Portfolio — 24 June 2026

Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt made two related decisions on 23 June concerning the Browse Basin, a longstanding and contested offshore development zone off Western Australia's Kimberley coast. First, Watt confirmed that the Browse Carbon Capture and Storage Project will be assessed under the full framework of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, confirming federal environmental scrutiny applies to the project [TA-260623-climat-300898ad94b4].

Second, the Minister accepted as valid a reconsideration request lodged by the Australian Conservation Foundation against the 2019 referral decision on the broader Browse to North West Shelf Development project [TA-260623-climat-300898ad94b4]. That reconsideration request will be published on the department's website and open for public comment for 20 business days, a step that formally re-engages the EPBC Act's reconsideration mechanism on an assessment decision now seven years old.

The two decisions are connected: both concern the same geographic and industrial corridor and both turn on the scope and application of federal environmental law to offshore carbon and gas development. The CCS project decision establishes that the newer, CCS-framed iteration of Browse activity sits squarely within the EPBC Act's remit. The ACF reconsideration acceptance opens a public process that could revisit whether the original 2019 referral was handled correctly, potentially bearing on how any subsequent proposal in the same area is categorised.

No parliamentary segment is present for this Note date, so the ministerial media release is the sole source. No prior context candidates were supplied, and no cross-portfolio connections are drawn from external material. The record covers one release; any broader Browse development chronology or industry or state government positions are not captured in the available material.