Changes to Koala Protection Laws

As of the 12th February 2022 the iconic Koala had its protection upgraded from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’ under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) 1999. Do you know what this means for development?

For smaller developments that are assessed only on a local or state government level this isn’t such a big deal, but for major developments located within known Koala habitat the changes could impact the approval of the project or the conditions of approval. For these major developments that require referral under the EPBC Act on the federal government level, the changes will likely result in greater critique of referral applications and potentially more offset requirements if the development is deemed likely to have a significant impact on the Koala

The new listing doesn’t impact projects approved before the 12th of February 2022 or projects that had referral documentation submitted before this date, but all new major projects will be impacted by the change. If you are unsure whether or not your proposed development may have a significant impact on the Koala, we can determine this for you, discuss the approval process, your obligations under the EPBC Act and the potential outcome of any referral application with you.