Booderee National Park - Research permit conditions

Interpretation

In these conditions, unless the contrary intention appears:

Act means the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and any Regulations, management plans and instruments made under it, and includes any Act that amends or replaces it.

agreement means the agreement at Section 5 of the application

authorised participants means all persons, other than the permittee or the permittee’s staff, who take part in the permitted activity.

Director means the Director of National Parks, and includes any statutory successor to the Director and the Director’s delegates.

management plan means the management plan in operation from time to time for the park under the Act.

media means individual or company, including their agents, representatives and employees, that publishes, broadcasts or otherwise engages in communications to an audience as part of their work.

park means the named Commonwealth reserve(s) for which this permit is issued.

park staff means persons employed by the Director and performing duties in relation to the park.

permitted activity means the specified activity for which this permit is issued.

permittee means each person (individual, company or other commercial entity) to whom this permit is issued and includes, where the context permits and the permittee’s staff.

permittee’s staff means the permittee’s employees, contractors and other agents who take part in the permitted activity.

ranger means a person appointed as a ranger under s392 of the Act.

Regulations means the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000 and includes any Regulations that amend or replace them.

warden means a person appointed as a warden under s392 of the Act.

In these conditions:

The singular includes the plural and vice versa.

Where a word or phrase is defined, other grammatical forms of that word or phrase have a corresponding meaning.

Where one of the words ‘include’, ‘including’ or ‘includes’ is used, the words ‘without limitation’ are taken to immediately follow.

Where the word ‘must’ imposes an obligation on a person to do or not do something, the obligation is taken to mean that the person must take all reasonable steps to do or not do the thing (ie steps that ought to be reasonable to a person who possesses the faculty of reason and engages in conduct in accordance with community standards).

A reference to the permittee includes, where the context permits, the permittee’s staff and the authorised participants involved in the permitted activity.

Note: The Director may vary or revoke these permit conditions, or impose new conditions, in accordance with r17.09 of the Regulations, and must do so where it is necessary to ensure that the matters or circumstances about which the Director is required to be satisfied when issuing the permit continue to apply.

General Permit Conditions (all activities)

1. The permittee must not conduct the permitted activity before the commencement date or after the expiry date shown on the permit.
2. The permittee must not conduct the permitted activity unless the permittee has signed and submitted the agreement with the park.
3. This permit cannot be transferred to another person, except in accordance with regulation 17.11 of the Regulations.

Note: If the permittee sells the business to which the permit relates, the permittee may apply to transfer the permit to the purchaser, in accordance with r17.11 of the Regulations, or the purchaser may apply for a new permit

4. The permittee must comply with the EPBC Act, the EPBC Regulations, the management plan, these permit conditions, and any other signs, notices, information, guidelines, codes of conduct, protocols or directions issued by, or under the authority of, the Director relating to the park.
5. The permittee must comply with all Commonwealth, State or Territory laws relating to the permitted activity.
6. The permittee must hold all permits, licences and other authorities required by law for the conduct of the permitted activity.
7. The permittee must maintain relevant training, qualifications and experience to competently conduct the permitted activity.
8. The permittee must carry a copy of this permit and these conditions or keep a copy in the permittee’s transport (vehicle, vessel or aircraft) while conducting the permitted activity, and must produce it for inspection when requested by a ranger or warden.
9. The permittee must not, and must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the permittee’s staff and authorised participants do not, walk off track or use any road, track or area that is permanently, temporarily or seasonally closed or restricted by fences, gates or signs, unless specifically authorised by this or another permit.
10. The permittee must not, and must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the permittee’s staff and authorised participants do not:
    
    1. behave contrary to the Regulations or any warning or regulatory signs; or
    2. pick fruits, flowers or branches, or otherwise damage any native plants; or
    3. interfere with, feed, handle or disturb any native animal, or damage or disturb a nest or dwelling place of a native animal; or
    4. touch or interfere with any rock art, sacred site or cultural artefact; or
    5. impede public access to any part of the park.

Note: This permit does not give the permittee any rights to the exclusive use, enjoyment or occupancy of any area of the park unless specifically authorised by this permit.

11. The permittee must notify the Director, in writing, within 7 days if:
    
    1. the permittee sells any business to which the permit relates to another person or group, or for any other reason ceases to conduct the permitted activity; or
    2. the permittee is a company and there is a change in the owner(s) of the majority of issued shares in the company.
12. If the permittee is a company or other incorporated body the permittee must not, without the approval of the Director, have as a director or office holder a person who has been convicted¹ of an offence² against the Act or the Regulations within the previous 10 years.
13. The permittee must not, without the approval of the Director, use directly in the conduct of the activity to which this permit relates (eg driver or tour guide) the services of any person who has within the previous 10 years been convicted of an offence against the Act or the Regulations prior to the grant of the permit.

Note: The Director may keep a register of persons who have been convicted of such an offence or who have been the subject of a request by the Director for a permittee to cease using their services within the park.

14. If any of the permittee’s staff contravene these permit conditions the Director may:
    
    1. notify the permittee of the contravention, and
    2. direct the permittee to cease using the services of that person within the park for a specified time, and the permittee must forthwith comply with that request.

Note: In this situation the Director will give written notice to that member of the permittee’s staff of the decision, stating that he or she may apply to the Director to reconsider the decision and that, subject to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975, he or she may subsequently apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the reconsideration.

