Until recently, many instances of permit holder non-compliance mostly

ANAO Report No.3 2015–16 Regulation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Permits and Approvals 17 GBRMPA staff and not recorded centrally for assessment and possible enforcement action. 16 These shortcomings in recording permit non-compliance have adversely impacted on GBRMPA’s ability to develop an informed view of the extent of permit non-compliance and address areas of non-compliance in a timely manner. The limited guidance for investigators when determining appropriate enforcement responses to non-compliance, when coupled with poorly documented reasons for enforcement actions, also makes it difficult for GBRMPA to demonstrate the basis for its enforcement decision-making.

20. GBRMPA has acknowledged weaknesses in its permit assessment and

compliance management processes and practices and has commenced work on a number of initiatives to strengthen existing arrangements. As part of this work, a high-level risk assessment of permitted activities in the Marine Park, which was prepared by GBRMPA in late 2014, indicated that existing controls primarily permit conditions, deeds and bonds, intelligence gathering and analysis, patrols, and other monitoring activities are generally insufficient to detect non-compliance with permit conditions. GBRMPA informed the ANAO that the permit compliance management plan, currently under development, will outline strategies to better address risks to the Marine Park environment from permitted activities and permit holders.

21. To improve GBRMPA’s regulation of Marine Park permits and to

inform the work being undertaken to enhance compliance management practices, the ANAO has made five recommendations to strengthen the: processing of permit applications; rigour of the permit application assessment and decision-making processes; effectiveness of permit conditions; effectiveness of permit compliance monitoring; and response to instances of non-compliance. Key findings by chapter Processing of Permit Applications Chapter 2

22. While GBRMPA has produced a range of guidance materials to

underpin its processing of permit applications, the materials are fragmented and unclear in parts and do not clearly address all relevant requirements. 16 GBRMPA informed the ANAO that it established and implemented new processes for 2014–15 to monitor the receipt of post-approval reporting documentation from permit holders and to record potential non-compliance with post-approval reporting requirements. ANAO Report No.3 2015–16 Regulation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Permits and Approvals 18 GBRMPA should revise and finalise its application processing guidance materials—much of which is currently in draft form or overdue for a review.

23. The arrangements established by GBRMPA to process permit

applications are generally sound, but the extent to which the requirements have been implemented has been variable. Permit processing activities such as the receipt and acknowledgement of permit applications and issuing native title notifications were generally undertaken satisfactorily 17 , but other required permit processing activities including responses to native title notifications, and referrals within GBRMPA andor to QPWS for comment were not. 18

24. GBRMPA officers are to complete checksheets for each permit

application assessment as a means of monitoring the satisfactory conduct of processing activities. However, over half of the assessment checksheets 56 per cent examined by the ANAO were incomplete. Notwithstanding the incomplete status of most checksheets, permit processing activities had been certified as complete by the EAP Section. The certification of incomplete checksheets reduces the assurance that they are intended to provide. Permit Application Assessment Chapter 3

25. The GBRMP Regulations specify a number of mandatory and

discretionary considerations as part of the permit application assessment process. GBRMPA has developed, and relies heavily upon, templates to assess routine permit applications 19 against relevant regulatory requirements. While the template-based assessments took into account many requirements, they were, in general, not sufficiently tailored to address all applicable requirements—particularly discretionary considerations. Similarly, the 17 For example, of the 76 permit applications examined by the ANAO, GBRMPA: acknowledged the receipt of permit applications within two weeks for 93.7 per cent of applications; and issued native title notifications as required for 96.2 per cent of applications. 18 For example, of the 76 permit applications examined by the ANAO, GBRMPA did not retain documentation to evidence: eight of the 25 responses 32 per cent received from native title notifications; the referral of applications within GBRMPA for 26 of the 40 applications 65 per cent that met referral thresholds; and the referral of applications to QPWS for 12 of the 70 applications 17.1 per cent that met referral thresholds. 19 Routine permit applications cover the most common permission types including vessel and aircraft-based tourism, research and moorings that GBRMPA has assessed as generally posing a lower risk to the Marine Park environment relative to other non-routine applications—most commonly major facilitiesworksstructures—that pose a greater risk. Routine permit applications comprise in excess of 90 per cent of all permit applications.