1. What this tool is
Fed-Vic Enviro Law is a specialist research assistant for Victorian and Federal environmental compliance. It retrieves passages directly from a curated corpus of more than twenty current Acts, regulations, standards, statutory policies, and authoritative guidance documents, and uses an AI language model to synthesise a cited answer — it does not search the open web or draw on general knowledge outside its indexed corpus.
It is designed for professionals: environmental consultants, planners, project managers, heritage practitioners, and lawyers working on projects with Victorian or Federal EPBC regulatory obligations.
2. What this tool covers — and what it does not
This tool is built specifically for Victorian and Federal environmental law. It covers the EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) and its General Environmental Duty, the Environment Effects Act 1978 (Vic) and the EES process, the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic), the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic), Aboriginal cultural heritage under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Vic), historic heritage under the Heritage Act 2017 (Vic), and Victorian water, catchment, coastal and parks legislation — along with EPA Victoria and DTP guidance documents.
It expressly does not cover the following areas. If your question falls into one of these, the assistant will say so and point you to the right authority:
- Climate change, emissions, and carbon — the Climate Change Act 2017 (Vic), the federal Climate Change Act 2022, the NGER Act, the safeguard mechanism, or renewable energy certificates. Contact the Clean Energy Regulator.
- Mining and mineral resources — the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 (Vic). Contact Earth Resources Regulation Victoria.
- Aquaculture and fisheries — the Fisheries Act 1995 (Vic). Note: consent for use or development on coastal Crown land under the Marine and Coastal Act 2018 is covered. Contact the Victorian Fisheries Authority.
- Native title — the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) or traditional owner agreements under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic). Note: Aboriginal cultural heritage under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Vic) is covered by this tool. Contact the National Native Title Tribunal.
- Other Australian states — TAS, NSW, QLD, WA, SA, or NT law.
- Individual municipal planning schemes — the Planning and Environment Act 1987 framework and the Victoria Planning Provisions are covered; individual municipal planning schemes and local provisions are not. Contact the relevant council or the Department of Transport and Planning.
3. Not legal advice
This tool provides cited research assistance — it can identify obligations, flag risks, and explain what legislation requires in practice. It is not a substitute for formal legal advice or regulatory sign-off. For decisions with significant financial, environmental, or legal consequences, always consult a qualified environmental lawyer or contact EPA Victoria or the relevant authority directly.
If a question falls outside the scope of Victorian and Federal environmental law, the assistant will say so rather than speculate or provide a general answer.
4. The knowledge base
The assistant is indexed on more than twenty current sources spanning Victorian and Federal environmental law. These include: the EPBC Act 1999 (Cth) and the EPBC Significant Impact Guidelines 1.1 and 1.2; the Commonwealth Environment Protection Reform Act 2025; the DCCEEW Environmental Management Plan Guidelines and EPBC referral guidance; Victorian primary legislation (Environment Protection Act 2017, Environment Effects Act 1978, Planning and Environment Act 1987, Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, Heritage Act 2017, Water Act 1989, Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994, Marine and Coastal Act 2018, National Parks Act 1975, Wildlife Act 1975, Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987); Victorian subordinate legislation (Environment Protection Regulations 2021, Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2018); the Environment Reference Standard; and the EES Ministerial Guidelines (8th ed 2023). The full list is always visible in the Knowledge Base panel on the right of the screen.
The knowledge base was last updated in June 2026. The EPBC Act content reflects Compilation No. 68, current to March 2026. Very recent amendments may not yet be incorporated — always verify against the official source before acting on any answer.
Each answer shows a source pill below the response — for example, EPBC Act 1999 · Mar 2026. This shows which Act was cited and how current the indexed version is.
Where retrieved content is older than about eighteen months, answers may include a currency caveat advising you to verify whether amendments have been made since that date. This is a deliberate guardrail — the system flags age rather than silently asserting old content as current. Acts indexed more recently won't trigger it.
5. Asking questions
Type your question in plain English — no legal shorthand is required. The more context you provide, the more targeted the answer. Include the activity type (such as native-vegetation removal, earthworks, or a controlled discharge), the project location or catchment, the scale of works, and any relevant species or habitat types if you know them.
You can ask follow-up questions — the assistant retains context from the conversation above and builds on previous answers. The Explore Further chips that appear after each response suggest related directions worth investigating, and clicking one will populate the question box without automatically submitting it.
You can download any answer as a PDF, Markdown file, or plain text file using the buttons that appear below each response. This is useful for maintaining project records, building audit trails, or sharing findings with colleagues.
6. Expert Interpretation
After any standard answer, an Expert interpretation ↓ button appears below the response. Clicking it produces a deeper, practitioner-style read of the law as it applies to your specific situation — covering what the obligations mean in practice, what a regulator is likely to look for during assessment, and where the key risks and grey areas lie.
The expert view uses exactly the same retrieved sources as the original answer — no additional search is performed. It is generated by a more capable model (Claude Sonnet), which means it may take a few extra seconds to appear. Only one expert view can be requested per answer.
7. Analysing documents
When you open the tool, you have two starting points. You can type a question directly — in which case the assistant searches the indexed legislation and returns a cited answer. Or you can attach a document (an Environmental Management Plan, EES document, permit application, management plan, or similar), which opens a second set of options tailored to that document.
Use the paperclip icon on the landing screen, or the + button in the chat area, to attach a file. Supported formats are PDF, Word (.docx), HTML, and plain text. Only the text content is read — images, charts, and diagrams are not processed.
When a document is attached, a Quick Read runs automatically. This classifies the document type, generates a short summary, and produces a set of suggested questions relevant to what the document contains. You then have three options:
1. Ask your own question — type anything in the question box. The assistant will answer using both the document and the legislation together — so you can ask "does this EMP address the General Environmental Duty?" and get a response grounded in both.
