EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment)

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)

Instrument under section 184(1)(d)

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) provides for the protection of the environment and conservation of biodiversity, including the protection and conservation of threatened species.

Section 178 of the Act provides for a list of threatened species and (the List) separated into particular categories being extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and conservation dependent.

Section 184(1)(d) of the Act provides for the correcting an inaccuracy or updating the name of a listed species or ecological community.

The purpose of this Instrument is to amend the List by:

• correcting an inaccuracy to remove from the list the incorrectly listed Bertya tasmanica and include in the list Bertya tasmanica subsp. tasmanica

Background

In 2005 the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) assessed the subspecies Bertya tasmanica subsp. tasmanica and recommended to the then Minister for the Environment and Heritage the Hon Ian Campbell, that the subspecies be included in the endangered category of the list referred to in section 178.

The Minister agreed to the Committee’s recommendation however an administrative error occurred in preparing the legislative instrument and the signed instrument mistakenly included the species Bertya tasmanica instead of the subspecies Bertya tasmanica subsp. tasmanica.

It is clear from the advice to the Minister that the assessment was prepared for and the recommendation was to list the subspecies Bertya tasmanica subsp. tasmanica. Advice received form the Australian Biological Resources Study confirms that the subspecies Bertya tasmanica subsp. tasmanica is threatened and only found in Tasmania, whereas the species Bertya tasmanica is widespread occurring in Tasmania, Victoria, NSW, ACT and South Australia and is not threatened.

Consultation

In accordance with section 184(1)(d) consultation is not required to be undertaken before the instrument was made.  Although not required, consultation was undertaken in November 2013 with the Australian Biological Resources Study.

This Instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The Instrument is taken to have commenced on 13 May 2005.

The retrospective commencement of this instrument does not contravene subsection 12(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 because it does not impose any detriment on a person, or remove any rights from a person, with retrospective effect.