**6. Activity notification and application for approval**

The grant of PGE Act petroleum exploration, retention, production and pipeline licences does not provide an automatic entitlement to land access for regulated upstream petroleum operations.

Once an SEO is approved, a licensee can apply for approval to undertake a specific activity that is described within the relevant EIR and SEO. With the activity approval application the licensee provides DMITRE with an Activity Notification (Regulation 20 of the PGE Act) which contains detailed activity information including:


Other agencies with the duty of care for ensuring the objects of the legislation that they administer are met are also consulted early to ensure their requirements are included within

Once an EIR and draft SEO have been prepared and submitted for assessment, DMITRE uses the information provided in the EIR to complete an environmental significance assessment to determine the level of environmental impact of the activity. If prior consultation is not demonstrated, then DMITRE will conduct a broader consultation on the draft documents to ensure stakeholders including landholders and other government departments have been provided with opportunities to raise any issues of concern they may have with the activities as described or the level or accuracy of information provided, prior to SEO approval and well

The significance assessment is conducted based on the information provided in the EIR and in accordance with publicly documented criteria to assess the level of certainty in the predicted impacts, their potential consequences related to the proposed activities and the degree to which these consequences can be managed. The environmental significance criteria include assess‐ ment of the level of stakeholder concern. In cases where the level of stakeholder consultation is not demonstrated or the EIR documents high levels of stakeholder concern then this may indicate deficiencies in stakeholder consultation during the development of the EIR and draft SEO. Where DMITRE's assessment identifies such a deficiency, the determined level of environmental significance may be greater and likely to trigger more extensive stakeholder consultation by DMITRE. This ensures relevant stakeholders are provided with appropriate time for opinions to be considered and represented equitably in advance of SEO and subse‐

The combination of the outcomes of the significance assessment criteria lead to the determi‐ nation of an overall level of environmental impact of the activity as low, medium or high. The level of environmental impact that is assigned to a particular activity in turn determines the consultation that DMITRE undertakes, both on the level assigned, and the content of the EIR and draft SEO documents. These consultation arrangements are outlined within the PGE Act, and within administrative arrangements between DMITRE and its co-regulatory agencies,

Regardless of the determined level of environmental impact, all SEOs and associated EIRs are public documents and can be found on the DMITRE website [8] within the Activity Reports

The grant of PGE Act petroleum exploration, retention, production and pipeline licences does not provide an automatic entitlement to land access for regulated upstream petroleum

the objectives detailed in the SEO.

250 Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing

quent activity approvals.

before the commencement of regulated activities.

which are all available on the DMITRE website [7].

**6. Activity notification and application for approval**

section of the Environmental Register.

operations.

**•** any further information or material as required by DMITRE to ensure that the department has comprehensive information on the proposed activities.

Where MNES are identified, then referral to the Commonwealth Minister for Environment will be made by the licensee or the Department, for assessment and a decision as to whether the activity requires approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conserva‐ tion Act 1999 (EPBC Act) [9]

Licensees can be classified as carrying out activities requiring high or low level official surveillance. The level of official surveillance determines the information that must be provided in the notification, the level of scrutiny that DMITRE applies during review of the notification, and the period of notice prior to the proposed commencement of activities. The PGE Act outlines operator assessment factors (Regulation 16 of the PGE Act) that consider the licensees policies, procedures, management systems and track record to classify the licensee's level of official surveillance.
