EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment and Energy)
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)
Instrument under section 184(1)(d)
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (the Act) provides for the protection of the environment, especially matters of national environmental significance, 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 184(1)(d) of the Act provides that the Minister or delegate may, by legislative instrument, amend the List to correct an inaccuracy or update the name of a listed threatened species.
The purpose of this Instrument is to amend the List by correcting an inaccuracy in the listed scientific name of Mastacomys fuscus by amending it to Mastacomys fuscus mordicus.
Background
This name change corrects the inaccurate listing of the species to the correct listing of the subspecies.
Consultation
Section 189(1) of the EPBC Act requires the rule-maker, when deciding whether to amend the List under section 184(1)(d) of the Act, to obtain and consider advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee on the proposed amendment. That advice was sought and considered prior to the making of the Instrument. The Committee agreed to recommend the name change as set out above.
Section 17(1)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003 states that before the legislative instrument is made, the rule-maker must be satisfied that there has been undertaken any consultation that is considered by the rule-maker to be appropriate. As this Instrument only corrects an inaccuracy by correcting a name in the List and does not make any substantial changes to the List, public consultation was not undertaken.
The Instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (Cth).
The Instrument is taken to have commenced on the 10 May 2016.
The retrospective commencement of this instrument does not contravene section 12 of the Legislation Act 2003. Correcting the species name retrospectively does not affect a person’s rights so as to disadvantage the person. Nor does the retrospective application of the instrument impose liabilities on a person in respect of anything done or omitted to be done before that day.
Authority: Section 184(1)(d) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Amendment to the lists of threatened species, threatened ecological communities and key threatening processes under sections 178, 181 and 183 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (193) 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 Legislative Instrument is to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) list of threatened species by updating the name of 1 fauna species under section 184(1)(d) of the EPBC Act. This name change is to correct an inaccuracy in the listed scientific name in the listed threatened species.
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.
Geoff Richardson Delegate for the Minister for the Environment and Energy
|