Nyah Moore joined Onward’s Graduate Program in February after graduating from the University of Newcastle in late 2025. We invited her to write about her first months working as an Environmental Consultant.

At Onward, we’re proud to have delivered Queensland’s very first progressive rehabilitation and closure plan (PRCP) schedule audit in 2024. It was a milestone not just for us, but for the state’s mining industry, which is navigating an evolving regulatory landscape that puts rehabilitation and closure front and centre.

The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) has released a revised set of independent audit (IA) post approval requirements for state significant projects. The requirements introduce a more structured and prescriptive framework for how audits are planned, approved, and delivered across the project lifecycle.

The updated requirements signal a clear shift toward tighter audit governance, greater consistency, and earlier engagement with DPHI. For proponents and project teams, understanding these changes is essential to maintaining compliance and avoiding unnecessary delays, as Principal – Auditing and Compliance Elliot Holland explains.

2025 was a year of transition for environmental consulting in Australia – one that reshaped how proponents approach major projects.

Once a project secures its approvals, it can feel like the hard work is done. But in reality, this is where the real test begins. Post-approvals environmental management plans (EMPs) are the bridge between what a project proposes on paper and what it delivers on the ground. They take commitments, conditions and predicted impacts and turn them into day-to-day operational instructions that keep environmental risks in check and stakeholders confident.

The successful implementation of sediment and erosion controls in any project that may disturb land is vital as a preventative measure to ensure waterways stay clean and local wildlife stay healthy.

Earlier this year, some of the Onward Consulting team completed the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Verifier Training Workshop, which means that we are now qualified TSM verifiers.