Agencies involved

The Department of Planning covers the following area:

• The planning and development control functions in NSW.

The Department of Water and Energy covers the following area:

• Responsible for natural resource management in NSW.

The Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, covers the areas of local government, regional development and transport. The national focus on the need to upgrade the Pacific Highway arose because:

• It was one of Australia's most heavily used interstate road corridors by all classes of vehicles.
• It had the highest fatality rate among major Australian highways.
• It was required to meet the future road transport needs of two large cities — Sydney and Brisbane — as well as those of the nation's fastest growing non – metropolitan areas.

The NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), encompasses:

• The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, which covers parks and reserves, cultural heritage and nature and conservation.
• The Environment Protection Authority, which covers a wide range of environmental concerns on the land and in the air — relating to waste, water, noise and environmental economics amongst other issues.

The departments of Mineral Resources, NSW Agriculture, NSW Fisheries and State Forests of NSW are under the banner of NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

Specifically, the Department of Primary Industries objectives of NSW Fisheries are to conserve, develop and share the fishery resources of the State for the benefit of present and future generations. In particular:

• To conserve fish stocks and protect key fish habitats.
• To conserve threatened species, populations and ecological communities of fish and marine vegetation.
• To promote ecologically sustainable development, including the conservation of biological diversity.
• Provide social and economic benefits for the wider community of New South Wales.

Approval authority for activities that impact or potentially impact on non indigenous heritage items.

The Ballina Shire covers an area of 480 square kilometres and is responsible for a community appraching 40,000 residents located on the north coast of NSW.

The RTA manages 17919 km of State Roads (including 4250 km of Auslink network and 166km of privately funded toll roads). This includes facilities such as traffic lights, roundabouts, signs and linemarking.

It also manages nearly 3000 kilometres of regional roads and local roads in the unincorporated area of NSW where there are no local councils.

It provides financial assistance to local councils to manage 18487 kilometres of regional roads and, to a limited extent, local roads, through funding and other support. Other areas of RTA interest include 4928 bridges, major culverts and tunnels and nine vehicular ferries.

• Improving road safety.
• Managing the road network to achieve consistent travel times.