Approvals, Compliance & Reporting

Navigate the regulatory environment. Protect your licence to operate.

The environmental approvals and compliance landscape in Australia is a complex regulatory environment.

Australia’s environmental approval pathways are notoriously multi-layered and fragmented, requiring proponents to navigate overlapping Federal, State, and local jurisdictions. The complexity stems from the interaction between the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and individual state environment, mining, planning, native vegetation, and heritage laws.

RED OHMS Group provides environmental approvals, compliance and reporting services to take the complexity out of this landscape for our clients. Our team brings direct experience with national approval and licensing pathways – including Works Approvals and operating licences under Part V, the regulator water licensing under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act. We understand how these processes work, how long they take and what it takes to secure an approval that you can operate under with confidence.

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Capabilities

We perform independent and internal reviews of compliance with environmental approval conditions, licence obligations and regulatory requirements. These reviews identify any non-conformances, provdie root cause analysis and corrective action planning – designed to give operators early visibility of compliance issues before they become regulatory incidents.

Australia’s environmental compliance reporting requirements span federal, state, and territory jurisdictions, enforced by bodies like the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. Key frameworks involve corporate emissions, climate risks, and pollution tracking.

We support your environmental reporting obligations including:

Mandatory Climate-Related Disclosures: Under the Corporations Act 2001 and Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards, large businesses and financial institutions must annually disclose their climate risks, financial impacts, and transition plans. These sustainability reports form part of your statutory annual reporting.
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER): If your business meets specific energy or emissions thresholds, you must register and report annually on your greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption under the NGER Scheme.
National Pollutant Inventory (NPI): Facilities that exceed threshold limits for any of the 93 listed toxic substances must submit an annual emissions and transfers report.
Environmental Protection Act: Your activities may require specific licenses, permits, or transitional programs with localized environmental reporting conditions
EPBC Act Requirements: If your business impacts matters of national environmental significance, specific monitoring and approval conditions apply under the EPBC Act.

Understanding exact obligations requires matching your industry to the right jurisdiction.

We provide dedicated project management of complex, multi-agency approval processes, including programme development, stakeholder engagement coordination, document preparation management, regulator liaison and tracking of approval conditions through to implementation. This ensures the approval process is managed proactively and that timeframes and quality standards are met.

FAQs

The fundamental trigger for requiring environmental assessment is whether a proposed project is likely to have a “significant effect on the environment”. This initial determination is a crucial first step for any business embarking on a new project or expanding an existing one. RED OHMS GROUP is your experienced and trusted partner in navigating this complex pathway to approval.

A works approval under Part V of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 is required before constructing, modifying, or decommissioning a prescribed premise – a facility that the legislation identifies as having significant pollution potential. Most mining processing operations and many other industrial facilities are prescribed premises. Works approvals are issued by the regulator and specify the conditions under which the construction work may proceed. Operating the facility thereafter requires a licence. RED OHMS manages works approval applications including preparation of supporting technical documentation, fee payment and regulator liaison.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is the primary Commonwealth environmental law in Australia. It requires referral of actions likely to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance (MNES) – including threatened species and ecological communities, migratory species, Ramsar wetlands, Commonwealth marine areas and World Heritage properties. Where a project may affect MNES, a referral to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is required. RED OHMS assists with EPBC referrals, flora and fauna surveys and the preparation of management plans addressing MNES impacts.