Page 4787 - Week 15 - Thursday, 8 December 1994
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NATURE CONSERVATION (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 2) 1994
Debate resumed from 10 November 1994, on motion by Mr Wood:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR STEFANIAK (11.39): This Bill amends the Nature Conservation Act 1980, the principal Act, which is the primary ACT legislation for the protection and handling of native plants and animals and the management of national parks and nature reserves. This amendment Bill No. 2 is separate from but consistent with the recently passed amendment Bill No. 1, which provided for the identification and protection of threatened species and ecological communities. The main objective of this amendment Bill No. 2 is to streamline and update nature conservation processes and procedures to allow for a more efficient, flexible and effective application. It does simplify many areas. It provides some detailed amendments to the permit and licence system, effectively replacing that system with a licensing system. It also includes several new sections in relation to management plans, especially the necessity for government agencies and departments to adopt management plans.
It also relaxes a number of restrictions that were found in the old Act, especially in relation to the collection of seed from native plants for domestic purposes. One is now able to collect seed from native plants for domestic use without the need for a permit or licence. It strengthens the capacity to protect wild populations of plants and fauna by prohibiting the import and export of protected native plants to and from the ACT for the purposes of sale and trade. For the non-protected and the more common native plants, I understand that the importation and exportation provisions have been relaxed. It is perhaps desirable to have some limited importation and exportation of native plants. This issue was raised with me by Greening Australia. The departmental officers who gave me a briefing in relation to this matter - and I thank the Minister for that - advised me that this trade can still go on through nurseries, with departmental permission. This is an area that can perhaps be monitored over the next 12 months to see whether there is something that can be done better, and that may necessitate a further amendment to the Act.
There are some other new provisions, which I think are welcome, specifically a new penalty provision, in proposed new section 26A, if a person places a drum net in public waters without a licence. This will certainly assist in protecting our fish species, especially our native fish species, which in the ACT are currently suffering from some problems. There is a need for restocking of some of those species - something which the Government certainly has not done this year, and there is no indication that it will do so. Administrative arrangements have been made to streamline the time for compliance and also to provide for on-the-spot fines in many instances. I think this is a sensible measure. Indeed, from my having a look at the on-the-spot fines there and at the fines in the principal Act, the ratio seems to be consistent with on-the-spot fines in other Acts applying in the ACT.
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