EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 No. 254
NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment and the Arts).
Subsections 71(1) and (2) of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 (“the Act”) provide, as far as relevant:
71(1) The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.
(2) Without limiting the generality of
subsection (1), regulations may be made - (inter alia):
(a) providing for functions and powers to be conferred, and duties to be imposed, upon wardens and rangers;
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(b) providing for the protection and conservation of wildlife;
(da) regulating or prohibiting tourism in parks and reserves;
(e) providing for the protection and preservation of parks and reserves and property and things in parks and reserves;
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(z) providing for the issue of licences, permits and authorities, the conditions subject to which they are issued and the charging of fees by the Director in respect of such licences, permits and authorities; and
(za) providing for any matter incidental to or connected with any of the foregoing.
Subsections 8A(6), (7) and (8) of the Act provide, as far as relevant:
(6) For the purposes of making regulations in relation to conservation zones, subsections 71(2) (other than paragraph (t)) and 71(3) apply, subject to subsection 8A(7) of this section, in relation to conservation zones as they apply in relation to parks and reserves.
(7) For the purposes of subsection 8A(6), paragraphs 71(2) (da), (h), (j), (l), (n) and (s) apply as if the words “or prohibiting” were omitted.
(8) In addition to the powers to make regulations conferred by subsection 8A(6) and section 71, regulations in relation to conservation zones may be made -
(a) regulating or prohibiting operations for the recovery of minerals;
(b) regulating the carrying on of fishing, pastoral or agricultural activities for commercial purposes;
(c) regulating the construction or alteration of buildings and structures;
(d) regulating the construction or establishment of bridges, railways, roads, tracks, port facilities and air-strips and the carrying out of any other works;
(e) regulating the felling or taking of timber;
(f) making provision for and in relation to the powers to be exercised, and the functions and duties to be performed, in and in relation to conservation zones by wardens, rangers and other persons, being persons included in specified classes of persons; and
(g) making provision for and in relation to the giving of securities for compliance with regulations made in pursuance of this section by persons doing, or proposing to do, anything to which those regulations relate.
The National Parks and Wildlife Regulations (“the Principal Regulations”) applied only to parks and reserves established under the Act.
The object of the proposed amendments to the Principal Regulations was to make regulations to apply specifically to conservation zones established under the Act. Such regulations would provide for the Director to regulate certain activities consistent with the management of such conservation zones.
The amendments insert a new part (Part IIIA) after Part III of the Principal Regulations, to provide for the regulation of certain activities within conservation zones whereby:
Regulation 16AL - Provides for subregulation 4(1), (2) and (3) and regulations 7, 7D, 12, 20A and 20D of the Principal Regulations, to apply in relation to conservation zones as they apply in relation to parks and reserves and, for the purpose of that application, the references in those provisions to a park or reserve shall be read as references to a conservation zone.
The areas covered by the above Regulations are as follows:
Subregulations 4(1), (2) and (3) - Offences relating to wildlife, prohibit:
4(1) the interference, damage, injury or destruction of animal or plant wildlife.
4(2) the removal of animal or plant wildlife from a park or reserve.
4(3) persons from feeding wildlife in a park or reserve.
Regulation 7 - Certain activities prohibited in parks and reserves - prohibits, inter alia:
- the possession of a firearm, trap, net, snare, speargun or hunting bow in a park or reserve without the Director’s consent. The Director shall not give his consent unless he is satisfied that the use or possession of these items is not likely to damage the park or reserve or interfere with the management of wildlife.
- taking an animal or plant into, or knowingly permitting an animal to enter, a park or reserve. (This does not apply to a blind person taking his or her guide dog into a park or reserve, a person having the consent of the Director, or the taking of food into a park or reserve).
- a person who, with the consent of the Director, takes a dog into a park or reserve, allowing the dog to be at large or not removing the dog from the park or reserve when leaving.
Regulation 7D - Archaeological sites:
Provides for the protection of archaeological sites and archaeological artefacts.
Regulation 12 - Control of animals and plants that are not wildlife:
Allows the Director, when he considers it necessary to protect wildlife in a park or reserve, to control animals and plants that are not wildlife. This regulation does not apply to sheep, cattle and horses.
Regulation 20A - Exemptions:
Allows the Director to exempt a person from the provisions of these regulations whilst carrying on an activity (allowed by a permit or consent).
Regulation 20D - Reconsideration and review of decisions of Director:
Provides for a person or organisation affected by a decision of the Director under these Regulations to request the Director to reconsider the decision.
Regulation 16AM - Exempts the Director, a ranger, or a warden, or an approved person who is an officer or employee of the Northern Territory or of an authority of the Territory, when acting in the performance of his or her duties, from the provisions of subregulations 4(1), (2) or (3) and regulations 7, 7D or 12 in a conservation zone.