The Act amends several pieces of legislation which impact on the administration and management of protected areas managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
The current legislation has its objective as ‘the conservation of nature’ but allows for reference to other objectives including ‘the involvement of Indigenous people in the management of protected areas in which they have an interest under Aboriginal tradition or Island custom’. The Act amends the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld) so that it has a sole objective, ‘the conservation of nature’. The Bill also reinstates national parks (scientific) as a class of protected area and the requirement that only Parliament’s resolution can either revoke or lessen the applicable protection level. The classes ‘conservation park’ and ‘resources reserve’ will also be reinstated. The result is that different use and management approaches will apply to each distinct class. Additionally, this Bill removes the exemption from undertaking public consultation on proposed amendments to management plans.
Part 3 of the Act amends the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld) to set up a process to make regional parks on the Cape York Peninsula transferrable under regulations and to improve the process for converting regional parks to jointly managed national park as Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land. The Explanatory Notes state that the amendments do not apply to areas outside the Cape York Peninsula Region and that the intention is not to make all protected areas on the Peninsula transferrable.
The amendment to the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) in Part 4 of the Bill defers the expiration of existing eligibility criteria and standard conditions for mining activities for one year until 31 March 2017. There are also consequences for rolling term leases within nature conservation areas and particular national parks.
For further information please see the Explanatory Note and Explanatory Speech.
The Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 was referred to the Agriculture and Environment Committee; the inquiry received 77 submissions. The Committee was critical of the removal of the objective to involve Indigenous peoples in the management of protected areas. They recommended that should the object be removed, the following phrase should be inserted into s 5 as how the object is to be achieved:
(a) the involvement of indigenous people in the management of protected areas in which they have an interest under Aboriginal tradition or Island custom.
The Committee also recommended that it be a requirement that the department consult with and seek the consent of the landowner of a national park on Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land when making a declaration of a special management area. Further, they recommended that national park (scientific) not be included in the definition of prescribed national park. They were also of the opinion that amendments for management plans on Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land should be prepared jointly with with the indigenous landowner and be consistent with any indigenous land use agreement and IMA for the area. Lastly, they recommended that the Minister consider the rights of agricultural and grazing lease holders in regards to their rights of appeal over lease renewal decisions, and consider if this administrative power is still subject to appropriate review.
The Committee could not agree on whether the Bill should be passed. Please see the Committee report for more information.