EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

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

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)

Instrument under section 192

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 (the List) separated into particular categories being extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and conservation dependent.

Section 192 of the Act provides that, if the Minister is satisfied that a native species that is listed in the extinct category has been definitely located in nature since it was last listed as extinct, the Minister may, under section 184, transfer the species from the extinct category to another category without considering advice from the Scientific Committee.

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

• transferring Prostanthera albohirta from the extinct to the critically endangered category of the Act.

Background

The transfer results from the recent rediscovery of the species from the Mount Emerald area of north Queensland. The rediscovery represents the first collections of this species since 1932. Reports indicated that there are currently less than 50 known plants in existence in an area less than 100m2.

Consultation

In accordance with section 192 of the Act consultation is not required to be undertaken before the Instrument was made. Although not required, consultation was undertaken in June 2013 with the Australian Biological Resources Study regarding confirmation of the rediscovery of the species and the National Environmental Research Program, Tropical Ecosystems Hub.

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

The Instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Amendment to the list of threatened species under section 178 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (XXX)

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

The purpose of this Instrument is to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 list of threatened species by deleting 12 Queensland endemic flora species from the vulnerable category of the list.

These species have been deleted from the vulnerable category as they did not meet any criteria, because they are variously either protected in reserves, do not have limited populations, geographic distributions are not limited or precarious, or are not subject to threats, or in one case, does not meet the definition of a species under the EPBC Act as it is a hybrid.

Human rights implications

This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

Conclusion

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.

Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities