Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

An applicant for biodiversity certification who is not a planning authority (or who is Local Land Services) is to consult the local council of the area to which the application relates before undertaking public consultation on the application.

The Minister is to consult the Planning Minister before determining an application for biodiversity certification.

The Minister is not to confer biodiversity certification unless—

the applicant for biodiversity certification publishes notice of the application in a newspaper circulating generally throughout the State and on a website approved by the Minister (and specifies in the notice where the application will be exhibited), and

the notice invites the public to make submissions relating to the application before a closing date for submissions specified in the notice (being a date that is not less than 30 days after the date the notice is first published in a newspaper under this section), and

the applicant causes copies of the application to be exhibited on its website and such other places that the Minister requires (until the closing date for submissions), and

the applicant provides a report to the Minister that indicates the applicant’s response to any submissions relating to the application that were received by the applicant before the closing date.

An applicant may vary its application for biodiversity certification as a consequence of any submission received following public notification of the application or for any other reason.

Further public notification of the application, as varied, is not required unless the Minister otherwise directs.

Public notification under this section may be undertaken in conjunction with community consultation on a planning proposal under Part 3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.