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Top Secret

The future of the "Act"

 

Andrew Cox

The 30th anniversary of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1997 kicked off a number of events leading towards long overdue changes to its governing legislation. Yet the early release of a confidential reform document in January 2000 caused the Government to stop that in its tracks. 

What was the Government afraid of? 

This review details those reform plans and analyses their worth. The next issue of the Journal will outline NPA ideas for reform of the National Parks and Wildlife Act (NPW Act).


Royal National Park, our oldest national park
Photo: Eric Stone

The path to reform

In 1997, NPA and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) celebrated the NPWS’s 30th year by holding a conference, National Parks: New Visions for a New Century. In her speech to the conference, the then Minister for the Environment Pam Allan announced a symposium to create a vision for the NPWS. Exactly one year later, under a new Director-General, Brian Gilligan, the Visions for the New Millenium Symposium took place. The work was continued by a steering committee that reported to the Minister for the Environment in late 1998.

The committee recommendations provided direction and guidance to NPWS to fulfil its role in conserving natural and cultural heritage. It also contained recommendations about the NPW Act. The reforms were remoulded by the new Director-General (D-G).

Late in 1999, the NSW Government prepared a Confidential Discussion Paper: Strategic Review of the National Parks and Wildlife Act. While under Cabinet consideration, prior to public release, the paper was leaked to the media.

NPA and other conservation groups reacted strongly. They saw the proposed changes leading to an NPWS driven by profit, and serious weakening of a range of environmental protection and public involvement provisions. Since then, the Government has abandoned its review of the NPW Act for unspecified reasons, but rumours persist that minor but controversial changes may still be attempted with little notice.

It is NPA's view that whilst many sensible changes are proposed, others are highly disturbing.

Objects of the NPW Act

Proposal: Add a set of objects, methods for achieving these, and the need to have regard to the principle of ‘ecologically sustainable use’. These components are absent from the NPW Act. Objects are now standard practice in modern legislation.

The objects proposed are:

a) the conservation of nature across the landscape including:

• ecosystems and ecosystem processes

• biological diversity, at the community, species and genetic levels

• landforms of national or regional significance,

b) the conservation of places or features of significant cultural value within the landscape including:

• places of significance to Aboriginal people

• places of historic significance,

c) fostering public appreciation, understanding and enjoyment of nature and cultural heritage and their conservation.

 

Advisory Council and committees


Mutwindji National Park
Photo: Mark Watson

Proposal: Change the membership and role of the Advisory Council and advisory committees.

The proposed compositional changes to the Advisory Council would reduce the level of scientific expertise available to the Council, whilst providing increased opportunity for traditional opponents of national parks.

Two additional places for advisory committee members would be created to reflect the new regional structure of NPWS, and the D-G would no longer be the statutory chairperson of the Council. The paper does not specifically continue the current requirement that NCC and NPA nominees form part of the Council, although the present Minister has undertaken to uphold NPA's current statutory right to nominate a representative.

The role of the Council would change to explicitly cover all the elements of the Act's objects. The paper is unclear on the Council's formal role in providing advice to the Minister in relation to draft plans.

Changes to the advisory committees include formalising membership; extending their role to all NPWS activities (rather than just those in the reserves); providing a statutory role in the preparation of management plans; and ensuring Aboriginal communities are consulted.

Problem: Changes to the Council and its role could weaken the power of its advice to the Minister in relation to plans of management. Decisions on management planning could devolve to more parochial regional requirements and Statewide consistency would be lost.

The reserve system

Proposal: Provide principles to guide the establishment of the reserve system. This lists the issues that must be taken into account when areas are being investigated for addition to the reserve system and defines the purposes for which areas are to be reserved.

Proposal: For each reserve category, provide a definition of the reserve and principles of management, based on international practice. Presently the definitions and purposes occur throughout the Act. Changes are to be made to some reserve categories. Reserve categories are to be retained for national parks, nature reserves, regional parks, historic sites and Aboriginal areas. Categories to be abolished are karst conservation reserves, State recreation areas and State game reserves.

Historic sites are to be created within existing reserves (presently they can only be outside the reserve) and this will facilitate commercialisation within reserves due to provisions that permit adaptive reuse of the site, a ‘broader’ range of uses and previously unavailable lease types.

A new category, State conservation reserve, is created for conservation management while permitting mineral exploration and mining with the consent of the Minister for the Environment. This is similar to the existing State recreation area, but with more specific conservation objectives. The regional park definition and objectives are altered.

Problem: Allowing historic sites throughout national parks opens the way for expanded commercialisation of the parks and for the primary purpose of nature conservation to be subsumed. The new category of State conservation reserve would result in potential national parks instead being provided weaker protection where mining is permitted.

