The draft permit application assessment reports prepared by GBRMPA’s

ANAO Report No.3 2015–16 Regulation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Permits and Approvals 65 Assessment timeframes for all permit applications

3.28 In relation to routine applications, GBRMPA has not met its assessment

timeframe target for a significant proportion of routine applications, with assessments taking much longer to complete than the target of 60 days. GBRMPA achieved its target timeframe for assessing routine applications 57.4 per cent of the time 413 of the 720 routine applications during the period July 2012 to June 2014. A further 226 routine applications 31.4 per cent required up to 120 days to assess, while the remaining 81 applications 11.2 per cent took between 120 days and around two years to complete. GBRMPA’s assessment timeframes for routine permits to new applicants and current permit holders are provided at Figure 3.1. Figure 3.1: Elapsed days to assess routine applications July 2012 to June 2014 Source: ANAO analysis of GBRMPA information.

3.29 In relation to non-routine applications, GBRMPA required up to 90 days

to complete assessments for 15 of the 63 applications 23.8 per cent, and up to a year to assess a further 28 applications 44.4 per cent. Assessments for the remaining 22 applications required between one and nearly four years to complete with the longest assessment for a new applicant being two years and eight months. 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0- 30 3 1- 60 6 1- 90 91 -1 20 12 1- 15 15 1- 18 18 1- 21 21 1- 24 24 1- 27 27 1- 30 30 1- 33 33 1- 36 36 1- 39 39 1- 42 42 1- 45 45 1- 48 48 1- 51 51 1- 54 54 1- 57 57 1- 60 60 1- 63 63 1- 66 66 1- 69 69 1- 72 72 1- 75 75 1- 78 78 1- 81 N o. of P e rm it A ppl ic a ti ons Elapsed Days Permits to New Applicants Replacement Permits Target assessment timeframe ANAO Report No.3 2015–16 Regulation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Permits and Approvals 66

3.30 The ANAO examined eight routine applications and three non-routine

applications where the assessments required greater than 120 days and one year, respectively, for GBRMPA to complete. While the reasons for some assessment delays were well-documented, the reasons for other assessments delays was not evident from retained documentation. The ANAO found that: • routine applications—the assessment of three of the eight applications were delayed for reasons related to: the applicant being overseas for an extended period; the confirmation of permit details with QPWS and the applicant; and the application being considered in conjunction with the assessment of a separate permit application. Reasons for the delayed assessments for the remaining five applications were not evident from retained records; and • non-routine applications—the assessments for two of the three applications were delayed for reasons related to: the determination of a Commonwealth lease as a precursor to the issuing of the permit; and the extensive consultations involved during the permit assessment and the precursor consideration of the project as a controlled action under the EPBC Act. The assessment for the remaining application remained inactive for six months when the assessing officer was re-assigned to other duties and not replaced, and subsequently for a further three and a half months for reasons not evident from retained documentation. Stakeholder comments on permit application assessments

3.31 As part of the audit, the ANAO sought comment from stakeholders on

GBRMPA’s permit assessment practices. Comments received by the ANAO from permit holders and general stakeholders 75 including industry environmental peak bodies, government agencies and reef research stations consistently identified the lack of timeliness as a major issue—particularly for non-routine applications. By way of example, one permit holder indicated that GBRMPA required two and a half years to process its permit application, by 75 The ANAO received eight responses from permit holders from 152 requests and 17 responses from general stakeholders from 67 requests, as well as two unsolicited responses.