Page 2904 - Week 09 - Thursday, 18 September 2014
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Turning to the role of the Conservator of Flora and Fauna, the Conservator of Flora and Fauna is one of the key roles established through this bill. The bill clarifies and expands the role of the conservator. The role has been expanded to provide a statutory basis for monitoring and reporting on the state of nature conservation and the effectiveness of management programs. The conservator must prepare and publish a two-year biodiversity research and monitoring program, publish a biennial report on this program and its implementation, consult with the Scientific Committee on priorities for the program and about appropriate methods and approaches to monitoring, consider the role of citizen science and arrangements for data sharing and transfer, and take reasonable steps to carry out a nature conservation monitoring program.
As a result of the various consultation processes the bill now gives the conservator a statutory responsibility to contribute data and information to the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment’s state of the environment report and to have regard to any ACT government response to an investigation report released by the commissioner concerning a conservation matter. As a result of this further consultation a number of other additional responsibilities have been given to the conservator. These include a requirement for the conservator to have regard to the nature conservation strategy and to not act inconsistently with the objects of the act. These additional roles add further accountability measures to the conservator’s role.
Turning to the ACT Parks and Conservation Service and conservation officers, the bill continues the role of the ACT Parks and Conservation Service in managing conservation reserves. Conservation officers provide advice and assistance to both the land custodian and the conservator. Enforcement powers of conservation officers under the bill are proposed to more closely align with conservation officers under the Fisheries Act 2000 and the Environment Protection Act 1997. This will allow additional certainty for officers while authorisation under a range of acts will allow more effective and efficient regulation across the ACT.
In relation to the Scientific Committee, the Flora and Fauna Committee will be renamed the Scientific Committee and is required to consist of a majority of non-public servants. The Scientific Committee will have a clear role in reviewing and making recommendations on action plans and native species conservation plans. Additional consultation between the Scientific Committee and the conservator will be required in the preparation of the nature conservation strategy, action plans and native species conservation plans. This makes good use of the expertise of the members of the committee and involves them in the management of threatened and protected species as well as in their listing.
Turning to threatened species and ecological community listings, the bill proposes to align the threatened species and ecological community categories for listing with the categories used under the commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. A new category of “conservation dependent” has been added. This allows species subject to reintroduction programs, such as the bettongs in Mulligans Flat, to be accorded a high level of protection. A provisional listing is also proposed in the bill. This listing will ensure an item is protected while a formal listing process under one of the threatened species or ecological community categories is progressed.
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