Page 1734 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 7 June 2016
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regulations through a national review of environmental regulation. The assessment and listing of threatened species and ecological communities was identified as an area of possible reform.
Last year, jurisdictions collaboratively developed a memorandum of understanding that sets out the reform measures and provides for an implementation framework. I signed the memorandum on behalf of the ACT in November last year, just after the commonwealth and Western Australia. Since then, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have also signed, and most other jurisdictions are moving towards this outcome. All have agreed to participate in a working group to help facilitate transition to using common assessment methodologies.
Jurisdictions have agreed to make their best efforts to amend legislation and administration to implement the reform within two years of signature. The government has been able to bring this reform to the Assembly today, in a relatively short period, because many of the reforms were already anticipated in the new Nature Conservation Act adopted in 2014, and the proposed changes are therefore largely procedural. In addition, there are significant benefits to the ACT in aligning our lists with those of the commonwealth as soon as practical. This will ensure efficiencies by reducing duplications of process, to provide additional transparency and to take advantage of any synergies through working collaboratively on species and ecosystems of joint focus.
I would like to simply conclude by outlining the key benefits of the reform for stakeholders. Most importantly, this reform package provides improved clarity about threatened species by aligning the categories, criteria and processes for assessment through the adoption of a common assessment method based on international standards. It reduces duplication of effort and over time, once transitional work has been completed, will make the threatened species list of the commonwealth and the ACT consistent. Further consistencies will be achieved through alignment with New South Wales, in particular; however, consistency between the ACT and the commonwealth is of primary importance.
Secondly, species regionally important to the ACT will continue to be listed, as this provides significant opportunity to take action to ensure that species do not become nationally endangered.
Finally, over a number of years the ACT has successfully collaborated with the commonwealth on recovery plans and programs to protect the habit of nationally endangered species. This reform will provide additional mechanisms to align those efforts and to provide for additional collaboration. It is through such collaboration, with the commonwealth, other jurisdictions, landholders, community groups and developers, that we can do our best to protect species from extinction, which is, of course, the ultimate aim of listing threatened species and of this reform. I thank members for their support of the bill and I commend it to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
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