As reported in recent editions of the Tasmanian Conservationist, the Crown Land Assessment and Classification (CLAC) program was completed in June 2006 and for nearly five years the TCT has been pushing successive ministers to implement the recommended 77,500 hectares of proposed reserves.
The first batch of CLAC reserve proposals has been sent to the Parliamentary Counsel for them to commence the first draft proclamations. The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) anticipate the first set of reserves to be proclaimed in March 2011. All of the CLAC proposed reserves will be proclaimed in small batches over the next few years. We do not accept the DPIPWE assertion that the proclamation of all CLAC reserves will take three years. Some delay is understandable given the limited resources of the Parliamentary Counsel which are required to prepare proclamations.
An additional delay which cannot be avoided is that some reserve classes require Parliamentary approval prior to being sent for final approval to the Governor. Reserve classes which require Parliamentary approval are National Park, State Reserve, Nature Reserve, Game Reserve and Historic Site. Classes that do not require Parliamentary approval include Conservation Area, Regional Reserve and Nature Recreation Area.
We will continue to push the state government to ensure adequate resources of the DPIPWE and Parliamentary Counsel are allocated to this project to ensure it is completed as soon as possible.
Peter McGlone