After section 3 of the Principal Act , the following section is inserted in Part I:

3A.     Meaning of "clearance and conversion"

(1)  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 –

(a) leaving the area of land, on a permanent or extended basis, in an unvegetated state; or

(b) replacing the threatened native vegetation so removed, on a permanent or extended basis, with any, or any combination of, the following:

(i) another community of native vegetation;

(ii) non-native vegetation;

(iii) agricultural works;

(iv) residential, commercial or other non-agricultural development; or

(c) doing a combination of any of the things referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) .

(2)  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.

(3)  In this section –

agricultural works includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(a) farm sheds and workshops;

(b) farm dams and irrigation facilities;

(c) farm storage and processing facilities;

(d) farm access roads and easements;

(e) farm fencing;

management practice means any of the following:

(a) applying fertilizer or changing the nature or scale of a fertilizer regime;

(b) burning off to reduce wildfire fuel;

(c) constructing fire-breaks;

(d) mowing, slashing or scything grasses or undergrowth;

(e) pruning, trimming or lopping vegetation for work safety purposes or to ensure the health of specific specimens of vegetation or vegetation communities;

(f) removing or controlling noxious weeds;

(g) grazing of livestock;

(h) 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:

(a) burning;

(b) clearfelling;

(c) cutting down;

(d) drowning;

(e) lopping;

(f) ploughing;

(g) poisoning;

(h) ringbarking;

(i) thinning;

(j) uprooting.