Annual Report 2016-17

For government, it means ensuring that workers and the community are safe, and that environmental, cultural and community values are well protected.

Service: Managing land access

Service: Managing land access infographic Sampling the Ordovician fauna of the Gap Creek formation in the Northern Canning Basin.

Sampling the Ordovician fauna of the Gap Creek formation in the Northern Canning Basin.

Land use and access are critical for the development of the State’s industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and oil and gas. DMP is committed to the provision of a consistent, equitable and secure titles system through streamlined user-friendly processes.

Gaining approval to explore and develop mineral and petroleum resources can be a complex task and DMP’s overall target is to assess more than 80 per cent of applications within target timelines. Each year the department processes around 7000  applications.

The introduction of a new map-based online system has made lodging Programme of Work applications more efficient. The new Programme of Work – Spatial (PoW-S) system went online on 1 March 2017 offering users real time feedback by providing all relevant tenement spatial information before lodgement.

DMP has implemented a medium to long-term, strategic approach for acreage releases in competitive bid rounds over the next five years. The five year approach aims to provide more transparency to the oil and gas industry and other stakeholders for proposed future acreage release areas.

The acreage release schedule will be updated at least once a year after each acreage release round, and when significant amount of new prospectivity data or acreage becomes available to warrant a review. The 2017 Acreage Release was opened at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) conference in Perth in May.

Section highlights

DMP has made significant technological progress that allows stakeholders to transact digitally with 22,000 registered customers and 92 per cent of the annual volume of business now being conducted online.