National Environment Protection Council Act 1994

1. The parties agree that the collection, maintenance and integration of environmental data will assist in efficient and effective environmental management and monitoring.

2. The development of consistent standards for the description and exchange of all land‑related information will be coordinated and fostered by the Australian Land Information Council in conjunction with Standards Australia and specialist groups where needed.

3. In order to avoid overlap and duplication in the collection and maintenance of all land‑related data, the Australian Land Information Council will facilitate the coordination of intergovernmental arrangements (including appropriate financial arrangements) and provide mechanisms to make the data more accessible across all levels of government and the private sector. Any arrangements entered into will detail the circumstances in which the exchange and ongoing sharing of data is appropriate. The intergovernmental arrangements will be submitted to First Ministers for their approval no later than twelve months after the execution of this Agreement.

4. The collection of data on natural resources should, where possible, be integrated from the outset, in order to avoid the difficulties inherent in collating data collected with different methodologies and in different conditions.

5. The Australian Land Information Council, (through the National Resources Information Centre and the Environmental Resources Information Network where appropriate) will consult with the relevant national co‑ordination bodies and, through its members, with Commonwealth and State jurisdictions, to ensure the development and maintenance of comprehensive directories of natural resource and environmental spatial datasets and to develop and maintain national natural resource data standards.