Following the recent lodgement, and subsequent publication, of the Tall Tree Wind Farm under the Environment Effects Act  (EE Act) 1978 , we wish to advise that we are currently preparing to submit an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999  (EPBC Act) referral in the coming week to the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) for the Tall Tree Wind Farm project.

Following submission lodgement, DCCEEW will determine if the submission is valid before publishing the documents on the EPBC Act Public portal. Following publication, DCCEEW invites comment from the public for 10 business days via the Portal.

The  EPBC Act allows bilateral agreements between the Australian and Victorian governments. This removes the need for separate assessments of projects, reducing duplication. The bilateral agreement process under the EPBC Act allows these two levels of government to work together on environmental assessments - Victoria conducts the assessment and reports to the Australian Government. Both levels of government must approve a project (or determine that no approval is required) before it can proceed. For the Tall Tree Wind Farm project, this would be the planning process under the EE Act 1978 – see the referral documentation for our project here

The scope of this EPBC Act referral is specific and related to protected matters – for example certain nationally significant animals, plants, habitats and places – being broadly defined as Matters of National Environmental Significance. While this differs from the Victorian State legislation referral, we wanted to ensure the community is also aware of this opportunity to engage. Once the EPBC Act Referral documentation is published, we will notify our subscribers and add a link onto the Community Hub page

You can find out about the EPBC Act decision process, including how to submit a comment here.

We know the planning process can be complex, to help community members with the process you can view our helpful guide to planning in Victoria here.

As always, the Tall Tree Project Team encourages anyone with questions to contact us directly on 1800 283 550 or at  talltree@acciona.com