You will recall that the proposed Springdale development was determined to be a controlled action for impacts on the following matter of national environmental significance (MNES) protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act):
 threatened species and communities (sections 18 and 18A): including the Superb Parrot, Golden Sun Moth and, Striped Legless Lizard.

SSAG’s research has found that both the Commonwealth and NSW governments have guidelines for determining if there is likely to be a significant impact (SI).

The MNES SI Guidelines 1.1. EPBC Act 1999 (Cth):

• A lack of scientific certainty about potential impacts, does not justify the decision of ‘unlikely’.
• It is not enough to have management and mitigation plans, any proposed measures should be well-established and have demonstrated effectiveness. http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/42f84df4-720b-4dcf-b262-48679a3aba58/files/nes-guidelines_1.pdf

NSW Threatened Species Test of Significance Guidelines:

• “… Where detailed information is not available to conclusively determine that there will not be a significant impact on a threatened species or ecological community, or its habitat, then it should be assumed that a significant impact is likely...”
• Key threatening processes (KTP’s) are part of the test of significance.
• “… Design features targeted at minimising impacts on threatened species can only be considered if the measure has been used successfully for the target species in similar situations.…”
• Supporting evidence should be referenced. https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Animals-and-plants/Threatened-species/threatened-species-test-significance-guidelines-170634.pdf

The BDAR and EIS documents make reference to the Commonwealth and/or State SI guidelines but have not complied with the requirements we see above. Nowhere in the BDAR or the EIS is there any evidence to support the claim (BDAR 81 instances, EIS 25 instances) of ‘unlikely‘ to have a significant impact.

This is yet another example of how vague the documentation for the Springdale development is and raises the question of the validity of all the developers documentation.