Advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional legal opinion.
Briefing Paper No. 06/1999 by Stewart Smith
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- This Paper is an update of the 1995 Briefing Paper No 28,
Native Vegetation Protection in NSW. In New South Wales, two-thirds of
the State, or 52 million ha, was covered by forest or woodland prior to
settlement. Now only 21 million ha remain. It is significant to note that,
nationwide, in the last 50 years as much land has been cleared as in the 150
years before 1945. Across Australia, in 1990 an estimated 500,000 ha of native
vegetation (including regrowth) was cleared for agriculture. This equates to
over one million rugby football fields, or over two rugby fields being cleared
every minute (page 1).
- The NSW Government has described its native vegetation
protection policies as having four elements. The first was SEPP 46, which
introduced native vegetation clearing controls. The second element was the NSW
Vegetation Forum, which was charged with consulting the community and devising
a long term alternative to SEPP 46. The third element was the release of a
White Paper and introduction of the Native Vegetation Conservation Bill to the
Parliament. The fourth element is the ongoing management of native vegetation
under the Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997 (page 3).
- The Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997 brought the
clearing of native vegetation in NSW under the one regime. The Act repealed
clearing provisions in the: Soil Conservation Act 1938; Western Lands Act
1901; Crown Lands (Continued Tenures) Act 1989; and the Forestry Act 1916
(Appendix 2). In addition, State Environmental Planning Policy No 46 -
Protection and Management of Native Vegetation was repealed (page 4).
- The core of the Native Vegetation Conservation Act is
the regional vegetation management plan. This plan provides specifications as
to what clearing is allowed in a region. Where clearing is allowed for in the
plan, no development consent for that clearing will be required. Any clearing
outside the specifications of the plan, or where a plan is not yet in place and
the clearing is not exempted, will require assessment and development consent
from the Minister for Land and Water Conservation under Part 4 of the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The Act also provides
for monetary incentives for landholders to help protect their native vegetation
(pages 6-9).
- The NSW Farmers Association has been strongly critical of the
Act. Conservation groups have been more supportive. The NSW Coalition released
their native vegetation policy on 28 January 1999, which stated that a
Coalition Government would repeal the Native Vegetation Conservation Act
and replace it with an expansion of the Soil Conservation Act (page 9).
- The Commonwealth Government, through the Natural Heritage Trust
National Vegetation Initiative, has also been a participant in native
vegetation conservation (page 10).
