Forest Practices Act 1985

Forest Practices Act 1985

This Act may be cited as the Forest Practices Act 1985.

Parts I and IV shall commence on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.

Except as provided in subsection (1), this Act shall commence on such day as may be fixed by proclamation.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears – Authority means the Forest Practices Authority;Board means the Board of Directors of the Authority; certified forest practices plan means a forest practices plan certified by the Authority and in force under this Act and includes a forest practices plan varied in accordance with Part III; chief forest practices officer means the chief forest practices officer appointed under section 4J; clearing of trees means the removal of trees by – clearing, cutting, pushing or otherwise removing; or destroying the trees in any way; code of conduct means a code of conduct issued under section 40A(3);Council means the Forest Practices Advisory Council established under section 37A; director means a director of the Board; discrete operational phase, of a forest practices plan, means a forest practice or a part of a forest practice that is specifically identified in the plan as constituting a discrete operational phase, stage or component of the plan; exceptional circumstances, that may justify the clearance and conversion of a threatened native vegetation community, include the need to do one or more of the following:ensure the physical safety of an owner of land or the owner's relatives or employees; remove or reduce a bushfire risk; respond to a threat to the State's biosecurity; protect a rare, vulnerable or endangered species of flora or fauna; discharge a statutory obligation or comply with an order of a court; financial year means the period of 12 months ending on 30 June in any year; forest means an area containing trees; forest practices means – the processes involved in establishing forests, growing or harvesting timber, clearing trees or clearing and converting threatened native vegetation communities; and works (including the construction of roads and the development and operation of quarries) connected with establishing forests, growing or harvesting timber or clearing trees;Forest Practices Code means the Forest Practices Code issued by the Authority pursuant to section 30 and in force under this Act and includes any amendments that may from time to time be made to that Code; forest practices officer means a forest practices officer referred to in section 39; forest practices plan means a plan referred to in section 18;Forestry corporation means the corporation of that name continued by section 6 of the Forest Management Act 2013; forestry right means any forestry right registered under the Forestry Rights Registration Act 1990 or continued under the Forest Management Act 2013; harvest, used in relation to timber, means to cut and remove that timber from a forest; native vegetation means vegetation of a species that existed in Tasmania, on land, before European settlement; owner of land means – in the case of Crown land that is permanent timber production zone land within the meaning of the Forest Management Act 2013 – the Forestry corporation; in the case of land held in fee simple – the person in whom the estate of fee simple is vested or, if the land is general law land subject to mortgage, the person having the equity of redemption in that land; in the case of land held under a tenancy for life – the person who is the life tenant; in the case of land held under a lease for a term of not less than 99 years – the person who is the lessee of the land; or in the case of land held under any other interest declared by the regulations to be an interest for the purposes of this definition – the person who is the holder of the land under that interest;Private Forests Tasmania means the body of that name established under section 4 of the Private Forests Act 1994; private timber reserve means land that has been declared as a private timber reserve under section 11; process, used in relation to timber, means to pulp, chip, cut, or saw timber; registrar means the Registrar, within the meaning of the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2020; rehabilitate, in relation to land to which a requirement, request or direction to rehabilitate the land relates, means to return the land, as far as reasonably practicable, to the condition that it was in before the occurrence of the damage, degradation, or alteration, to which the requirement, request or direction relates; revegetate, in relation to land to which a requirement, request or direction to revegetate the land relates, means to sow seed, or plant seedlings, on the land so as to return the land to, as far as reasonably practicable, the state of vegetation on the land before the occurrence of the damage, degradation, or alteration, in relation to which the requirement, request or direction relates;Secretary means the Secretary of the Department; the regulations means the regulations made and in force under this Act; threatened native vegetation community has the same meaning as in the Nature Conservation Act 2002; timber includes the trunk, branch and any other part of a tree or fallen tree, whether or not it is cut up, sawn, hewn, split or otherwise dealt with; timber processor means a person who processes or harvests timber for the purpose of – producing logs for export; or producing for sale any one or more of the following products:fuel wood; poles, piles or posts; timber; veneer; wood chips; wood pulp; tree ferns; tree fern means a plant of the species Dicksonia antarctica; trees means – any woody plants with a height or potential height of 5 metres or more, whether or not living, dead, standing or fallen, that are – native to Tasmania; or introduced into Tasmania and used for the processing or harvesting of timber; and tree ferns; Tribunal means the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

A reference in this Act to provisions, in relation to a forest practices plan, includes a reference to any condition, restriction, or specification contained or referred to in that plan.

In this Act – clearance and conversion, of a threatened native vegetation community, means the deliberate process of removing all or most of the threatened native vegetation community from an area of land and – leaving the area of land, on a permanent or extended basis, in an unvegetated state; or replacing the threatened native vegetation so removed, on a permanent or extended basis, with any, or any combination of, the following:another community of native vegetation; non-native vegetation; agricultural works; residential, commercial or other non-agricultural development; or doing a combination of any of the things referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).

