15.3

Progress

50%

25% Complete.

Government approval of policy/process development.

That a SREBA:

  • should be completed within five years from the first grant of exploration approvals; and
  • must be completed prior to the grant of any production approvals.
Target completion date

Stage 3.
To be completed by end December 2022.

Reform area
Safeguarding water and the environment
Project action
Collecting baseline data and informing regional management
Lead agency
Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security

Action item update

Implementation progress

Government accepted this recommendation that Strategic Regional Environment Baseline Assessments (SREBAs) be completed within 5 years of exploration permits first being granted, and completed before additional production approvals are granted.

The Framework for Strategic Regional and Environmental Baseline Assessment: A guide to undertaking a Strategic Regional and Environmental Baseline Assessment (SREBA) in the Northern Territory was released in July 2020 and can be found here PDF (39.7 MB).

Government has determined a SREBA is required for the Beetaloo sub-Basin.  The region-specific Scopes of Work for various baseline studies will be approved by the Minister for the Environment.

The Scopes of Work for the baseline studies in the six broad subject areas of the SREBA for the Beetaloo Sub-basin are currently under development.

Work in the Beetaloo Sub-basin will be undertaken in cooperation with the Commonwealth Government's Geological and Bioregional Assessment program, which has already undertaken extensive data collation and analysis in the water and ecology subject matter areas.