2. Use a suggested question — click any of the chips generated by the Quick Read to populate the question box, then send.
3. Run an analysis tool — the panel shows the available structured analysis types. Gap Analysis is the first of these; more types are in development and will appear here as they become available.
Gap Analysis reviews your document against Victorian and Federal legislative requirements across compliance categories — including the General Environmental Duty, water, biodiversity and threatened species, Aboriginal and historic cultural heritage, native vegetation, waste, air quality, noise, contaminated land, erosion and sediment control, construction and operational environmental management, stakeholder consultation, monitoring and reporting, the mitigation hierarchy, and document currency. The result is a structured table showing each category as PRESENT, PARTIAL, or ABSENT, followed by a narrative summary of key risks and recommended next steps. Documents are read up to 5,000 words; longer documents are accepted in summary form. Lead with the most critical content.
Note on running Gap Analysis with a question typed. Gap Analysis reads the uploaded document only — your typed question won't be included. If you've typed a question in the box and click the Gap Analysis button, the tool will confirm this before proceeding. Send the question as a normal query afterwards if you also want a focused answer on top of the analysis.
Some processes — particularly structured analysis tools — can take a minute or two to complete. A progress indicator will show while the system is working. Please be patient and do not close or reload the page. Gap Analysis identifies structural coverage only — it does not assess the depth or quality of what is written, and it does not constitute a compliance certification. Findings should always be verified with EPA Victoria or a qualified environmental consultant before acting.
Once a document is attached, it remains active for the rest of your session. All follow-up questions will be answered in the context of that document. A banner at the bottom of the screen confirms which document is active, and you can remove it at any time using the ✕ remove button.
8. Saved threads and saved analyses
If you're signed in, you can save conversations and analyses to your account so you can come back to them later. Two distinct types of saved content live in the left sidebar:
Threads are chat conversations. After getting an answer, click the Save thread button next to the download row to save the whole conversation. The button changes to Saved ✓ and a new row appears in the THREADS sidebar section — auto-titled with the date and time you saved it (you can rename). Subsequent follow-up questions on that thread auto-append. The assistant retains context from the previous answers in the thread, so you can pick up where you left off days later.
Click the ⋮ icon on any saved thread to rename, branch (duplicate as a new conversation to take it in a different direction), or delete. Click the thread title to reopen it in the main pane.
Saved analyses are auto-saved when you run a Gap Analysis or Quick Wash on a signed-in account — no button needed. They appear in the SAVED ANALYSES sidebar section. Click a row to reload the structured result. The source document you uploaded is not stored — only the analysis output.
During Public Beta, signed-in accounts can save one thread and one analysis at a time — replacing the existing one when you save a new one. If a thread is older than 60 days when you reload it, a small banner notes that source documents and legal positions may have changed since the conversation was saved. The original answers remain intact for the record — ask a fresh question if you want an up-to-date take.
9. How pricing works
helpp.site uses a credit model, not a subscription. Different actions cost different amounts of credits — asking a standard question is cheaper than running a full document gap analysis. The current per-action prices are listed in the Pricing modal in the left sidebar.
Every new account gets 100 free credits on sign-up. When you've used those up, you can top up by buying a credit pack — three sizes (Starter / Standard / Pro) with bonus credits on the bigger packs. Pack prices are shown in the Pricing modal in US dollars; your local equivalent appears at checkout. Credits purchased in a pack don't expire for 24 months.
If an action fails (the language model errors out, or the request times out), the credits you paid for it are automatically returned to your wallet. You only pay for what completes successfully.
Anonymous users can ask a small number of questions per session without signing in — no credits required for that — but document analysis and saved threads need an account.
10. Glossary & Acronyms
The Glossary & Acronyms button in the left sidebar opens a searchable reference of the terminology used across Victorian and Federal environmental law. It covers statutory acronyms (EPBC, MNES, GED, ERS, EES, CHMP), agency and authority names (EPA Victoria, DEECA, DTP, Heritage Victoria, DCCEEW), document types (EMP, EES, CHMP), and plain-English concept terms (General Environmental Duty, significant impact, Matters of National Environmental Significance). Each entry shows the full name, jurisdiction (Victorian, Commonwealth, or both), and a short note on what it is and where it sits in the regulatory framework.
Use the search bar at the top of the modal to filter by acronym or by any word in the full name or notes. The glossary is also used internally to disambiguate jurisdictional questions — for example, recognising that "EP Act" can mean either the Victorian Environment Protection Act 2017 or the Commonwealth EPBC framework depending on context.
11. Your account and signing in
The left sidebar has an Account section anchored at the bottom. When you're signed out it shows a single Sign in button; when you're signed in it shows your display name with your email address as a subtitle. Click the item at any time to open the account pop-up.
Accounts are free and take about twenty seconds to create. We never ask for a credit card during sign-up.
Checking which email you're signed in with. Look at the Account section of the sidebar — the email appears as the subtitle under your display name. For more detail (current plan, sign out, reset password) click to open the pop-up.
Resetting your password while signed in. Open the Account pop-up and click Reset password. We'll email a single-use, time-limited reset link to the address on your account. Check your inbox and your spam folder.
Forgotten your password and can't sign in? On the sign-in pop-up, click Forgot password? Enter your email address and we'll send the same kind of reset link.
Deleting your saved data. Open the Account pop-up and click Delete all my saved data. This permanently removes every saved thread and saved analysis from your account, and scrubs matching entries from our audit log. Your account itself is not deleted — only the data you've saved. To delete your account entirely, email hello@helpp.site.
Signing out. Open the Account pop-up → Sign out. Useful on a shared computer.