Page 1731 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 7 June 2016
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In April 2014 environment ministers agreed to the national review of environmental regulation to identify unworkable, contradictory or incompatible regulation and identify opportunities to harmonise and simplify regulations. The assessment and listing of threatened matters—both species and ecological communities—was identified as an area of possible reform. Most jurisdictions have agreed or are in the process of agreeing to an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding. This MOU is the agreement on a common assessment method for listing of threatened species and the threatened ecological communities. It sets out the reform measures and provides an implementation framework.
The main reforms to harmonise and simplify regulation included in this bill are that all jurisdictions adopt a common assessment method to assess nationally threatened matters based on the IUCN categories and criteria, which may also be used to assess regionally threatened matters chosen by jurisdictions; secondly, mutual recognition of other jurisdictions’ assessments and listing decisions for nationally threatened matters, supported by enhanced information exchange and sharing between jurisdictions. It also includes a single operational list of nationally threatened or regionally threatened matters whereby national and regional lists are mutually exclusive and the same species or ecological community on different jurisdictions’ lists must have the same threat category.
There is also the common assessment method which would be applied in a hierarchical way so that the conservation status of a species or ecological community is first assessed on a national scale. Species and ecological communities that are assessed as nationally threatened would be listed in the same national threat category on the statutory lists of all relevant jurisdictions. If a species or ecological community is not eligible for listing as nationally threatened, a state or territory may elect to assess that species or ecological community and list it in a category of threat appropriate to its status in that jurisdiction. Finally, species and ecological communities that are currently listed as threatened would be transitioned to an agreed threat category on the ACT threatened species list, under either the national or regional category.
The intent of the reform is that all jurisdictions would use the common assessment methodology and allow for a mutual recognition of assessments. However, even if other jurisdictions did not enter the agreement, there would be benefit to both the commonwealth and the ACT to align their processes and lists. The ACT Scientific Committee, formerly the flora and fauna committee, has the primary role to assess native species and ecological communities that are threatened with extinction, as well as processes that threaten the survival of native species and communities in the ACT region.
The Scientific Committee will be responsible for assessment of ACT endemic species and, subject to agreements with New South Wales, species that are endemic to the ACT region. The Scientific Committee may also undertake assessments of species that are regionally threatened or regionally conservation dependent. Other assessments, such as species that occur across multiple jurisdictions, are primarily the responsibility of the commonwealth unless otherwise agreed by the jurisdictions.
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