Australian capital territory
Nature conservation act 1980

ACTION PLANS FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES

DI 2003 - 149

explanatory statement

The Nature Conservation Act 1980 (the Act) is the primary ACT legislation for the protection of native plants and animals.  A 1994 amendment to the Act established the Flora and Fauna Committee as an expert advisory body to the Minister.

One of the Flora and Fauna Committee’s responsibilities is to advise the Minister of ACT species and ecological communities that are threatened with extinction and recommend that they be declared accordingly.  A species may be declared as vulnerable or endangered (as an indication of the degree of threat to its continued existence); an ecological community may be declared as endangered.

Section 23 of the Act provides for the Conservator of Flora and Fauna to prepare an Action Plan for each species or community that has been the subject of a declaration.  An Action Plan is a management response to a recognised ecological threat.  It is required to include proposals for effective conservation of the species or community concerned.  A process of public consultation is provided for.  

An Action Plan is a disallowable instrument and must be notified, under the Legislation Act 2001, and presented to the Legislative Assembly.

This instrument comprises the Conservator’s statutory response to the Minister’s declarations of 4 September 2001 (Instrument No. 299 of 2001), 26 October 2001.

The Action Plans are for:

•	Ginninderra Peppercress (Lepidium ginninderrense)
•	Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus)

Each Action Plan describes the ecological community/species and its geographic distribution.  Conservation issues are discussed and specific threats identified.  Corresponding management and protective measures to enhance the well-being of the ecological community/species are proposed.  Survey, monitoring and research requirements are outlined.  The major conservation objective is to maintain for the long term, a viable, and well represented ecological community and wild populations of each species as components of the indigenous biological resources of the ACT.