New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PLANTATIONS AND REAFFORESTATION ACT 1999 - SECT 15

15 Provisions relating to threatened species conservation

(1) This section applies if the Minister makes a determination that a species impact statement is required for the purposes of an application for authorisation under this Act. This section applies even if the plantation or proposed plantation the subject of the application is (but for that requirement) a complying plantation.

(2) The Minister is to make such a determination if the Minister is of the opinion that a species impact statement would be required to accompany the application if it were a development application under Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 for the plantation or proposed plantation.

(3) The applicant for authorisation is required to provide the Minister with a relevant species impact statement.

(4) The Minister may not authorise the plantation or proposed plantation without the concurrence of:

(a) the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife, except in respect to a matter referred to in paragraph (b), or

(b) if the matter concerns critical habitat of fish or marine vegetation, or threatened species, populations or ecological communities of fish or marine vegetation, or their habitats-the Director of NSW Fisheries.

(5) Despite subsection (4):

(a) the Minister administering the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 may elect to act in the place of the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife for the purposes of that subsection, and

(b) the Minister administering the Fisheries Management Act 1994 may elect to act in the place of the Director of NSW Fisheries for the purposes of that subsection.

If any such Minister so elects, that Minister must supply the Minister to whom the application for authorisation was made with any recommendations made by the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife or the Director of NSW Fisheries with respect to the matter and with his or her reasons for not accepting any of those recommendations.

(6) In determining whether or not concurrence should be granted under subsection (4), the following matters must be taken into consideration:

(a) any species impact statement provided by the applicant for authorisation,

(b) any assessment report prepared on behalf of the Minister,

(c) any submissions or objections received concerning the application for authorisation,

(d) any relevant recovery plan or threat abatement plan,

(e) whether the plantation operations proposed are likely to reduce the long-term viability of the species, population or ecological community in the region,

(f) whether the plantation operations proposed are likely to accelerate the extinction of the species, population or ecological community or place it at risk of extinction,

(g) the principles of ecologically sustainable development (as described in section 6 (2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 ),

(h) the likely social and economic consequences of granting or refusing concurrence.

(7) Concurrence under subsection (4) may be granted subject to conditions of the kind to which the authorisation of the plantation may be made subject under this Act. Any authorisation of the plantation under this Act must be made subject those conditions.

(8) A species impact statement and any decision with respect to the application for authorisation need not take account of any relevant listing of a species, population or ecological community after the application was made (other than a provisional listing).

(9) A species impact statement is not required to be provided (despite anything to the contrary in this section) if authorisation for a timber plantation is sought for an existing plantation (within the meaning of section 9). However, if a species impact statement would be required (but for this subsection), the plantation cannot be a complying plantation and the Minister may:

(a) refuse the application if the plantation operations sought to be authorised might harm any unique or special wildlife values of the land concerned, or

(b) impose conditions on the grant of any authorisation for the purpose of protecting those values in connection with any harvesting or other plantation operations.

(10) In this section, "species impact statement" and "development application" have the same meanings as they have in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 .