Consultation in the course of preparing an Environment Plan guideline published
NOPSEMA’s Consultation in the course of preparing an Environment Plan guideline has been published following careful consideration of stakeholder feedback. You can read the full feedback submissions on NOPSEMA's Consultation Hub.
In December 2022, NOPSEMA invited stakeholders to provide feedback on the guideline which had been updated to clarify the requirements for consultation under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas (Environment) Regulations 2009 (the regulations) and in consideration of the Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd v Tipakalippa [2022] FCAFC 193 appeal decision (the appeal decision) given by the Full Federal Court of Australia on 2 December 2022.
On 10 December 2022, NOPSEMA held a stakeholder briefing on the guideline and the questions posed to NOPSEMA during the briefing have been considered as feedback. The guideline was also published for a three-month public comment period and NOPSEMA received 16 comprehensive submissions from industry, government, and environmental NGOs in response.
In response to the feedback received, NOPSEMA has made minor updates to the published guideline to ensure the information provided is clear and consistent with the regulations and case law. You can read the
NOPSEMA is progressing a range of activities to address the feedback that was out of the scope of the guideline, regulations, and case law. These activities include hosting additional industry and stakeholder forums in May and June, developing supplementary guidance such as better practice consultation guidance, engaging with stakeholders/relevant persons directly and communicating feedback on policy matters to other relevant Government agencies for consideration.
The Federal Government has announced a three-year review of the regulatory framework and NOPSEMA will share relevant information to support this work.
A summary of the feedback received, how NOPSEMA has considered the feedback and further actions proposed are provided in the Feedback on the NOPSEMA Consultation in the course of preparing an Environment Plan guideline document.
NOPSEMA will offer meetings to those who made submissions to discuss feedback and in the interest of transparency, will be seeking permission from those who provided submissions to publish the submissions in full, alongside the feedback summary.