Abstract
The Australian Government has established a legislative framework to enable offshore infrastructure projects 1 to be undertaken in Australian Commonwealth waters (>3 nautical miles from shore, extending to the boundary of Australia’s exclusive economic zone). This guidance has been developed to explain the requirements of, and interactions between the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021 (OEI Act) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) licensing and environmental approvals processes. The guidance is part of a suite of guidance prepared by the Australian Government to support offshore renewables proponents. This guidance is separated into three parts to explain the primary environmental approvals pathways under the EPBC Act and licensing requirements for three offshore infrastructure project types under the OEI Act.