The bioregional assessment programs use the best available scientific data, information and knowledge. As a result the programs produce independent, scientifically robust, and useful information at a regional scale.
Making this valuable information publicly available is an important aspect of the programs and is consistent with the Australian Government's principles of providing publicly accessible, transparent and responsibly managed public sector information.
This sharing of intellectual knowledge helps communities, scientists, governments and industry understand what was done and how it was done.
Bioregional assessments are multidisciplinary and involve a broad range of data from disciplines such as geology, hydrology, hydrogeology, modelling and ecology. The data are provided in many formats.
The programs have invested in acquiring high-quality data to provide a robust foundation for assessments.
The strength of any assessment is determined by the quality, comprehensiveness, and ‘fitness for purpose’ of the data.
The data have been provided by state and Australian governments, industry, technical experts, regional communities and individuals.
Accessibility and transparency
The programs are committed to making sure there is a clear understanding of the scientific process, and that the data used and created along the way is accessible to the community.
Currently, data is only available from the Bioregional Assessment Program. Data from the Geological and Bioregional Assessment Program will become available as the program progresses.
Due to licence restrictions and the amount of information available, the degree of transparency and potential for re-use varies.
With transparency in mind, all datasets used have a metadata statement that includes the purpose of the dataset, its history and its conditions for use, as specified in the licence. The metadata meets the ANZLIC metadata standards.
This metadata is stored centrally and securely on the Australian Government's public data information service.
Access to data: Creative Commons Attribution licence
The two programs of bioregional assessments have worked with data suppliers to make data available, where possible, under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. Anyone can download data licensed under Creative Commons from the Australian Government's public data information service.
The CC BY licence also allows others to legally distribute, remix, tweak, and build on our work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creators of the material. Further details about the licence are available at Creative Commons Australia.
Information will be useful for the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development, state government regulators, natural resource managers, coal seam gas and large coal mine proponents, and interested community members.
All of the datasets made available by the programs provide a degree of information about their content and use. However, to effectively use many of these datasets requires specific hardware, software, technical knowledge and expertise. The programs provide no such tools or support.
Bioregion data registers
- Bioregional Assessment Program
- Lake Eyre Basin bioregion
- Northern Inland Catchments bioregion
- Clarence-Moreton bioregion
- Northern Sydney Basin bioregion
- Sydney Basin bioregion
- Gippsland Basin bioregion
- Indigenous assets
- Bioregional assessment methodology
- Compiling water-dependent assets
- Assigning receptors to water-dependent assets
- Developing a coal resource development pathway
- Developing the conceptual model of causal pathways
- Surface water modelling
- Groundwater modelling
- Receptor impact modelling
- Propagating uncertainty through models
- Impacts and risks
- Systematic analysis of water-related hazards associated with coal resource development
- Assessment components
- Component 1: Contextual information
- Component 2: Model-data analysis
- Components 3 and 4: Impact and risk analysis
- Component 5: Outcome synthesis
- Metadata and datasets
- Geological and Bioregional Assessment Program