Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

This section sets out some extra rules about the process of preparing management plans for a Commonwealth reserve wholly or partly within the Kakadu region, the Uluru region or Jervis Bay Territory.

The Minister must give a management plan for a Commonwealth reserve back to the Director with suggestions under paragraph 370(3)(b) if the Minister is satisfied that there is a substantial difference of opinion between:

the Chair or Chairperson of a land council for indigenous people’s land in the reserve, on the one hand; and

the Director, or the Director and the Board for the reserve (if it is a jointly managed reserve), on the other hand.

If the Minister gives the plan back to the Director with suggestions under paragraph 370(3)(b) (whether because of subsection (2) or not), the Minister must:

give a copy of the suggestions to:

the Chair or Chairperson of each land council for indigenous people’s land in the reserve; and

the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, if the plan is for a Commonwealth reserve wholly or partly in the Territory; and

invite each person to whom the Minister gave a copy of the suggestions to give the Director comments on the suggestions within 14 days.

When considering the Minister’s suggestions as required by paragraph 370(4)(a), the Director and any Board for the reserve must also consider any comments made in response to the Minister’s invitation.

When the Director gives the Minister an identical or altered version of the plan under paragraph 370(4)(b), the Director must also:

give the Minister a copy of the comments (if any) made in response to the Minister’s invitation, and the Director’s views on those comments; and

give the Chair or Chairperson of each land council for indigenous people’s land in the reserve a copy of the version of the plan given to the Minister and of the comments and views (if any) being given to the Minister under paragraph (a).

The Chair or Chairperson of a land council for indigenous people’s land in the reserve may make comments to the Minister relating to the version of the plan within 14 days of receiving the copy of it.

If the Minister receives comments from the Chair or Chairperson of a land council for indigenous people’s land in the reserve and the Minister is satisfied that there is a substantial difference of opinion between the Chair or Chairperson and the Director over the plan:

the Minister may appoint a person the Minister considers to be suitably qualified and in a position to deal with the matter impartially to inquire into the matter; and

the person appointed must inquire into the matter and give the Minister a report and recommendations.

The Minister:

must also consider:

the comments (if any) made to the Minister by the Chair or Chairperson under subsection (6); and

the report and recommendations (if any) given to the Minister under subsection (7);

must not approve the plan before the end of the period described in subsection (6).