EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1983 NO. 31
WORLD HERITAGE (WESTERN TASMANIA WILDERNESS) REGULATIONS
(Issued under the authority of the Minister of State for Home Affairs and Environment)
The purpose of the World Heritage (Western Tasmania Wilderness) Regulations is to prevent the construction of the Gordon-below-Franklin dam in order to ensure that South-West Tasmania is saved for future generations in accordance with Australia’s obligations under the “Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage”.
The regulations provide as follows:-
PREAMBLE
| - | sets out the background to the Convention and Australia’s nomination of Western Tasmania Wilderness National Parks on the World Heritage List and recites the necessity for the Regulations. |
Regulation 1 | - | Formal. Provides for the citation of the Regulations. |
Regulation 2 | - | Provides that the Regulations are to be limited to areas which are being or will be affected by the construction of the dam (i.e. that area excised from the Franklin-Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park by the Tasmanian Government for the purpose of dam construction). The relevant areas are all within the listed area. |
Regulation 3 | - | Contains the definitions which are required for the purposes of the Regulations. Of particular importance is the definition of “person” which specifically includes the State of Tasmania. |
Regulation 4 | - | Provides that the Regulations bind the Crown in right of the Commonwealth and the State of Tasmania. The regulation ensures that the Commonwealth or the State of Tasmania is not liable for prosecution, but any servant or agent of the Commonwealth or of Tasmania will remain liable to be prosecuted for an offence. |
Regulation 5 | - | Makes it unlawful for any person, without the consent of the Minister for Home Affairs and Environment, to construct a dam or associated works in the listed area or take any other action which may adversely affect the listed area. Any person who has control of an area where such acts take place will be guilty of an offence unless that person proves that he took reasonable steps to prevent that act occurring. |
Regulation 6 | - | Ensures that the provision for penalties in regulation 5 does not preclude a court from granting an injunction, declaration, or other relief. |
Regulation 7 | - | Provides that if the Regulations involve an “acquisition of property” in the constitutional sense, the Commonwealth should provide “just terms” as assessed, in default of agreement by Tasmania, by a court of competent jurisdiction. |
Regulation 8 | - | Is an evidentiary provision to provide that a copy of the Plan referred to in regulation 2 which has been certified by an officer of the Department of Administrative Services as being a true copy of that Plan is evidence of that Plan. |
Schedule 1 | - | Sets out the text of the Convention. |
Schedule 2 | - | Is a copy of the letter from the Premier of Tasmania, requesting the Commonwealth to nominate the Western Tasmania Wilderness National Parks for inclusion in the World Heritage List. |
Schedule 3 | - | Is a statement of the World Heritage Committee in relation to the inclusion of the Western Tasmania Wilderness in the World Heritage List. |