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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 1222 asked in the Legislative Council on 8 May 2018 by Hon Robin Chapple

Question Directed to the: Minister for Environment
Parliament: 40 Session: 1


Question

I refer to “Regional Nature Conservation plans” as discussed in the Auditor-General’s Rich and Rare: Conservation of Threatened Species follow-up audit, released in September 2017, and I ask:
(a) will the Minister please list all the regional nature conservation plans that exist, and of these, by item:
(i) those that were approved at the executive level;
(ii) the dates that they were approved at the executive level;
(iii) the dates that the plans commenced;
(iv) the time period including specific years that the plans cover;
(v) how many times each plan has been used to report management of threatened species or ecological communities at an executive level;
(vi) whether each plan has been approved by the Conservation and Parks Commission; and
(vii) whether the Minister has received copies of the plans;
(b) are any of the plans referred to in (a) publicly available;
(c) if yes to (b), will the Minister please name them and state where they may be viewed;
(d) if no to (b), why not;
(e) noting that the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has nine administrative regions, does the Minister agree that there should be nine regional nature conservation plans;
(f) if no to (e), why not;
(g) the Auditor-General states on page 20 of the audit that the South West Nature Conservation Plan refers to significant knowledge gaps causing it to be ineffective in prioritising effort and resources. Does the Minister agree that this is a serious concern given that the current Forest Management Plan cites measurement and analysis of changes in spatial extent and species richness, composition and abundance and vegetation structure in relation to Threatened Ecological Communities and Priority Ecological Communities as defined by relevant regional nature conservation plans as one of its key performance indicators;
(h) if no to (g), why not; and
(i) why are regional nature conservation plans not publicly available if they are used as key performance indicators for key public policy documents such as the Forest Management Plan?

Answered on 27 June 2018

(a) There are nine draft regional nature conservation plans, one for each of the Department’s nine regions: Goldfields, Kimberley, Midwest, Pilbara, South Coast, South West, Swan, Warren and Wheatbelt.

(a)(i) No plans have been approved at the executive level. A process is being developed to formalise the Regional Nature Conservation Plans and have them endorsed by Corporate Executive.

(a)(ii) Not applicable. 

(a)(iii)-(iv) Goldfields: 2017-2021; Kimberley: 2018-2022; Midwest: 2015-2019; Pilbara: 2015-2019; South Coast: 2015-2019; South West: 2015-2019; Swan: 2015-2019; Warren: 2015-2019 and Wheatbelt: 2016-2020.

(v) Nil.

(vi) There is no requirement for the Conservation and Parks Commission to approve these plans.

(vii) Yes.

(b) The draft plans are internal documents to guide Departmental operations. They may be viewed at the relevant regional offices on request.

(c) The draft plans identified in (a) may be viewed at the relevant regional offices on request.

(d) Not applicable.

(e) Yes.

(f) Not applicable.

(g) The South West Region Nature Conservation Plan, and all of the regional conservation plans, identify a range of risks to service delivery, which includes knowledge gaps. Information is currently being collated for the mid-term performance review of the Forest Management Plan 2014-2023.

(h) Not applicable.

(i) See (b) above.