botanic garden’s environmental impact assessment process. In doing so the Director seeks the advice of the Norfolk Island National Park Advisory Committee (NINPAC).