Marine Parks Act 2007

The objects of this Act are—

to protect and conserve marine biological diversity and marine habitats by declaring and providing for the management of a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine parks; and

to assist in—

the maintenance of ecological processes in the marine environment;

the adaptation to the impacts of climate change in the marine environment; and

protecting and conserving features of natural or cultural heritage significance; and

allowing ecologically sustainable development and use of marine environments; and

providing opportunities for public appreciation, education, understanding and enjoyment of marine environments.

For the purposes of this Act, ecologically sustainable development comprises the use, protection, conservation, development and enhancement of the marine environment in a way, and at a rate, that will enable people and communities to provide for their economic, social and physical well‑being and for their health and safety while—

sustaining the potential of the marine environment to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations; and

safeguarding the life‑supporting capacities and processes of the marine environment; and

avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the marine environment.

The following principles should be taken into account in connection with achieving ecologically sustainable development for the purposes of this

decision‑making processes should effectively integrate both long term and short term economic, environmental, social and equity considerations;

if there are threats of serious or irreversible harm to the marine environment, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent harm;

decision‑making processes should be guided by the need to evaluate carefully the risks of any situation or proposal that may adversely affect the marine environment and to avoid, wherever practicable, causing any serious or irreversible harm to the marine environment;

the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the marine environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations;

a fundamental consideration should be the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity;

environmental factors should be taken into account when valuing or assessing assets or services, costs associated with protecting or restoring the marine environment should be allocated or shared equitably and in a manner that encourages the responsible use of the marine environment, and people who obtain benefits from the marine environment, or who adversely affect or consume natural resources, should bear an appropriate share of the costs that flow from their activities;

if the management of the marine environment requires the taking of remedial action, the first step should, insofar as is reasonably practicable and appropriate, be to encourage those responsible to take such action before resorting to more formal processes and procedures;

consideration should be given to Aboriginal heritage, and to the interests of the traditional owners of any land or other natural resources;

consideration should be given to other heritage issues, and to the interests of the community in relation to conserving heritage items and places;

the involvement of the public in providing information and contributing to processes that improve decision‑making should be encouraged;

the responsibility to achieve ecologically sustainable development should be seen as a shared responsibility between the State government, the local government sector, the private sector, and the community more generally.