Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

A public authority must not carry out development on land subject to a wildlife refuge agreement unless—

it has given written notice of the proposed development to the Minister and the owner of the land, and

it has received written notice from the Minister consenting to the development.

The Minister may consent to the development only if—

the Minister is of the opinion that the development will neither adversely affect any management actions that may be carried out on the land under the wildlife refuge agreement nor adversely affect biodiversity protected by the agreement, or

there is no practical alternative to the carrying out of the development, or

the development is required for an essential public purpose or for a purpose of special significance to the State.

The Biodiversity Conservation Trust, if directed to do so by the Minister, is to vary or terminate the wildlife refuge agreement, by notification in the public register of private land conservation agreements under Part 9, without the consent of the owners of the land if consent to development is granted under this section and the Minister considers that the variation or termination is necessary to enable the public authority to carry out the development.

If a wildlife refuge agreement is varied under this section without the approval of the owner of the land subject to the agreement, the owner may terminate the agreement by notice in writing to the Biodiversity Conservation Trust.

The owner of land subject to a wildlife refuge agreement is not entitled to any compensation as a result of the variation or termination of the agreement under this section.

Subsection (5) does not affect any right to compensation the owner may have under the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 or any other Act in respect of the development.

The consent of the Minister under this section is not an approval for the purposes of Part 5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

Section 5.17 (Resolution of certain disputes) applies to disputes under this section in the same way as it applies to disputes referred to in that section.

This section does not apply—

to any part of land that is a wilderness area within the meaning of the Wilderness Act 1987, or

in respect of development proposed to be carried out by a public authority on land if the public authority is the owner of the land and the proposed development is not inconsistent with the terms of the wildlife refuge agreement, or

in respect of development that comprises emergency or routine work by a public authority of a kind that the authority and the Minister have agreed to exclude from the application of this section.