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CATCHMENT AND LAND PROTECTION BILL
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5 May 1994
Second Reading
COLEMAN
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CATCHMENT AND LAND PROTECTION BILL Mr COLEMAN (Minister for Natural Resources) -- I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Victoria's land and water resources are vital assets upon which the wellbeing of current and future Victorians depends. One of the most important challenges facing the state is the use of these resources in a way that assists prosperity in all regions while enhancing environmental quality and maintaining the long-term productivity of the resources. This bill provides a contemporary legislative framework to help achieve that goal. Its development was an election commitment of the coalition. The legislation brings together the processes of integrated catchment management and the control of land degradation and is a recognition that land degradation can be controlled effectively only when it is considered as part of the overall management and use of our natural resources. The bill follows reform of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help achieve those aims. The bill reinforces the importance of community involvement in the management and protection of land and water resources and will support the efforts of farmers and other land-holders throughout the state who are already working individually or as part of Landcare and other land-holder groups to improve the long-term productivity of their land. It will help to ensure that there is a closer link between the management of land and water resources. It applies to the management of public as well as private land and to urban areas as well as rural areas. In particular the bill establishes a revised system of advisory and coordinating bodies for catchment management and land protection and provides for those bodies to oversee the preparation of catchment strategies and area plans. Responsibility for the care of land is defined and existing regulatory controls are streamlined. The bill also provides for the control of pest plants and animals. The legislation will repeal the Soil Conservation and Land Utilization Act 1958 and the Vermin and Noxious Weeds Act 1958. The bill represents an extensive integration and modification of the provisions contained in those two acts. A key element of the legislation is the reform of the existing land protection advisory system to reinforce the importance of community involvement in the management and protection of natural resources and to enable an integrated approach to their management. The Victorian Catchment and Land Protection Council is to be established by the Minister for Natural Resources to advise the minister and other ministers as requested on matters relating to catchment management and land protection. The council will also seek to ensure the cooperation of relevant agencies and other groups in the community that are involved in the management of natural resources. It will replace the existing Land Protection Council and the State Landcare Committee. Regional catchment and land protection boards are to be established throughout the state in regions to be proclaimed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the minister. Those part-time boards are to be appointed by the minister after consultation with the Minister for Agriculture and will encourage a coordinated approach to the management of natural resources within their region in close cooperation with the regional community, particularly land-holder groups, local government organisations and water authorities and promote community awareness and involvement. They will advise the government on strategies and priorities for catchment management and land protection and will replace at least 24 existing advisory groups. Initially 10 regional boards that will cover the whole state are expected to be established. Their membership will be based on the necessary range of skills and experience in local government, conservation, primary industry, water management and land protection. The bill reflects the importance of assigning clear responsibilities for the control of land degradation. There is a general duty of care for all landowners to take all reasonable steps to avoid causing or contributing to land degradation on land owned by another party. Those duties apply to public as well as private land. Duties relating to the responsibility of landowners for the control of pest plants and animals are also included. Each regional catchment and land protection board is to oversee the preparation and maintenance of a regional catchment management strategy as a principal coordinating tool and as the basis for its ongoing advice to government. Initially these will build upon the existing regional landcare plans. Following agreement by the Minister for Natural Resources after consultation with other ministers whose interests will be affected by the strategy, all public authorities in undertaking their own activities must have regard to the strategy. Within each region special areas can be identified by the catchment and land protection board, be declared by the Governor in Council and be the subject of special study, planning and action. Such areas could include, for example, water supply catchments or areas associated with major salinity or soil erosion problems.
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The special area plans are to be prepared under the guidance of the catchment and land protection board in collaboration with parties who will be affected by the plan. The special area plans will outline the appropriate management arrangements for the area, including cost-sharing arrangements necessary to put in place the measures required to meet the objectives of the plan. Such measures may include drainage works, revegetation schemes, farm assistance programs, research and monitoring. Special area plans may contain provisions for land-use conditions to be applied to all or part of the land under consideration in a manner similar to such conditions under the current Soil Conservation and Land Utilization Act, 1958. However, conditions will need to be justified as part of the plan and agreed by the catchment and land protection board, the Minister for Natural Resources and other relevant ministers. The need for such conditions in association with controls over the development of land through the Planning and Environment Act 1987 must be justified in the area plan. The costs of implementing the land use conditions are to be shared between the beneficiaries through arrangements to be developed and agreed upon by the catchment and land protection board as part of the special area plan. The management of water supply catchments will be enhanced. Existing proclaimed catchments will become special water supply catchment areas. The responsibility for recommending the proclamation of water supply catchments is transferred in the legislation from the Land Conservation Council to the regional catchment and land protection boards as part of the preparation and revision of their regional catchment management strategies so there will be an improved ability to link the management of land and water. The special area plan will replace the existing land use determinations for water supply catchments. The government is committed to encouraging sound land management practices through a range of measures that will result in voluntary changes by land managers. They include improved awareness through effective education and extension programs, financial incentives, market mechanisms and similar policy instruments. There is, however, a continuing need to require landowners or land managers to carry out remedial action in appropriate circumstances through the issuing of land management notices. The bill provides simplified arrangements for the preparation of notices relating to the management of land. These land management notices will replace the six different types of notices or orders contained in the existing legislation. The Victorian Catchment and Land Protection Council will recommend guidelines for the issue of land management notices. A notice can be issued by the Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to a landowner when the landowner contravenes the duties prescribed in the legislation. Before a notice can be issued, the secretary must be able to show that attempts have been made to obtain voluntary compliance and, except for issues relating to pest management, must seek agreement of the relevant catchment and land protection board to the issue of a notice. The bill provides for rights of appeal from land use conditions and land management notices. These rights are significantly enhanced over the provisions of the existing legislation and have been extended to apply to the making of the notice or condition itself and to any of the specific provisions they may contain. Provision is made in the bill for an interim land management notice to be issued by the secretary to obtain temporary control over urgent situations pending long-term resolution. The government is conscious that Crown land managed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources must satisfy the duty of care provided in the legislation. In the case of such land the catchment and land protection board for the region may recommend to the minister that the secretary be instructed to undertake action to ensure such compliance. In addition, each board will report annually on catchment management and land protection for all land in its region. The Soil Conservation and Land Utilization Act 1958 provides for control over the impact of shallow extraction of soil, sand, gravel, stone or other similar materials. This bill retains those provisions which require a person carrying out such activity to obtain authority. The authority may contain special provisions to ensure that extraction sites are suitably rehabilitated. The infestation of pest plants and animals is a major form of land degradation.
