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Report

The Committee's Report No. 15 - Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012, tabled in the Legislative Assembly on 4 February 2013, is available here.

The government's response to the report is available here.

Referral

On 13 November 2012 the Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 (the Bill) was introduced into the Legislative Assembly by the Hon Steven Dickson MP, Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing.

The Bill was referred to the Health and Community Services Committee in accordance with Standing Order 131.  The committee is required to report to the Parliament by 7 February 2013.

The Bill

The Bill amends the Nature Conservation Act 1992 to enable authorisation of privately operated ecotourism facilities in national parks, national park (recovery), including indigenous joint management areas, and in national park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land).

It also amends the Forestry Act 1959 to remove the current maximum term of 7 years for an occupation permit and the maximum area limit of 10 hectares.  The Bill also repeals the Brisbane Forest Park Act 1977.

The Bill and Explanatory Notes are available:

View: Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012

View: Explanatory Notes to the Bill

View: The Minister's explanatory speech can be found here

Submissions

The committee invites submissions on the Bill from interested individuals and organisations.  Submissions closed at 5pm on Wednesday 19 December 2012

Briefing

The Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing briefed the committee on the Bill on 28 November 2012. The transcript is now available under the "Related Publications" tab.

Public hearing

A public hearing was held on Wednesday 16 January 2013 at Parliament House, Brisbane, where it heard from invited witnesses. A transcript of the hearing is now available under the 'Related Publications' tab.