Sorry to muddy the waters a bit on this Carl, but with the EPBC Act the
definitions are only half the story. Next you'll have to go through actual
rulings where the EPBC Act has been tested in court, and the interpretations
of the judges of the wording of the Act. The precedents on interpretation,
once set, are quite hard to overturn. Fortunately, many of the areas most
open to interpretation were tested pretty early on and came out favourably -
such as the whole "a matter must be referred to the Federal Government if it
is likely to have significant impact on a protected species or habitat".
The terms likely and significant are very open to interpretation, but so far
interpretations have been pretty generous. Of course once its referred the
Minister gets to rule on whether its a controlled action, allowed or
rejected, which is another story entirely...
Every so often the Environmental Defenders Office does a workshop on these
things which are quite interesting and easy to understand, so it might be
worth keeping an eye out for one near you. http://www.edo.org.au/
Regards,
Chris
On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 12:04 PM, Carl Clifford <>wrote:
> Storm,
>
> Austlii still lists the Endangered Species Protection Act, but it is under
> Commonwealth Numbered Acts 1973- , whereas the EPBC Act is under
> Commonwealth Consolidated Acts.
>
> Unfortunately Sec 179 of the EPBC Act does not clearly say what the
> definitions for Endangered etc. are apart from saying "as determined in
> accordance with the prescribed criteria", but do not detail the criteria.
> After a bit of rummaging through the EPBC Act and getting no joy, I decided
> to look at the EPBC Regulations, and there in EPBC Reg. 7.01 is "Criteria
> for listing threatened species". The criteria for Critically Endangered,
> Endangered, and Vulnerable are very nicely set out in a key-like format. The
> criteria can be found at:
> http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/epabcr2000697/s7.01.html
>
> Mystery solved. I must save the page as a PDF for future reference
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Clifford
>
>
>
> On 12/05/2009, at 8:36 PM, storm wrote:
>
> I think Frank is correct re Austlii only listing Acts in force. It's been
> the subject of some frustration for me on occasion.
>
> In any event it is interesting to see the EPBC being used in what appears
> to
> be a non-party political way (ref Orange Bellied Parrot)
>
> cheers
> storm
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> Behalf Of Carl Clifford
> Sent: Tuesday, 12 May 2009 8:21 PM
> To: Frank Antram
> Cc: Birding-Aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Superb Parrot in the news - Conservation
> Status
>
>
> Frank
>
> The EPBC Act is a right monster, I am glad I don't have to administer
> it. I have just spent half an hour going through it, and having had
> extensive experience in a regulatory role with a numbers of NSW State
> Acts, I would not like to have to hand it up to a Magistrate or Judge
> to find their way through it.
>
> Interestingly there no clear definitions for "critically endangered"
> or "conservation dependent" apart from referring to the list in
> Schedule 1 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. The list in
> Sch 1 only gives "Endangered' and "Vulnerable" species. It is a worry
> that protected and vulnerable species must be included on a list and
> that there is no clear definition of the species statuses as in ESP
> Act, which can give a species protection until it makes it way onto a
> list. Inclusion onto legislative "lists" can be cumbersome and time
> consuming. If the ESP Act has fallen off the Legislative table, so has
> the species list, which would mean that no species is protected, as
> there is no list extant. Are you sure that the ESP Act has been
> rescinded Frank? If an Act is on AUSTLII, it usually means that it is
> in force, in my experience.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Clifford
>
>
> On 12/05/2009, at 6:05 PM, wrote:
>
> They must be classifications under one of the State laws, Chris?
> Under the Federal EPBC Act, the categories of threatened species are:
> extinct;
> extinct in the wild;
> critically endangered;
> endangered;
> vulnerable;
> conservation dependent.
>
> Also, Carl Clifford mentioned the definition of vulnerable under the
> Federal Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 but this legislation no
> longer exists - it was superseded by the EPBC Act.
>
> Info on the status of Superb Parrot may be found here:
>
> http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id
> =738
>
> Regards
> Frank Antram
>
> -Original message-----
> From: Chris Sanderson
> Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 16:19:39 +1000
> To: Peter Shute
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Superb Parrot in the news - Conservation
> Status
>
> Hi Peter,
>>
>> The order of "seriousness" of classifications is:
>>
>> No concern
>> Least threatened
>> Vulnerable
>> Endangered
>> Critcally Endangered
>>
>> I believe vulnerable is something along the lines of "likely to go
>> extinct
>> without active protection of populations and habitat". Higher
>> classifications are more likely to require direct intervention such as
>> habitat restoration or captive breeding to avoid extinction.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Chris
>>
>> On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Peter Shute <>
>> wrote:
>>
>> So is "vulnerable" better or worse than "endangered"? I was
>>> assuming it
>>> was better, in which case I would have said it was "facing a high
>>> risk of
>>> becoming endangered" rather than "extinct". Their wording makes me
>>> think Im
>>> wrong, and that it's worse than "endangered".
>>>
>>> Peter Shute
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: [mailto:
>>> On Behalf Of
>>> Sent: Tuesday, 12 May 2009 12:50 PM
>>> To: michael norris; Birding-Aus
>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Superb Parrot in the news - Conservation
>>> Status
>>>
>>> The definition of 'vulnerable' under the EPBC Act is in Sub-section
>>> 179 (5)
>>> A native species is eligible to be included in the vulnerable
>>> category at a particular time if, at that time:
>>> (a) it is not critically endangered or endangered; and
>>> (b) it is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in
>>> the
>>> medium term future, as determined in accordance with the prescribed
>>> criteria.
>>>
>>> The prescribed criteria are in Regulation 7.01. Links to the Act
>>> and the
>>> Regulations may be found here
>>> http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about/index.html
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Frank Antram
>>>
>>> -----Original message-----
>>> From: "michael norris"
>>> Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 09:17:58 +1000
>>> To: "Birding-Aus"
>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Superb Parrot in the news - Conservation
>>> Status
>>>
>>> What does 'Vulnerable' mean these days?
>>>>
>>>> Please, someone, give us the precise definitions of the status of
>>>> threatened species in the EPBC Act or the URL for the orders which
>>>> contain the criteria.
>>>>
>>>> Best wishes
>>>>
>>>> Michael Norris
>>>>
>>>> 37° 59' S 145° 0' E
>>>>
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