Use Case

• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

  Summary 

  The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is the Australian Government's key piece of environmental legislation which commenced 16 July 2000. The EPBC Act enables the Australian Government to join with the states and territories in providing a truly national scheme of environment and heritage protection and biodiversity conservation. The EPBC Act focuses Australian Government interests on the protection of matters of national environmental significance, with the states and territories having responsibility for matters of state and local significance. The EPBC Act affects any group or individual (including companies) whose actions may have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance.

   

  Date 

  Thursday, 16 February, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Department of Environment and Energy

  Benefit Realised 

  The geospatial tools and datasets are key in self-assessment process by the person/s proposing to take the action, and for informing decision making in the department in support of the EPBC Act.

• Environmental Offsets: Department of Environment

  Summary 

  The Department of Environment and Energy administers the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Environmental Offsets Policy October 2012

  ‘Environmental offsets’ are broadly understood to mean actions taken by developers to compensate for the adverse impacts of their developments. The Australian Government is increasingly considering environmental offsets as part of its process of taking a decision on whether to approve proposed actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). 

  Date 

  Thursday, 16 February, 2017

  Information Flow 

  https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/12630bb4-2c10-4c8e-815f-2d7862bf87e7/files/offsets-policy_2.pdf

  Benefit Realised 

  The advantage of using cadastre and property based datasets enables a consistent source of truth for displaying and administering Environmental offsets on a national scale.

• The National Exposure Information System (NEXIS)

  Summary 

  The National Exposure Information System is a unique capability developed by Geoscience Australia to estimate the number, cost and characteristics of the people, buildings and infrastructure potentially impacted by a man-made or natural event.
  http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/hazards/risk-impact/nexis  

  Date 

  Thursday, 16 February, 2017

  Version 

  1.00

  Associated Stakeholder or System 

  Geoscience Australia

  Benefit Realised 

  NEXIS services a number of clients including the insurance sector. This benefit is focusing on the Crisis Coordination Centre.

  Since 2012, GA has been providing spatial support and advice to the Crisis Coordination Centre (CCC) within Emergency Management Australia (EMA) as part of our collaboration with the Attorney-General’s Department.

  A key information requirement identified by EMA was the need to quickly understand what is in an event area. To address this requirement GA designed the Exposure Report which greatly simplifies the interpretation of exposure information for timely emergency response and recovery decision-making.

  The Exposure Report is generated by extracting the relevant attributes from NEXIS such as population and building estimates, agricultural commodities and building costs, and infrastructure counts in the potentially threatened area. This automated process quickly presents the required information in a clear and easily accessible report detailing estimates of what exists in the event area.

  By improving the timeliness and accuracy of information used by the CCC, GA has enhanced the government’s ability to respond to disaster and activate appropriate financial assistance for recovery.