Annual Report 2018–19 Office of Environment and Heritage environment.nsw.gov.au © 2019 State of NSW and Department of Planning, Industry and Environment With the exception of photographs, the State of NSW and Department of Planning, Industry and Environment are pleased to allow this material to be reproduced in whole or in part for educational and non-commercial use, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged. Specific permission is required for the reproduction of photographs. The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has compiled this report in good faith, exercising all due care and attention. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information in this publication for any particular purpose. DPIE shall not be liable for any damage which may occur to any person or organisation taking action or not on the basis of this publication. Readers should seek appropriate advice when applying the information to their specific needs. All content in this publication is owned by DPIE and is protected by Crown Copyright, unless credited otherwise. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), subject to the exemptions contained in the licence. The legal code for the licence is available at Creative Commons. DPIE asserts the right to be attributed as author of the original material in the following manner: © State of New South Wales and Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 2019. Cover photo: Garie Beach, Royal National Park. David Finnegan/DPIE Published by: Environment, Energy and Science Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 59 Goulburn Street, Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232 Phone: +61 2 9995 5000 (switchboard) Phone: 1300 361 967 (Environment, Energy and Science enquiries) TTY users: phone 133 677, then ask for 1300 361 967 Speak and listen users: phone 1300 555 727, then ask for 1300 361 967 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au Report pollution and environmental incidents Environment Line: 131 555 (NSW only) or [email protected] See also www.environment.nsw.gov.au ISBN 978-1-922317-46-9 EES 2019/0591 October 2019 Find out more about your environment at: www.environment.nsw.gov.au Contents Letter of submission 1 Message from the Secretary 2 About this report 3 Purpose 3 Charter 3 Organisation structure 3 Park Operations Division 4 Park Programs Division 4 Communities and Greater Sydney 4 Conservation and Regional Delivery 4 Heritage Division 5 Policy Division 5 Science Division 5 Strategy and Performance Division 5 Portfolio partners 5 Achievements in 2018–19 6 Conservation 6 Culture 11 Communities 13 Connection 20 People 23 Performance 26 Partners 27 OEH financial statements 29 Statement of comprehensive income 33 Statement of financial position 34 Statement of changes in equity 35 Statement of cash flows 36 Notes to the financial statements 37 1. Summary of significant accounting policies 37 2. Expenses excluding losses 41 3. Revenue 44 4. Gain/(loss) on disposal and other gains/(losses) 47 5. Conditions on grants 48 6. State outcome description 48 7. Current assets – cash and cash equivalents 48 8. Current assets – receivables 49 iii 9. Current assets – inventories 50 10. Current assets – other financial assets 51 11. Non-current assets – property, plant and equipment 51 12. Intangible assets 56 13. Fair value measurement of non-financial assets 59 14. Restricted assets 64 15. Current liabilities – payables 64 16. Current/non-current liabilities – borrowings 65 17. Current/non-current liabilities – provisions 66 18. Current liabilities – other 89 19. Equity 90 20. Commitments 91 21. Contingent liabilities and contingent assets 92 22. Budget review 92 23. Reconciliation of cash flows from operating activities to net result 94 24. Financial instruments 95 25. Related party disclosure 100 26. Events after the reporting period 101 Appendices 104 1. Governance 104 2. Legislation and legal changes 108 3. Human Resources 120 4. Funding and Expenditure 130 Index 144 iv List of tables Prosecutions completed under parks, wildlife, threatened species, Aboriginal and state heritage and related legislation 111 Public interest disclosures 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 114 Number of applications received/refused 115 Table A Number of applications by type of applicant and outcome 116 Table B Number of applications by type of application and outcome 116 Table C Invalid applications 117 Table D Conclusive presumption of overriding public interest against disclosure: matters listed in Schedule 1 of the Act 117 Table E Other public interest considerations against disclosure section 14 of the Act 117 Table F Timelines 118 Table G Number of applications reviewed under Part 5 of the Act (by type of review and outcome) 118 Table H Applications for review under Part 5 of the Act (by type of applicant) 118 Table I Applications transferred to other agencies under Division 2 of Part 4 of the Act (by type of transfer) 118 Number of incidents reported 129 Number of workers compensation claims 129 Cost of workers compensation claims (Net incurred) 129 Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR 12mma) 129 Consultancies of $50,000 or more – 2018–19 133 Consultancies of value less than $50,000 – 2018–19 133 Quarterly aged analysis – Account values 136 Accounts due or paid within each quarter 136 Small business suppliers 137 v OEH Annual Report 2018-19 Letter of submission The Hon. Matthew John Kean Minister for Energy and Environment 52 Martin Place Sydney NSW 2000 Dear Minister I am pleased to submit to you the Annual Report of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) for your presentation to the New South Wales Parliament. This report provides a summary of the agency's performance for the period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. In addition, the report contains the audited financial statements and appendices as required by legislation. The report was prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Annual Reports (Departments) Act 1985, the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983, regulations under those Acts and NSW Treasury Circular TC15-19. Yours sincerely Ortfx Jim Betts Secretary Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 1 OEH Annual Report 2018-19 Message from the Secretary This report is the final annual report of the former New South Wales OEH. On 1 July 2019, machinery of government (MoG) changes came into effect which transferred most of the OEH functions to the new Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE). This report meets the statutory obligation to report the narrative and financial performance of the former agency and its operations from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. In writing this message, I would like to acknowledge and thank Anthony Lean, the former Chief Executive of OEH, and the broader OEH executive team for their leadership throughout 2018-19, and the staff team. Together, they enabled OEH to achieve significant outcomes for New South Wales' environment, heritage, society and economy, including: • Koala Strategy — working with communities and partners to successfully implement the first year of the NSW Koala Strategy, including 20 of the 24 strategy actions now complete or underway and protecting more than 6454 hectares of koala habitat • national parks estate — expanding the national parks estate by over 10,000 hectares to better protect the habitat of key NSW species, communities and ecosystems. • Saving our Species (SoS) — protecting our threatened plants and animals through the $100 million SoS program by delivering practical on-ground projects with over 150 partners to conserve 398 threatened species, 33 ecological communities and as part of the SOS rewilding project introducing the previously extinct species Greater Bilby into the Pilliga State Conservation Area. • protecting culture and heritage — 27 new listings on the State Heritage Register and four Aboriginal places declared. • joint management — National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) continued to work with the Aboriginal community to jointly manage national parks through the negotiation of new joint management agreements, and the ongoing implementation of 32 existing agreements. • bushfire hazard reduction — treated 139,338 hectares for hazard reduction through mechanical works and prescribed burning • saving energy — helping households and business take control of their energy bills through incentives for upgrades to energy efficient appliances. • adapting to climate change — partnering with government agencies and local government to incorporate climate data and knowledge into decision making and build resilient cities through the planning system. • improving access to national parks — extending, upgrading and improving walking trails and other visitor facilities to improve access, enhance the visitor experience and boost tourism. • improving environmental data access — over 2500 open and accessible datasets to support conservation and environmental management has been made publicly available via an online data portal Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED). While this is the final annual report for OEH, the creation of the new department provides opportunity to bring together various portfolios across government into a single organisation, working together in pursuit of common objectives to better New South Wales' environment, society and economy. OviN. floc\ Jim Betts Secretary Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 2 OEH Annual Report 2018–19 About OEH About this report This annual report contains both financial and non-financial information for the financial year 2018-19 and is the final annual report of the former OEH. References to DPIE will be used throughout the report in relation to OEH activities, services and functions, looking forward. The Governor of NSW signed Administrative Arrangement Orders to create eight clusters from 1 July 2019, including a cluster containing a DPIE. Through these Administrative Arrangement Orders, the majority of OEH functions transitioned to DPIE, except for Heritage functions which transitioned to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.