Australia

Drone Regulations & Conservation Permits

Regulatory review: 13 October 2026 | Original archived content: October 2022

Prepared for review. Confirm requirements with CASA and the relevant land manager before operating.

UAS / Drone Regulations, Rules & Guidance

Civil Aviation Authority: Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)

Regulatory framework: Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998, Part 101, with associated instruments and advisory circulars. Part 101 resources

JARUS member: Not independently verified for this page; do not infer membership from CASA adoption of AusSORA.

Accepts SORA-based applications: Yes. CASA uses AusSORA for BVLOS and other complex operations from 11 May 2026; it adapts JARUS SORA 2.5. CASA announcement

General operations: Standard drone safety rules apply, including visual line of sight, altitude, people and airspace restrictions unless an appropriate authorisation or exemption applies. Drone safety rules

Importing drones: No Australia-specific import requirements have been independently verified for this page. Import controls should be researched separately from CASA flight permissions.

Low-Risk / Sub-250 g Exemptions

Details known: Yes, but exemptions depend on the purpose and category of the flight.

Recreational micro drones generally do not require registration or pilot licensing, but drone safety rules still apply. For work or business, including research and monitoring, CASA generally requires registration regardless of weight, with accreditation or licensing depending on the operating category.

For eligible micro and excluded-category operations, RePL and ReOC exemptions can apply while standard operating conditions remain mandatory. Do not assume that unpaid conservation work is recreational.

CASA drone safety rules | Registration requirements | Weight categories

BVLOS, EVLOS and Night Operations

BVLOS: CASA requires a ReOC, appropriately qualified or supervised RePL holder and BVLOS flight approval. AusSORA documentation, operations manual, emergency response plan and defined operational area are part of the application process. Assessment may take several months. CASA BVLOS

Broad-area BVLOS: A trial launched 15 October 2025 offers four pathways, subject to eligibility, operating limits and CASA approval. Check current trial status before relying on this route. Broad-area BVLOS

EVLOS: Requires ReOC, RePL, an EVLOS approval and appropriately trained observer arrangements. CASA EVLOS

Night: Night operations are possible for eligible ReOC operations with a RePL pilot, documented procedures, training/testing and risk assessment. CASA provides a night-operations instrument/procedure pathway and a separate approval pathway for other procedures. CASA night operations

Other permissions: Controlled or restricted airspace, aerodrome proximity, flights above 120 m AGL and other non-standard operations may require CASA authorisation. Flight approvals

Drones in Conservation: Information, Guidance & Permit Requirements

Conservation missions may need two separate permission pathways: aviation authorisations from CASA where required, and permissions from the relevant land manager, protected-area agency, research authority or other regulator.

State and territory rules vary for national parks and forest reserves. Wildlife disturbance, take-off/landing, filming, scientific research, marine parks and Indigenous land access may introduce additional conditions. Do not assume that a CASA approval grants access to a protected area.

CASA: wildlife and national parks

Protected Area Sensitivity: Site- and species-specific; no national numerical rating assigned.

Drone Use in Conservation: Original 2022 Archive

Archived example, not a new 2026 claim: The October 2022 source describes collaboration between Wildlife Drones, ACT Snake Removals and the Australian National University to track Eastern Brown snakes around Canberra, using drone-based radio telemetry to study movements.

The original document reports the ability to track 40 individuals simultaneously and compares this with lengthy ground-based searches. These figures are retained as historical source claims, not independently reverified.

Original Wildlife Drones article

Original entry: Last updated by Macayle Guerin, October 2022.

Other Australian conservation projects: To be linked after project records are verified against the Global Conservation Drone Map.

Conservation Technology, Data, AI & Computer Vision

EarthRanger deployments: Not yet documented for this country page.

SMART deployments: Not yet documented for this country page.

AI and computer vision projects: Placeholder for verified wildlife detection, counting, habitat mapping, automated imagery and datasets.

Environmental treaty membership: Placeholder for separately verified treaty status.

Legal Sources & Contacts

Primary regulator: Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)

Historical source: Australia Oct2022.docx, original GDRD country content. UAS regulations last updated 09.10.2022 by David Guerin. Legal sources last updated 08.01.2021 by David Guerin.

Contact details: Refer to the CASA official website. The 2022 source contained no populated contact details.

Update History & Verification

Original archived source: 9 October 2022 (David Guerin); conservation use case October 2022 (Macayle Guerin).

Research compilation: 13 October 2026, using CASA published guidance. This does not imply David Guerin has personally verified or endorsed every new statement.

Next review: Confirm JARUS membership, any import requirements, current BVLOS trial status and state/territory conservation permissions before marking the page fully verified.