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Marine Farming Planning Amendment Bill 2011
FACT SHEET
The Bill to amend the Act provides improvements to the processes and decision-making
requirements for approval of amendments to marine farming development plans and
allocation of marine farming leases.
The first objective is to improve consistency of provisions 9 and 42 of the Act, thereby
establishing clearly that the Marine Farming Planning Review Panel makes
recommendations to the Minister, while the Minister has responsibility for final decisions in
relation to draft amendments to marine farming development plans. The second objective
relates to the allocation provisions of section 52, and should encourage investment by
increasing certainty of allocation for persons that prepare a draft Marine Farming
Development Plan, or request an amendment to a Marine Farming Development Plan.
The Bill is drafted to be specific and prescriptive regarding the planning and allocation
processes. This assists in providing certainty and efficiency by making the requirements of
the planning process clear, but ensures discretionary functions of the Minister and Panel are
clearly described. The key elements of the Amendment Bill provide for:
the provision of Ministerial approval to the making of an amendment upon a
recommendation from the Panel resulting from a request under section 33;
the revision of sections 41 and 42 to provide for the Panel to make recommendation
to the Minister with respect to draft amendments to a marine farming development
plan, and for the Minister to have discretion in relation to each of the
recommendations made. This will provide consistency with section 9 of the Act;
the ability for the Minister to seek further advice, subsequent to receiving a
recommendation from the Panel regarding a draft amendment, and the option that if
a draft amendment has insubstantial modifications by the Panel or Planning
Authority, for it to be exempt from certain provisions;
the introduction of the concept of a privately prepared draft plan and privately
requested draft amendment, to complement those that publicly initiated by either the
Panel, Planning Authority or Minister, and the ability for the Minister to consider
inviting a person to apply for a lease where the relevant person has prepared a draft
plan, or requested the amendment to a plan leading to that allocation process;
the requirement for the Minister to seek the advice of the Board of Advice and
Reference in relation to the participating persons and method of allocation for any
publicly initiated new plan, or amendment to a marine farming development plan; and
the correction of several typographical errors in the existing legislation.