Nature Conservation Animals and Plants Regulations
Changes to the regulations
The Nature Conservation Act 1992 and subordinate regulations are Queensland laws that safeguard our diverse range of protected animals and plants.
New regulations came into effect on 22 August 2020:
- Nature Conservation (Animals) Regulation 2020 (the Animals Regulation)
- Nature Conservation (Plants) Regulation 2020 (the Plants Regulation)
The Animals Regulation
The Animals Regulation implements a new licensing framework for the commercial and recreational keeping of protected animals. Consultation on the framework occurred through the 2018 Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement . The Decision Regulatory Impact Statement details the consultation outcomes.
The framework will simplify the current recreational and commercial animal licensing system to improve business practices, conservation and biosecurity outcomes, and reduce the risks of illegal trade of native animals.
The Animals Regulation repeals the:
- Nature Conservation (Wildlife Management) Regulation 2006 (due to expire on 1 September 2020)
- Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006 (due to expire on 1 September 2020)
- Nature Conservation (Administration) Regulation 2017 (the Administration Regulation)
The provisions from these three repealed regulations relevant to animals have been moved into the Animals Regulation.
New animal licensing framework
The new animal licencing framework replaced 11 commercial and recreational animal keeping licences with three licences—Standard, Specialised, and Advanced.
The new licensing arrangements:
- are based on the number and type of animals that are kept, levels of breeding and trading undertaken, and animal welfare considerations
- better reflect the current state of the wildlife keeping industry
- provide a clearer distinction between when breeding and trading is, and is not, permitted
- will assist wildlife keepers to understand their obligations.
The Plants Regulation and consequential changes to the Protected Areas Management Regulation
The three repealed regulations also contained provisions that applied to the conservation and management of protected plants and administrative requirements for protected area management. The new Plants Regulation transferred all existing plant provisions into a single stand-alone regulation.
The Nature Conservation (Protected Areas Management) and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2020 (the Protected Areas Management Amendment Regulation) transferred existing protected area administrative provisions into the existing Nature Conservation (Protected Areas Management) Regulation 2017.
No major changes were made to either the protected plants or protected areas management frameworks. Existing authorities remain valid and operators are not required to take any action.