Attention All Australian Native Orchid Growers!!
IMPORTANT NOTICE
New South Wales members will probably be aware that we have new biodiversity conservation legislation in this state. The Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and some provisions of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 were repealed by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, which commenced operation on 25th August 2017.
There will be a new regime in respect of the licensing of growers and harvesters of protected species, which covers all orchid species native to NSW including threatened species. Those provisions will not come into operation until after the compulsory period of public consultation.
The NSW Office of Environment & Heritage has published a Draft Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2018-2022 for the commercial harvest, salvage and propagation of protected whole plants and has invited feedback from the public. Here is a link to the page discussing the feedback process and how submissions can be made: https://www.nsw.gov.au/improving-nsw/have-your-say/commercial-use-of-protected-plants/ and here is a link to a page from which the Draft Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2018-2022 may be downloaded: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/research-and-publications/publications-search/draft-whole-plant-sustainable-management-plan
Please note that the closing date for feedback is the 9th November 2017.
The draft plan contains provisions which will affect both commercial and hobby orchid growers and all growers should take advantage of this opportunity to familiarise themselves with the proposal and to provide feedback to let the authorities know their views about any parts of the draft Plan that are of concern to them.
For anyone who wants to look at the primary legislation, here is a link to the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/2016/63
and the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 can be found here https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/subordleg/2017/432
