- Government commits to new legislation to protect threatened species
- New biodiversity legislation will significantly increase penalties for smuggling threatened fauna
People caught harming or smuggling critically endangered species will face fines of up to $500,000 under new biodiversity legislation announced by Premier Colin Barnett today.
The Premier said the new legislation would be introduced as a matter of priority should the Government win the State Election in March 2013.
"This new piece of legislation will replace the existing 62-year-old Wildlife Conservation Act and significantly increase the penalties associated with harming threatened species," Mr Barnett said.
"Under the new act, deterrent penalties of up to $500,000 for harming a critically endangered species and $50,000 for harming a non-threatened species will apply.
"The current Wildlife Conservation Act has penalties of $4,000 and $1,000 for taking or smuggling threatened species out of Western Australia, in comparison to New South Wales which has a maximum penalty of $220,000. Clearly, the act needs changing."
The announcement was made during the Premier's inaugural 'State of the State' keynote address at a CEDA function today.
Environment Minister Bill Marmion acknowledged that Western Australia's Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 was the oldest biodiversity conservation legislation still in force anywhere in Australia.
"A new act will provide clarification and standardisation of assessments, process and decision making, including timelines," Mr Marmion said.
"The new legislation will also address the difficulties identified in the 2009 WA Auditor General Report Rich and Rare: Conservation of Threatened Species.
"This Government is committed to providing greater levels of protection to Western Australia's unique flora and fauna, in particular our threatened species."
The Minister said the new Act would have a strong focus on encouragement for positive conservation actions as well as reparation of significant conservation damage, rather than prosecutions and punitive actions.
Fact File
- The primary piece of conservation legislation (The Wildlife Conservation Act) in WA was introduced in 1950 and the latest substantial amendment to this legislation was in 1979
Environment Minister's office - 6552 6800
