EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Instrument under section 270B(2)
(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment and Heritage)
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) places certain obligations on the Commonwealth to protect and conserve threatened species and ecological communities, and to ensure threat abatement plans are in force under the Act.
The purpose of this instrument is to ensure the following threat abatement plan is in force in accordance with s270B of the Act:
- Threat abatement plan: Infection of amphibian chytrid fungus resulting in chytridiomycosis.
The threat abatement plan has been assessed and complies with s. 271 of the Act and r. 7.12 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000.
Stakeholders were consulted during the drafting of the threat abatement plan. The plan was also placed on public exhibition for three months as required under s. 275 of the Act, and public comments were invited. All comments were taken into account in finalising the plan.
The information in the threat abatement plan enabled the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to recommend the making of the plan as required under s. 274 of the Act.
The plan provides for the research, management and other actions necessary to reduce the key threatening process concerned to an acceptable level in order to maximise the chances of the long-term survival in nature of native species and ecological communities affected by the process.
The threat abatement plan is available electronically from the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage at http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/tap/chytrid or from the Community Information Unit (ciu@deh.gov.au), Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601, or on 1800 803 772.
This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
In accordance with section 273 (1A) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 the threat abatement plan came into force on the day on which the Minister made the Plan.
For the purpose of subsection 12 (2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, the rights and liabilities of a person other than the Commonwealth have not been adversely affected by the retrospective commencement of the plan.