115A   Management plans for protected native plants

(1)  The Director-General may cause a flora plan of management to be prepared for any commercial activity relating to a species or group of species of protected native plant if the Director-General is of the opinion that the activity has the potential to affect adversely the conservation of the species or group.

(2)  The Director-General may require consultation with the Scientific Committee established under Part 8 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 in the preparation of a flora plan of management.

(3)  In the preparation of a flora plan of management for a species of protected native plant the following matters are to be considered:

(a)  the ecology of the species,

(b)  the sustainability of the proposed management regime,

(c)  Aboriginal cultural practices,

(d)  standards to be adhered to in the picking or growing of plants,

(e)  whether limits need to be imposed on the number of licences that may be issued for a commercial activity if a licence is required to carry out the activity,

(f)  protocols for the extraction of plant material from the wild,

(g)  consistency with any threat abatement plan, or recovery plan, within the meaning of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995,

(h)  monitoring of the activity,

(i)  any other matters that the Director-General considers relevant.

(4)  Before a flora plan of management is adopted by the Director-General, the Director-General is to ensure that a draft of the plan is publicly exhibited and that a period of at least 30 days is given for the making of representations on the draft plan.

(5)  The Director-General is to consider any representations made within that period before adopting the flora plan of management.

(6)  The Director-General may amend or revoke a flora plan of management.

(7)  Subsections (2)–(5) apply to an amendment of a flora plan of management in the same way as they apply to the preparation and adoption of a flora plan of management.

(8)  The regulations may make provision for or with respect to treating flora plans of management (however described) prepared for the purposes of other legislation, including legislation of the Commonwealth, as flora plans of management for the purposes of this Act.

(9)  If a flora plan of management adopted by the Director-General provides that no protected native plant (or part of such a plant) is to be sold unless it is tagged in accordance with the flora plan of management, a person must not sell a protected native plant (or a part of such a plant) unless it is so tagged.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units and an additional 10 penalty units in respect of each whole plant that was affected by or concerned in the action that constituted the offence.

Note. The term sell is defined by section 5 to include:

(a)  auction, barter, exchange or supply,

(b)  offer, expose, supply or receive for sale,

(c)  send, forward or deliver for sale or on sale,

(d)  dispose of under a hire-purchase agreement,

(e)  cause, permit or suffer the doing of an act referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d),

(f)  offer or attempt to do an act so referred to,

(g)  cause, permit or suffer to be sold,

(h)  attempt to sell or offer to sell, or

(i)  have in possession for sale.