Statutory review of the native vegetation provisions of the Local Land Services Act
A Statutory Review of the native vegetation provisions of the Local Land Services Act 2013 has been completed and the final report was tabled in NSW Parliament by the Minister for Agriculture on Thursday, 24 August 2023.
The Minister for Agriculture was required to carry out a 5-year statutory review of the native vegetation provisions contained in Part 5A and Schedule 5A and Schedule 5B of the Local Land Services Act 2013. The review was supported by an independent expert advisory panel.
Questions regarding the review can be emailed to policy@lls.nsw.gov.au
Media enquiries can be directed to media.enquiries@lls.nsw.gov.au
Final report
Public consultation and submissions
Landholders, industry and environmental groups, other stakeholders and any member of the public had the opportunity to contribute to the Statutory Review.
A Discussion Paper was released on the NSW Government’s Have Your Say platform which allowed any member of the public to submit a survey response or provide a written submission.
The Have Your Say consultation was available for 5 weeks from 14 November 2022, however the period for written submissions was extended to 11 weeks in response to requests from stakeholders and community groups. In total, 184 submissions were received, including 100 from rural landholders, from all Local Land Services regions, with one withdrawn.
Consultation was undertaken with 24 key stakeholder groups including industry and environmental groups, non-government organisations and local, State and Commonwealth government agencies.
Landholder survey
To support the Review, a survey was undertaken with 2,400 rural landholders across NSW to understand their views on native vegetation and management activities, and awareness and use of the Land Management Framework.
Read the outcomes report of the landholder survey.
What is the statutory review?
Under Section 212 of the Local Land Services Act 2013 the Minister was to review Part 5A and Schedule 5A and Schedule 5B (native vegetation provisions) of the Local Land Services Act 2013 and determine if the policy objectives of these provisions remained valid and whether they remain appropriate for securing the objectives of this part of the Act.
The objective of the native vegetation provisions in the Local Land Services Act 2013 is ‘to ensure the proper management of natural resources in the social, economic and environmental interests of the State, consistently with the principles of ecologically sustainable development’.
The review was undertaken in three stages:
- Appointment of the independent expert advisory panel and developing a Discussion Paper
- Finalisation of the review, findings and recommendations in a report tabled in NSW Parliament by the Minister for Agriculture.
- Engagement with stakeholders on the Discussion Paper, submissions analysis and draft review
Stage 3 of the Review is complete and a final report was tabled in NSW Parliament by the Minister for Agriculture on Thursday, 24 August 2023.
The independent expert advisory panel
Local Land Services appointed the following independent experts to support the statutory review.
- Dr Neil Byron – chair and expert in agricultural/environmental policy and economics
- Dr Sheridan Coakes – expert in social impact assessment
- Dr Charlie Zammitt – expert in ecology of agricultural ecosystems
- Jim Binney – expert in agricultural economics
Supporting materials
The native vegetation provisions:
Schedule 5B - Members and procedure of the Panel
Statutory review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act
The review of the native vegetation provisions of the Local Land Services Act 2013 was carried at the same time as the statutory review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
More information on the statutory review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act is available on the Department of Planning and Environment’s website.
The NSW Government will now consider both reviews, in consultation with key stakeholders, while developing a whole of government response.