15. The permittee must ensure that the permittee’s staff and authorised participants are fully informed of and understand these permit conditions before they commence taking part in the permitted activity.
16. The permittee must ensure that the permittee's staff are appropriately trained and/or accredited for any activity they conduct in the park.
17. The permittee must ensure that appropriate risk management systems, strategies and procedures are in place to minimise foreseeable risks to the permittee’s staff, authorised participants, other members of the public and the environment and heritage values of the park, and must produce evidence of such systems, strategies and procedures upon request by the Director.

Note: Suitable templates for risk management systems are available from Parks Australia. They represent the minimum acceptable standard for a risk management system. Permittees are encouraged to develop more detailed risk management systems.

18. The permittee is responsible for the safety, well-being and behaviour of the permittee’s staff and authorised participants, and must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that no person is exposed to risks to their health or safety whilst in the park.
19. If the permittee or any of the authorised participants is killed, injured, becomes ill, goes missing or is involved in a dangerous incident while in the park, a member of park staff must be notified as soon as possible and the permittee and the authorised participant must comply with any requests or directions from a member of park staff in relation to the safety of that person or any other person.

Note: In this condition “dangerous incident” means an incident that exposes a person to a serious risk to their health or safety.

20. The permittee must ensure that its supervision of authorised participants is reasonable in the circumstances of the authorised participants’ differing levels of fitness, experience and abilities.
21. The permittee must carry, and must ensure that each authorised participant carries, sufficient potable water for the conduct of the permitted activity.

Note: The Director recommends that, in hot weather, people carry and drink one litre of water for every hour they will be active.

22. The permittee will make good any damage to the park, to the extent that the damage was caused or contributed to by the conduct of the permitted activity or a breach of the permit conditions by the permittee.

Scientific Research Conditions

23. The permittee must take all reasonable steps to minimise the permitted activity’s impact on the environment.
24. The permitted activity is to be conducted out of the view of the general public where possible.
25. The permittee must notify the Director as soon as possible after receiving any request for media comment about the permitted activity. The permittee must consult the Director prior to issuing any comment to the media regarding the permitted activity.
26. The permittee must take all reasonable steps to clean vehicles and other transport used in the conduct of the permitted activity, before entering or moving around the park, if they have been off sealed or graded roads, to ensure they do not spread weed seeds or pathogens in the park.
27. The permittee must ensure that all traps, nets and any other devices used for capturing and securing animals, and any devices that are to be attached to animals, are thoroughly cleaned, and free of any pathogens that may cause disease, before they are brought into the park or moved between areas within the park.
28. The permittee must not enter areas to which entry is prohibited or restricted under the EPBC Regulations, unless specifically authorised by this permit or another permit to do so.
29. If the permitted activity involves taking whole or part of any organisms, the permittee must record the name of each type of organism, location, date and quantity taken at each location.
30. The permittee must ensure that any vessel used in the conduct of the permitted activity is registered, has appropriate safety equipment on board at all times suitable for the conduct of the permitted activity, and is operated and maintained in accordance with all relevant and applicable Commonwealth, State and Territory laws, and must, if requested by the Director, provide copies of all relevant certificates and other documents evidencing compliance with this condition.
31. The permittee must ensure that all waste materials and chemical substances relating to the permitted activity are placed in appropriate containers designed to fully confine material, removed from the park and disposed in an environmentally responsible manner.
32. The permittee must not discharge into the environment any fuels, fuel-tainted bilge water, chemical wastes from treatment or cleaning of the vessel(s) or any other substance that is likely to adversely affect the environment.
33. The permittee must not use a vessel with anti-fouling that contains tributyltin compounds.
34. The permittee will ensure compliance with instructions issued from time to time by the Director regulating boat speed on waters within the permitted areas of operations and any measures to be taken to avoid or minimise environmental damage.

Booderee National Park Conditions

35. On each visit to the park and prior to conducting the permitted activity, the permittee must provide the park with details of all transport and persons participating in the permitted activity during that visit and any further details the Director may reasonably request (including whether any of the permittee's vehicles have recently been driven in areas of weed infestation). The permittee must comply with any reasonable instructions given by park staff
36. The permittee must hold a current first aid qualification, the minimum standard for which is "Provide First Aid HLTAID003" or equivalent, or have completed a relevant safety risk assessment prior to commencing the permitted activity
37. The permittee may, with the prior written approval of the Director, amend the area permitted for the activity and add persons to the list of those permitted to participate in the permitted activity.

Note: any request for approval under this condition must be made in writing not less than 7 working days before the permittee proposes to commence using the area or person in the conduct of the permitted activity.

38. The permittee must not conduct any recreational activities (including boating and fishing) other than in accordance with park rules, signs and directions.
39. FURTHER CONDITIONS MAY BE ADDED BY THE DIRECTOR IN WRITING.

^{1. A person is taken to have been convicted of an offence if, within five years, the person has been charged with, and found guilty of, the offence but discharged without conviction or has not been found guilty of the offence, but a court has taken the offence into account in passing sentence on the person for another offence. Part VIIC of the Crimes Act 1914 includes provisions that, in certain circumstances, relieve persons from the requirement to disclose spent convictions and require persons aware of such convictions to disregard them.↩}

^{2. Such an offence includes, for an offence under such a law, section 6 of the Crimes Act 1914 or sections 11.1, 11.4 or 11.5 of the Criminal Code (which deal with being an accessory after the fact, attempting to commit offences, inciting to or urging the commission of offences by other people and conspiring to commit offences) or an equivalent provision of a law of a State or Territory.↩}