Natural Resources Management (General) Variation Regulations 2015 (SA)

South Australia

Natural Resources Management (General) Variation Regulations 2015

under the Natural Resources Management Act 2004

Contents

Part 1—Preliminary

1            Short title

2            Commencement

3            Variation provisions

Part 2—Variation of Natural Resources Management (General) Regulations 2005

4            Insertion of regulation 20A

20A        Interpretation—harvesting (section 169A of Act)

5            Insertion of regulations 21A to 21E

21A         Variations—allocations—prescribed period (section 169E of Act)

21B         Approval for transfer of allocations—prescribed circumstances (section 169F of Act)

21C         Variation—conditions—prescribed period (section 169H of Act)

21D         Surrender of licenses—prescribed circumstances (section 169J of Act)

21E         Offences—prescribed rate (section 169L of Act)

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

These regulations may be cited as the Natural Resources Management (General) Variation Regulations 2015.

2—Commencement

These regulations come into operation on the day on which they are made.

3—Variation provisions

In these regulations, a provision under a heading referring to the variation of specified regulations varies the regulations so specified.

Part 2—Variation of Natural Resources Management (General) Regulations 2005

4—Insertion of regulation 20A

Before regulation 21 insert:

20A—Interpretation—harvesting (section 169A of Act)

(1)For the purposes of section 169A(2) of the Act, a reference to harvesting does not include the following activities:

(a)forest thinning;

(b)salvage operations following instances of pest incursion, wind‑throw, fire or other such harmful or damaging events to forest vegetation;

(c)an activity specified in the water allocation plan relating to the declared forestry area as an activity that does not constitute harvesting.

(2)In this regulation—

forest thinning means the selective removal of a proportion of the trees from a commercial forest, primarily undertaken to improve the growth rate or health of the remaining trees in the forest, but does not include clear‑felling.

5—Insertion of regulations 21A to 21E

After regulation 21 insert:

21A—Variations—allocations—prescribed period (section 169E of Act)

For the purposes of section 169E(1)(b) of the Act, the period of 18 months is prescribed.

21B—Approval for transfer of allocations—prescribed circumstances (section 169F of Act)

(1)For the purposes of section 169F(7)(d) of the Act, the Minister must refuse an application for a transfer if the applicant has not paid an NRM water levy, or a part of an NRM water levy, and the Minister thinks it appropriate to refuse the application on the basis of the non‑payment.

(2)For the purposes of section 169F(9) of the Act, the forest manager may not deal with a water allocation attached to the licence if the result would be that the water allocation attached to the licence would fall below the water required to offset the impact of the forest on the relevant water resource (as determined under the relevant water allocation plan).

21C—Variation—conditions—prescribed period (section 169H of Act)

For the purposes of section 169H(1)(b) of the Act, the period of 18 months is prescribed.

21D—Surrender of licenses—prescribed circumstances (section 169J of Act)

For the purposes of section 169J of the Act, a licensee may surrender his or her forest water licence in circumstances where the commercial forest the subject of the forest water licence has been permanently removed.

21E—Offences—prescribed rate (section 169L of Act)

For the purposes of section 169L(2)(a)(i) of the Act, the prescribed rate is $25 per kilolitre.

Note—

As required by section 10AA(2) of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1978, the Minister has certified that, in the Minister's opinion, it is necessary or appropriate that these regulations come into operation as set out in these regulations.

Made by the Governor

with the advice and consent of the Executive Council

on 26 February 2015

No 13 of 2015

14MSECCS054