29A—Avoidance of duplication of procedures etc
(1) The purpose of
this section is to provide for the avoidance of unnecessary duplication of
procedures and compliance requirements under the Commonwealth Act and this Act
where the clearance of native vegetation requires consent under this Act and
approval under the Commonwealth Act.
(2) Despite any other
provision of this Act, the Council may—
(a)
accept a Commonwealth Act document as an application for consent under
section 28 if (subject to subsection (5)) it complies with the
requirements of this Act; and
(b)
accept the whole or part of a plan, report, statement, assessment or other
document used, or to be used, for the purposes of the Commonwealth Act as a
native vegetation management plan referred to in section 28(3)(b)(i)(C)
if (subject to subsection (5)) the document has been prepared in
compliance with this Act and complies with the requirements of this Act.
(3) To avoid doubt,
where a controlled action under the Commonwealth Act comprises or includes the
clearance of native vegetation, the Council may, when considering an
application for consent to clear the native vegetation use information and
other material provided to the Commonwealth Minister under the Commonwealth
Act for the purpose of deciding whether to give his or her approval to the
controlled action under that Act.
(4) Where a controlled
action under the Commonwealth Act comprises or includes the clearance of
native vegetation, the Council—
(a)
must, if the Commonwealth Minister has given his or her approval to the
controlled action, consider whether the conditions (if any) to be imposed on
the consent should be consistent with the conditions (if any) attached to the
Commonwealth Minister's approval under the Commonwealth Act;
(b) may
impose a condition on the consent that requires compliance with all or some of
the conditions attached to the Commonwealth Minister's approval under the
Commonwealth Act.
(5) A document
accepted under subsection (2)—
(a) may
be in a form that does not comply with the requirements of this Act; and
(b) may
include information or other material that is irrelevant for the purposes of
this Act.
(6) Once a document is
accepted under subsection (2) the document will not be invalid or
ineffective for the purposes of this Act because a court, tribunal or other
authority has decided that it is invalid or ineffective for the purposes of
the Commonwealth Act.
(7) In this
section—
"assessment report" means—
(a) an
assessment report as defined in the Commonwealth Act by reference to section
84(3), 95, 100 or 105 of that Act; or
(b) a
report under section 121 of the Commonwealth Act;
"Commonwealth Act" means the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999 of the Commonwealth;
"Commonwealth Act document" means—
(a) a
referral under section 68, 69 or 71 of the Commonwealth Act; or
(b)
information given by a person to the Minister under the Commonwealth Act under
section 86 of that Act; or
(c)
information and invitation published by a proponent under section 93 of the
Commonwealth Act; or
(d)
guidelines prepared under section 97 or 102 of the Commonwealth Act; or
(e) a
draft report prepared under section 98 of the Commonwealth Act; or
(f) a
finalised report prepared under section 99 of the Commonwealth Act; or
(g) a
draft statement prepared under section 103 of the Commonwealth Act; or
(h) a
finalised statement prepared under section 104 of the Commonwealth Act; or
(i)
an assessment report.