Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)
LegislationReferenced in 10 bills
Sustainable Ports Development Bill 2015
This bill protects the Great Barrier Reef by tightly controlling port development along the Queensland coast. It confines new port facilities and capital dredging to four priority ports (Abbot Point, Gladstone, Hay Point/Mackay and Townsville) and bans sea dumping of port dredge spoil in the World Heritage Area. Each priority port must have a long-term master plan and a port overlay that sets consistent rules across local planning schemes.
Safer Waterways Bill 2017
This bill would have created a new Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns with powers to kill or relocate crocodiles that threaten people, and to authorise crocodile farming and egg harvesting as a new industry. Introduced by KAP MP Shane Knuth as a private member's bill in response to crocodile attacks in North Queensland, it lapsed and did not become law.
Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2024
This bill sought to establish a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to take over all crocodile management in the state. It aimed to make North Queensland waterways safer by creating zero-tolerance zones where crocodiles must be removed, while also expanding the crocodile farming and egg harvesting industry. This bill was discharged and did not become law.
Crocodile Control, Conservation and Safety Bill 2024
This bill sought to establish a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to take over all crocodile management in the state. It prioritised human safety by creating zero-tolerance zones where crocodiles would be immediately removed from populated waterways, while also expanding the crocodile farming and egg harvesting industry. This was a private member's bill that lapsed at the end of the 57th Parliament and did not become law.
Safer Waterways Bill 2018
This bill sought to create a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to manage saltwater crocodile populations across the state. It responded to growing community concern about increasing crocodile numbers and attacks in North Queensland, with 25 recorded attacks between 1985 and 2015 (seven fatal) and three attacks in the year before the bill was introduced (two fatal). The bill's second reading failed and it did not become law.
Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025
This bill sought to establish a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to manage all aspects of crocodile control and conservation in the state. It responded to rising crocodile numbers and sightings in North Queensland by creating zero-tolerance zones in populated waterways where crocodiles would be immediately killed or relocated, while also building a sustainable crocodile industry through egg harvesting and farming. The bill was introduced as a private member's bill and its second reading failed — it did not become law.
Vegetation Management (Reinstatement) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill reinstates stronger vegetation clearing laws to slow land clearing and protect the Great Barrier Reef. It re-regulates high-value regrowth on freehold and indigenous land, stops new approvals for clearing native vegetation for high-value agriculture, and brings back riverine protection permits for destroying vegetation in waterways. Key clearing rules apply retrospectively from 17 March 2016 to prevent a rush of pre-emptive clearing.
Agriculture and Fisheries and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes sweeping changes across agriculture, fisheries, biosecurity and animal management in Queensland. It bans dangerous dog breeds and introduces statewide dog control laws with tough new penalties, establishes mandatory onboard monitoring for commercial fishing vessels to protect the Great Barrier Reef, strengthens biosecurity emergency response powers, and modernises several other agricultural regulatory frameworks.
Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's environmental protection laws by reforming the environmental impact statement process, strengthening enforcement powers against repeat offenders, creating temporary authorities for emergencies, and banning mining in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. It also updates contaminated land management, waste regulation, and mine rehabilitation frameworks.
Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill undoes several water law changes that the previous government passed in 2014 but which had not yet taken effect. It puts ecologically sustainable development principles back into the purpose of the Water Act 2000, removes 'water development options' that would have given large infrastructure proponents an early exclusive claim over water, and removes the ability to declare 'designated watercourses' where a water licence would not be needed. It also fixes a 2005 technical mistake in setting up the Lower Herbert Water Management Authority and confirms that existing river improvement trusts continue to operate.