for the endangered Koala (combined populations of Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory)
The Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has released a suite of new guidance material in relation to the Koala (combined populations of Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory) and its endangered status under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
New guidance material in relation to Koala was released on 27 October 2022 and includes the much-anticipated EPBC referral guidance for the endangered Koala, which replaces the prior EPBC Act Referral Guidelines for the vulnerable koala (retracted by DCCEEW for use 12 Feb 2022). The referral guidance is a tool to assist project proponents to evaluate whether a given action triggers referral to DCCEEW for assessment against the EPBC Act.
As part of the guidance, a guide entitled ‘Identifying habitat for the endangered koala’ was released. This guide compliments the ‘Review of koala habitat criteria and survey methods’ publication released earlier this year and intends to assist proponents in identifying koala habitat for the purpose of the EPBC Act; which in turn assists with the application of the referral guidelines to a given action.
In addition to above, two detailed reports have also been published to provide technical guidance to assessment managers and project proponents and are entitled Effects of fire on koalas and their habitat and Revegetating koala habitat.
DCCEEW guidance material in relation to koala can be accessed at:
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/publications/identifying-habitat-for-the-endangered-koala
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/publications/effects-of-fire-on-koalas-and-their-habitat
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/publications/revegetating-koala-habitat
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=85104