To avoid doubt, a management practice does not constitute the clearance and conversion of a threatened native vegetation community from any land unless the management practice is carried out to deliberately remove, or carried out as part of a process to deliberately remove, all or most of the threatened native vegetation community from the land on a permanent or extended basis.

In this section – agricultural works includes, but is not limited to, the following:farm sheds and workshops; farm dams and irrigation facilities; farm storage and processing facilities; farm access roads and easements; farm fencing; management practice means any of the following:applying fertilizer or changing the nature or scale of a fertilizer regime; burning off to reduce wildfire fuel; constructing fire-breaks; mowing, slashing or scything grasses or undergrowth; pruning, trimming or lopping vegetation for work safety purposes or to ensure the health of specific specimens of vegetation or vegetation communities; removing or controlling noxious weeds; grazing of livestock; harvesting of timber or other vegetation products; remove means remove by any direct or indirect means or combination of means, including but not limited to the following:burning; clearfelling; cutting down; drowning; lopping; ploughing; poisoning; ringbarking; thinning; uprooting.

This Act binds the Crown not only in right of this State but also, so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, binds the Crown in all of its other capacities.

The body established under this section as in force immediately before the commencement of the Forest Practices Amendment (Administrative Reform) Act 2004 continues in existence, after that commencement, under the name "Forest Practices Authority".

The Authority – is a body corporate with perpetual succession; and has a seal; and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.

The Authority has a Board of Directors consisting of – a person with expertise in public administration and in environmental or natural resource management and governance; and a person with applied knowledge and expertise in environmental or natural resource management; and a person with applied knowledge and expertise in sustainable forest management on private land; and a person with applied knowledge and expertise in sustainable forest management on public land; and a person with applied knowledge and expertise in community liaison and local government, from a municipal area in which forestry is a major land use; and a person with expertise in biological science or nature conservation; and the chief forest practices officer.

The directors referred to in subsection (1)(a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) are appointed by the Minister.

The Minister is to ensure that one of the directors appointed under subsection (1)(c) and (d) has practical knowledge and experience in forest operations, including the harvesting and reforestation of forests.

The director appointed under subsection (1)(a) is also, by virtue of that appointment, chairperson of the Board.

The Board may elect a director referred to in subsection (1)(b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) to be deputy chairperson of the Board.

Schedule 3 has effect with respect to the directors.

Schedule 4 has effect with respect to meetings of the Board.

The Board is responsible for – the exercise and performance of the powers and functions of the Authority under this Act, consistent with the Authority's objectives; and ensuring that the financial affairs of the Authority are managed and conducted in accordance with sound business practice; and the exercise and performance of such other powers and functions as may be conferred or imposed on the Authority or the Board under this or any other Act.

The Board has power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done in connection with the discharge of its responsibilities.

Where in this Act the exercise or performance of a power or function of the Authority in relation to any matter is expressed to be dependent on an opinion, belief or state of mind of the Authority, the Authority is taken to have that opinion, belief or state of mind in relation to that matter if the Board has that opinion, belief or state of mind in relation to that matter.

The Authority is part of the State's forest practices system, the objective of which is set out in Schedule 7.

The Authority is to act in all matters in a manner that – best advances the objective of the State's forest practices system; and fosters a co-operative approach towards policy development and management in forest practices matters; and takes into account social, economic and environmental outcomes of its decision-making processes.

The Authority has the following functions:

to advise the Minister on forest practices policy in respect of both Crown land and private land;

to regularly advise and inform the Minister on its work and activities under this Act;

to advise the Minister on the operation and review of this Act;

to issue and maintain the Forest Practices Code;

to issue and maintain codes of conduct;

to oversee standards for forest practices plans;

to oversee the administration of private timber reserves by Private Forests Tasmania;

to monitor and report to the Minister on harvesting, the clearing of trees and reafforestation activity in relation to the maintenance of a permanent forest estate;

to implement the Policy for Maintaining a Permanent Native Forest Estate, being the policy set out in the Regional Forest Agreement made between the State and the Commonwealth on 8 November 1997, as that Agreement is amended from time to time;

to oversee the training of forest practices officers;

to make a recommendation on the appointment of the chief forest practices officer and to appoint forest practices officers;

to perform such other functions as are imposed on it by or under this or any other Act;

to perform any prescribed functions.

The Authority has the following powers:

to enter into contracts;

to appoint agents, attorneys and consultants;

to act as a consultant or agent;

to set charges and conditions relating to the performance and exercise of its functions and powers;

to make a recommendation on the appointment of the chief forest practices officer and to appoint forest practices officers;

to mediate between parties in respect of three-year plans;

to do all other things that it is authorised to do under this or any other Act;

to do all things necessary or convenient to be done in connection with the performance and exercise of its functions and powers.