Other land designations

Proposal: Alter the wild and scenic river provisions to remove reference to scenic rivers and provide a definition and management guidelines.

Proposal: Abolish wilderness areas, protected archaeological areas, wildlife districts and wildlife management areas from the Act.

Wilderness areas are dealt with under the more recent Wilderness Act, making the wilderness provisions in the NPW Act redundant. In March 1999 the Government committed to strengthening the Wilderness Act, though this is not covered in the discussion paper.

The other types of areas are no longer required. Wildlife districts and management areas that relate to hunting animals are to be abolished, as recreational hunting no longer occurs on public lands.

Boundary adjustments

Proposal: The Minister can revoke an area from a national park in the ‘interests of public safety' without an Act of Parliament if approved by the NPWS Advisory Council. This is meant to permit the removal of areas from national parks for safety-enhancing measures such as bus stops, turning circles and dangerous curves.

Problem: There are no checks on this power, or an argument why this provision is needed.

Conservation outside reserves

Proposal: Simplify the mechanism to create wildlife refuges and improve conservation agreements.

Conservation agreements are voluntary agreements entered into between the Minister for the Environment and a landholder which guarantee conservation of the area’s natural or cultural values. The proposed changes establish that the duration of a conservation agreement can vary from a short to an unlimited period; provide a process for the Minister to vary or revoke an agreement; allow an agreement to be entered into with statutory or government organisations; and link them to conservation agreements under the Native Vegetation Conservation Act.

Proposal: Provide for the NPWS to conduct regional conservation assessments.

The proposed NPWS assessments will gather, analyse and distribute ‘biodiversity, ecological and natural heritage data for use in determining conservation significance and conservation priorities’. This would feed into existing government planning and land-use processes. A key outcome would be a Statement of Regional Conservation Priorities adopted by the Minister for the Environment after public consultation.

Regional conservation assessments so far have not produced clear conservation priorities. The formalisation of a process and NPWS’s leading role will ensure conservation priorities figure prominently in decision making.

Aboriginal heritage

Proposal: Improve the framework for Aboriginal ownership and joint management of culturally significant parts of the reserve system. A number of changes have been identified since the ownership provisions were added to the NPW Act in 1996 and the Mutawintji lands were handed back in 1998.

Proposal: Creation of separate Aboriginal heritage legislation to protect cultural items and places, including setting up Aboriginal cultural heritage assessments.

Plans of management

Proposal: A smaller and more comprehensive list of matters for consideration during plan of management preparation, including the broader regional, national and international context.

Proposal: Standardise the plan adoption process; lengthen the minimum public consultation process to 60 days; and ensure plans are current (if the Minister does not adopt a draft plan within twelve months, it must be referred back to the Advisory Council).

Proposal: For reserves containing intertidal areas, the Minister for Fisheries must be consulted.

Proposal: Allow the Minister to make minor changes to a plan without public consultation, but with the approval of the Advisory Council.

Problem: NPWS will have weaker laws controlling its plans of management than those that apply to community land under the Local Government Act. Fisheries will have the administrative power to block necessary road closures.

Flora and fauna provisions

Proposal: Introduce a new category of research and conservation licence to take protected flora and fauna for science, research or conservation purposes, or for other forms of research on NPWS-owned lands.

Proposal: Increase powers to control whale and dolphin watching through a new licensing system.

Proposal: Ensure that licensing of commercial or other use of wildlife takes place on an ecologically sustainable basis, and that a management plan to control licensing is prepared for fauna species that may be adversely affected.

Proposal: Harvesting, ranching or farming of all native animal species, including threatened species, to be permitted. Presently this only occurs for emus.

Proposal: Remove the 19-bird rule that allows up to 19 native birds to be kept without a licence, and modify the process for trading and keeping as pets any native animals, such as birds, reptiles, mammals or amphibians.

Problem: The way will be open for large-scale, widespread and uncontrollable commercial exploitation of native animals.

Leases, licences and easements

Proposal: Allow the Minister to grant easements or licences to permit access to reserve inholdings. Landholders already have common law rights that guarantee access to their land. The proposal is unnecessary and will lead to new roads through parks.

Proposal: Permit commercial activities, such as guided walking tours, within wilderness.

Proposal: New leases or licences to permit the commercial use of buildings or modified natural areas within reserves, provided the uses have minimal impact on the natural or cultural values of the reserve.

Problem: These provisions signify a significant expansion in the commercial potential for reserves.

Kosciuszko National Park

Proposal: Give the NPWS planning powers in Kosciuszko NP, similar to local councils, relating to development and building approvals.

This proposal has been superceded by the Government’s endorsed Walker Inquiry recommendations released in February 2001, which give the Planning Minister many of NPWS’s planning powers over ski resorts in Kosciuszko.

Andrew Cox
NPA Executive Officer



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