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The bill updates and improves many of the provisions contained in the Vermin and Noxious Weeds Act 1958 for the control of pest plants and pest animals. The Governor in Council can proclaim plants and animals to be pests in all or part of the state. The four categories of proclaimed pest plants relate to the distribution of the plant and the ability to control or eradicate it. Proclaimed pest animals are to be allocated to one of four categories depending upon the magnitude of their threat and the extent to which the pest is already established in the state. Pest animals are to be managed through the prohibition of the import, keeping or sale of certain non-indigenous animals, the licensing of places to keep certain animals and the control of established pest animals by landowners or government agencies. Those categories for pest animals are in line with nationally agreed guidelines. The categorisation of weeds is to be recommended by the Victorian Catchment and Land Protection Council and the regional catchment and land protection boards for statewide and regional categories respectively. For the categorisation of pest animals the minister will be advised not only by the council and boards but also by an expert advisory committee -- the Pest Animal Advisory Committee -- to be established under this legislation. The responsibilities for managing pest plants and animals are clearly defined. Owners of public and private land must take all reasonable steps to eradicate regionally prohibited weeds, prevent the growth and spread of regionally controlled weeds and prevent the spread of established pest animals. The secretary of the department must take all reasonable steps to eradicate state prohibited weeds from all land in the state. Considerable attention has been paid to the management of roadsides. The bill provides for the continued responsibility of landowners to prevent the spread of regionally controlled weeds and established pest animals on most roadsides that adjoin their land. A new provision in the bill enables the responsibilities of landowners for the adjoining roadsides to be changed where there is agreement between the parties or an agreed special area plan for roadsides within a particular region is developed and approved. The development of an integrated approach to roadside management is thereby encouraged while providing for the management of roadside pests in the absence of such plans. The bill has been developed through extensive consultation with relevant community groups and government organisations. The government is grateful to the representatives of the 15 statewide non-government organisations that have participated on the consultative committee for this legislation since mid-1993. In July 1993 a discussion paper on the proposals was widely circulated. Discussion was encouraged by a set of regional and statewide workshop meetings and conferences. The government is grateful to all those who have participated in those activities. This process has been under the guidance of Mr Graham Hunter who for 10 years has been involved in the salinity bureau which has evolved under his leadership. I make the following statement under section 85(5) of the Constitution Act 1975 of the reasons why this bill proposes to alter or vary section 85 of that act. Clause 94 provides that it is the intention of that clause to alter or vary section 85 of the Constitution Act 1975 to the extent necessary to prevent the Supreme Court from entertaining actions of a kind referred to in clause 19 and to limit that court's jurisdiction in matters under the proposed act where exclusive jurisdiction is given to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Clause 19 gives an immunity from action to a member of the Catchment and Land Protection Council, a regional catchment and land protection board or the Pest Animal Advisory Committee, if the member performs in good faith a function under this bill or the regulations, or acts in the reasonable belief that he or she is performing such a function. The reason for limiting the Supreme Court's jurisdiction in the way I have mentioned is to prevent the administration of the new act being hindered by actions before the court and to encourage persons to submit themselves for membership of the bodies created by this bill. The limitation of the Supreme Court's jurisdiction in relation to certain appeals arises from the application of the Planning Appeals Act 1980 and carries through in this legislation the notion that the appeals are the exclusive jurisdiction of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
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In summary, this bill represents a new chapter in the long-term management of Victoria's natural resources. It will provide a statewide capacity for the coordinated management of land and water and assist joint action across the state by the community and governments to improve productivity and environmental values of our natural resources. The bill also improves our capacity to take a long-term strategic approach to catchment management, clarify responsibilities, and streamline regulatory provisions as part of the range of measures to encourage the sustainable use of our resources. As a result, there will be an improved capacity to manage the state's natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations. I commend the bill to the house. Debate adjourned on motion of Ms MARPLE (Altona). Mr COLEMAN (Minister for Natural Resources) -- I move: That the debate be adjourned until Thursday, 19 May.