Kangaroo Island Seaport

514 The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (5 December 2018). With regard to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Important Marine Mammals Areas—the task force will be visiting Australian sites including Kangaroo Island and Smith Bay in 2020. Is the government aware that this task force will be in the area to identify and designate significant sites?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning): I have been advised of the following—

The government is aware that the International Union for Conservation of Nature Important Mammals Area Task Force will be coming to Australia in 2020 to identify areas of interest for consideration as an Important Marine Mammals Area.

The guidelines require the proponent to identify the impacts of the construction and operation of the proposed facility on the marine environment and the marine species and macro algal habitats that use and rely on that environment. The guidelines also require the proponent to undertake detailed risk assessment and identify mitigation measures for such impacts. The Department for Environment and Water were consulted during the preparation of the guidelines.

Additionally, the proposal at Smith Bay also requires assessment and approval under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as the proposed action has been identified as likely to have a significant impact on several matters protected by that act, including the southern right whale.

The guidelines set by the then Development Assessment Commission also includes requirements from the Commonwealth in relation to this matter.

The environmental impact statement prepared by the proponent must address all of these issues.

The draft environmental impact statement underwent an agency adequacy check where it was determined, by the relevant agencies, that extra information was required in the environmental impact statement prior to its release for public consultation.

Following this feedback, the proponent (Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers) has had multiple meetings with the relevant government agencies to discuss the extra information required.

The environmental impact statement has subsequently been amended by the proponent and has been resubmitted to government for a further check. The next step in the process involves determining whether these amendments are satisfactory, and if so, the following step will be the formal release of the document for agency and public consultation.