New South Wales Consolidated Acts

THREATENED SPECIES CONSERVATION ACT 1995 - SECT 4

4 Definitions

(1) In this Act:
"animal" means any animal-life that is indigenous to New South Wales or is known to periodically or occasionally migrate to New South Wales, whether vertebrate or invertebrate and in any stage of biological development, but does not include:

(a) humans, or

(b) fish within the meaning of Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 .

Note: Some types of fish may be included in the definition of "animal". See section 5A.

"BDAC" means the Biological Diversity Advisory Council established under Part 9A.
"biodiversity values" has the meaning given by section 4A.
"biological diversity" means the diversity of life and is made up of the following 3 components:

(a) genetic diversity-the variety of genes (or units of heredity) in any population,

(b) species diversity-the variety of species,

(c) ecosystem diversity-the variety of communities or ecosystems.

"catchment action plan" or "CAP" means a catchment action plan approved under Part 4 of the Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003 .
"council" has the same meaning as in the Local Government Act 1993 .
"critical habitat" means habitat declared to be critical habitat under Part 3.
"critically endangered ecological community" means an ecological community specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1A.
"critically endangered species" means a species specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1A.
"critically endangered species and ecological communities" means species and ecological communities specified in Schedule 1A and "critically endangered species or ecological community" means a species or ecological community respectively specified in that Schedule.
"Department" means the Department of Environment and Conservation.
"Director-General" means the Director-General of the Department.
"ecological community" means an assemblage of species occupying a particular area.
"ecologically sustainable development" has the same meaning as under section 6 (2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 .
"endangered ecological community" means an ecological community specified in Part 3 of Schedule 1.
"endangered population" means a population specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1.
"endangered species" means a species specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1.
"endangered species, populations and ecological communities" means species, populations and ecological communities specified in Schedule 1 and "endangered species, population or ecological community" means a species, population or ecological community respectively specified in that Schedule.
"environmental planning instrument" or "EPI" means an environmental planning instrument under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 .
"exercise" a function includes perform a duty.
"Fisheries Scientific Committee" means the Fisheries Scientific Committee constituted under Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 .
"function" includes a power, authority or duty.
"habitat" means an area or areas occupied, or periodically or occasionally occupied, by a species, population or ecological community and includes any biotic or abiotic component.
"harm" has the same meaning as in the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 .
"joint management agreement" means an agreement entered into under Division 2 of Part 7.
"key threatening process" means a threatening process specified in Schedule 3.
"land" includes:

(a) buildings and other structures permanently fixed to land, and

(b) land covered with water, and

(c) the sea or an arm of the sea, and

(d) a bay, inlet, lagoon, lake or body of water, whether inland or not and whether tidal or not, and

(e) a river, stream or watercourse, whether tidal or not.

"landholder" of land means a person who owns land or who, whether by reason of ownership or otherwise, is in lawful occupation or possession, or has lawful management or control, of land.
"list" means a list set out in Schedule 1, 1A, 2 or 3 and includes a list in one or more of those Schedules that does not contain any entries.
"NPW Act" means the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 .
"NRC" means the Natural Resources Commission established under the Natural Resources Commission Act 2003 .
"pick" has the same meaning as in the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 .
"plant" means any plant-life that is indigenous to New South Wales, whether vascular or non-vascular and in any stage of biological development, and includes fungi and lichens, but does not include marine vegetation within the meaning of Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 .

Note: Some types of marine vegetation may be included in the definition of "plant". See Section 5A.

"population" means a group of organisms, all of the same species, occupying a particular area.
"Priorities Action Statement" means a Threatened Species Priorities Action Statement under Part 5A.
"public authority" means any public or local authority constituted by or under an Act, a government department, a statutory body representing the Crown, or a State owned corporation, and includes a person exercising any function on behalf of the authority, department, body or corporation and any person prescribed by the regulations to be a public authority.
"recovery plan" means a plan prepared and approved under Part 4.
"region" means, for the purposes of the provision in which it is used, a bioregion defined in a national system of bioregionalisation that is determined (by the Director-General under subsection (4)) to be appropriate for those purposes. If the bioregion occurs partly within and partly outside New South Wales, the region consists only of so much of the bioregion as occurs within New South Wales.
"Scientific Committee" means the Scientific Committee constituted under Part 8.
"SEAC" means the Social and Economic Advisory Council established under Part 9A.
"species" of animal or plant includes any defined sub-species and taxon below a sub-species and any recognisable variant of a sub-species or taxon.
"species impact statement" means a statement referred to in Division 2 of Part 6 and includes an environmental impact statement, prepared under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 , that contains a species impact statement.
"species presumed extinct" means a species specified in Part 4 of Schedule 1.
"Strategy" means the Biological Diversity Strategy referred to in section 140.
"threat abatement plan" means a plan prepared and approved under Part 5.
"threatened ecological community" means an ecological community specified in Part 3 of Schedule 1, Part 2 of Schedule 1A or Part 2 of Schedule 2.
"threatened species" means a species specified in Part 1 or 4 of Schedule 1, Part 1 of Schedule 1A or Part 1 of Schedule 2.
"threatened species, populations and ecological communities" means species, populations and ecological communities specified in Schedules 1, 1A and 2 and "threatened species, population or ecological community" means a species, population or ecological community specified in any of those Schedules.

Note: In some cases vulnerable ecological communities are excluded from this expression. See subsection (5).

"threatening process" means a process that threatens, or may have the capability to threaten, the survival or evolutionary development of species, populations or ecological communities.
"vulnerable ecological community" means an ecological community specified in Part 2 of Schedule 2.
"vulnerable species" means a species specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(2) A reference in this Act to animal-life or plant-life indigenous to New South Wales is a reference to animal-life or plant-life of a species that was established in New South Wales before European settlement.

(3) A reference in this Act to New South Wales includes a reference to the coastal waters of the State.

Note: "Coastal waters of the State" is defined in section 58 of the Interpretation Act 1987 .

(4) For the purposes of the definition of "region" in subsection (1), a determination of bioregions is to be made by the Director-General by order published in the Gazette. The Director-General is to consult the Director of NSW Fisheries before making any such order and is to obtain the concurrence of that Director with respect to areas occupied by fish or marine vegetation.

(5) In Parts 6 and 7, a reference to "threatened species, populations and ecological communities" or "threatened species, population or ecological community" (however expressed) does not include a reference to any vulnerable ecological community. However, this subsection does not affect the application of those Parts to any threatened species or endangered populations that may form part of a vulnerable ecological community.

Note: Vulnerable ecological communities are excluded from the licensing provisions of this Act and from related offences under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 . However, the Director-General may prepare a recovery plan in respect of a vulnerable ecological community and that plan and the provisions of Division 2 of Part 4 of this Act apply in respect of the implementation of that plan.