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| Bill presented and read a first time. Ms SCRYMGOUR (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time. This bill amends the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act so that the offences of 'failing to comply with a permit' and 'failing to comply with traffic signs' are designated as regulatory offences. This bill also allows for by-laws to be designated as regulatory offences and subject to an infringement notice scheme. The retention period for a return or forfeiture of seized articles is to be made consistent across provisions within the act and is set as a period of 60 days. This bill will enable Parks and Wildlife officers to better regulate the activities that occur on lands controlled under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. In the year 2000, the Northern Territory received a report from consultant, Bill Wilson, titled, 'A Review of the Enforcement Capacity of the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission'. The report made a number of recommendations, including amendments to the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. The Wilson review identified fundamental issues for the capacity of the legislative regime to encourage compliance. Currently, there is limited capacity to encourage greater compliance by issuing administrative or on the spot fines for offences against permit conditions and Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation by-laws. Unfortunately, this means that there may be significant levels of non-compliance with minor offences under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act and by-laws. This bill will allow conservation officers to issue on the spot fines for appropriate offences against the by-laws. Current enforcement mechanisms are complicated and expensive. The current scheme has also proven to be an administrative burden to conservation officers through its rigidity. For example, under the current section 56(3) of the act, a person who has been successfully prosecuted for a breach of permit conditions cannot be granted a new permit for five years. This penalty is additional to any imposed by the court, and applies irrespective of the nature or severity of the breach. For minor breaches, this is manifestly unfair and could result in instances of hardship and injustice. The purpose of this bill is to make the existing offence, 'breach of a condition of permit' section 67D (Compliance with permit) a regulatory offence and to amend the act's by-law making powers, that is section 25AQ and 71 by-law, so that existing offences under the by-laws may be regulatory and may be infringable. Please note, this does not automatically make the by-laws regulatory or infringable. It does, however, allow by-laws to be appropriately constructed so that the offender's intent is not an element of the offence, and for those by-laws that fall within the Department of Justice's infringement notice policy to be made infringable. Officers from my Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts will soon prepare new by-laws which will take into account both of these factors so that the benefit of this bill can be fully implemented. The changes will be supported by a permit system that includes clear and precisely drafted obligations and conditions. The results of these changes will be to bring about greater compliance with the regulatory functions of the act. At this stage, no new offences are proposed, but any by-law amendments will be approved by the Minister for Parks and Wildlife. The introduction of infringement notices will streamline the enforcement process and allow for immediate punishment of people who commit offences in our parks. The ability to issue infringement notices during the hunting season, for example, will markedly increase the effectiveness of this program. Currently, a permit may be issued under the act to hunt waterfowl during the declared hunting season in line with the sustainable use of wildlife policy. While hunting is prohibited in parks, the by-laws permit the use of firearms to hunt on reserves during the waterfowl season. A permit to take waterfowl at specific times uses a combination of provisions under the act and the by-laws. This bill makes non-compliance of a permit condition a regulatory offence that may be subject to an infringement notice, and will provide an effective and proportionate enforcement regime during the waterfowl hunting season. A condition of the waterfowl hunting permit is that returns are submitted indicating the number of waterfowl species hunted. For example, this enables Parks and Wildlife to monitor sustainable use of magpie goose which is a protected species. The biodiversity of Territory parks may be harmed if permit conditions are not adhered to and breaches may threaten protective wildlife. The ability to issue infringement notices will enable minor offences to be dealt with on the spot and should encourage all hunters to do the right thing. This government also wishes to support wildlife based industries. These industries must report to the federal Environment minister for export approval. For example, the federal Environment minister can, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, revoke the approval for exports of wildlife products such as the crocodiles or cycads if he or she believes that the Northern Territory legislation has inadequate compliance measures. The amendments currently before this Assembly strengthen the Territory's compliance regime. I now turn to the important issue of road safety in our parks and reserves. Failure to comply with traffic signs, section 69, is the only offence within the act itself that attracts the maximum penalty of only five penalty units, but unlike other offences attracting higher penalties, it is not a regulatory offence. This bill amends the act so that failure to comply with a traffic sign is a regulatory offence and an infringement notice combined with the proposed regulatory offence status of failing to comply with traffic signs will enable conservation officers and police officers to enforce compliance. The use of infringement notices for regulatory offences is a cost effective alternative to a costly prosecution process that does not guarantee positive results. This bill also amends the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act to provide for operational and administrative consistency in respect of retention periods for return or forfeiture of seized articles. The retention periods for articles seized under the act and the by-laws are being changed. Currently, the retention periods for articles seized under the act is 60 days and under by-laws it is 30 days. Articles seized under the by-laws, for example, firearms or explosives, vehicles and vessels, may be of a similar nature to those seized under the act. It is more appropriate that similar items are treated consistently. The changes in this bill will ensure that the retention period under the act and the by-laws are 60 days. This bill provides for the proportionate and effective enforcement of offences under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act and its by-laws. These changes are being supported by conservation officers and key industry groups so I am confident that this government's initiatives to bring about greater compliance with parks management principles and the safe conduct of park activities will be well received by the community. Madam Speaker, the Territory community is right to expect that the administration of parks and wildlife management is consistent with community values. This efficient enforcement regime maintains these values. I commend the bill to honourable members. Debate adjourned. |