When Environmental Authorization is required for a proposal, one of two legislated types of environmental assessments may be followed, i.e., a basic assessment (BA) or a Scoping & Environmental Impact Reporting (EIR). The nature and scale of the proposal determines which type of assessment is to be undertaken. A Basic Assessment process will be required when listed activities of Listing Notices 1 and 3 (GNR 327 & 324) are applicable to the development.

A Basic Assessment process will investigate the proposal against various parameters, such as ecosystem functioning, climate change, air quality, marine ecology biodiversity, vegetation, traffic, and heritage resources etc. to ensure that the proposal follows the idea of sustainable development and that any potential negative environmental impacts are mitigated against. One of the outcomes of the Basic Assessment process is an Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) that manages the pre-operation/pre-construction, operational and rehabilitation phases of the development to practically manage negative environmental impacts.