MICK Gentleman has announced new planning and environment legislation which he says will give the green light to a number of legal changes, including the adoption of national standards for new wood heaters sold in the ACT.

“Late last year all environment Ministers agreed to more efficient wood heaters, including emission limits, and the legislation introduced today will give the green light to these changes,” Mick said.

“The Australian Standards that have been adopted in the new ACT legislation have been subject to extensive consultation with industry and key stakeholder groups through the development phase.

“Changes have also been made to Environment legislation, allowing the Minister to declare a controlled native species under the Nature Conservation Act.

“A declaration can now be made where an unacceptable environmental, economic or social impact is likely to occur, and will allow for preventative management measures to be taken.

“A good example of where this legislation will be used is where the flying fox population is reaching a density at which it is likely that it will begin to have an unacceptable environmental impact. At that point, preventative management measures, such as the installation of deterrence devices, can take place to protect areas that would be likely to suffer an unacceptable environmental impact.

“Other items in today’s omnibus legislation included the 12 month review of the Heritage Amendment Bill 2013, in which a number of changes were made to improve the operation and clarity of administrative and decision-making processes.

“The amendments support the important work of the ACT Heritage Council and the heritage community to identify places of heritage significance and to ensure that they have appropriate protection.

“Changes include an amendment to the power of the Heritage Council to issue a direction to the custodian of an object, in addition to the current ability to issue a direction to the owner of an object. This will support the protection of items of heritage significance that are in the custody of someone other than the owner, such as an item on loan to a museum.”

A number of other minor, technical and editorial changes were also tabled within the Planning and Building, Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2016.