{"id":"F2010L03223","name":"Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 - section 269A - Instrument Adopting and Revoking Recovery Plans (26/11/2010) (NT, VIC)","slug":"environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":85433,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2010L03223-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Environment Protection and Biodiversity ","sectionType":"part","heading":"Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999","content":"# Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999\n\nSection 269A\n\nInstrument Adopting and Revoking Recovery Plans\n\nI, CAROLYN WEISS CAMERON, Assistant Secretary, Approvals and Wildlife Division, delegate for the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities:\n\n(a) pursuant to subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, hereby revoke the following recovery plan that is currently adopted under subsection 269A(7) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999:\n\n\\- Basalt Greenhood (Pterostyylis basaltica) Recovery Plan 2000-2004. Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria, February 1999\n\n(b) under subsection 269A(7) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, hereby adopt as recovery plans for the listed threatened species and ecological community specified below, the respective plans made by the Northern Territory and Victoria (or agencies of those States) specified opposite those listed threatened species or ecological communities:\n\nNorthern Territory (2)\n\n| Listed Threatened Species                             | Recovery Plan                                                                                                                                                                 |\n| ----------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Croitana aestiva Desert Sand-skipper, Aestiva Skipper | Palmer C. M. 2010. National Recovery Plan for the Desert Sand-skipper Croitana aestiva. Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport, Northern Territory. |\n| Dasyurus hallucatus Northern Quoll                    | Hill B.M. and Ward S.J. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Northern Quoll Dasyurus hallucatus. Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport, Darwin.  |\n\nVictorian Recovery Plans (11)\n\n| Listed Threatened Species                                                                       | Recovery Plan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |\n| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Galaxias fuscus Barred Galaxias                                                                 | Raadik, T.A., Fairbrother, P.S. and Smith, S.J. 2010. National Recovery Plan for the Barred Galaxias Galaxias fuscus. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.                                                                |\n| Maccullochella peelii peelii Murray Cod                                                         | National Murray Cod Recovery Team 2010. National Recovery Plan for the Murray Cod Maccullochella peelii peelii. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.                                                                      |\n| Megascolides australis Giant Gippsland Earthworm                                                | Van Praagh, B. and Yen, A. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Giant Gippsland Earthworm Megascolides australis. Department of Sustainability and Environment, East Melbourne.                                                             |\n| Astelia australiana Tall Astelia                                                                | Cutler, S. and Murphy, A.H. 2010. National Recovery Plan for the Tall Astelia Astelia australiana. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.                                                                                   |\n| Dianella amoena Matted Flax-lily                                                                | Carter, O. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Matted Flax-lily Dianella amoena. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria.                                                                                                   |\n| Diuris basaltica Small Golden Moths Orchid, Early Golden Moths                                  | Backhouse, G. and Lester, K. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Small Golden Moths Orchid Diuris basaltica. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.                                                                      |\n| Glycine latrobeana Clover Glycine, Purple Clover                                                | Carter, O and Sutter, G. (2010). National Recovery Plan for Clover Glycine Glycine latrobeana. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.                                                                                       |\n| Lachnagrostis adamsonii Adamson's Blown-grass                                                   | Murphy, A. (2010). National Recovery Plan for Adamson's Blown-grass Lachnagrostis adamsonii. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.                                                                                         |\n| Pterostylis basaltica Basalt Greenhood                                                          | Vlcek, K. and Pritchard, A. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Basalt Rustyhood Pterostylis basaltica. Department of Sustainability and Environment, East Melbourne.                                                                      |\n| Pterostylis cucullata Leafy Greenhood                                                           | Duncan, M. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Leafy Greenhood Pterostylis cucullata. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria.                                                                                              |\n| Silurian Limestone Pomaderris Shrubland of the South East Corner and Australian Alps Bioregions | Moorrees, A. (2010). National Recovery Plan for the Endangered Ecological Community Silurian Limestone Pomaderris Shrubland of the South East Corner and Australian Alps Bioregions. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne. |\n\nThe adopted recovery plans will come into force on the day after this instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.\n\nThe revoking of the recovery plan specified in paragraph (a) of this instrument will take effect on the day after this instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.\n\nDated this 26th day of November 2010\n\nCarolyn Cameron\n\nDelegate of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument operates within the original, narrow purpose of section 269A of the EPBC Act — to adopt (and revoke) recovery plans for listed threatened species and ecological communities. It does not expand the legal powers of the Commonwealth or introduce new categories of regulation; it replaces one previously adopted plan and adopts state-made plans as national recovery plans. Therefore the scope has not grown beyond the Act’s intended mechanism for recognising recovery plans."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single-purpose instrument (revocation + adoption).","Adopts 13 recovery plans (2 NT, 11 VIC) — list length increases administrative detail but not legal complexity.","References two Acts: EPBC Act s.269A(7) and Acts Interpretation Act s.33(3).","No nested conditions, exceptions, or technical definitions within the instrument itself.","Clear commencement clause (day after registration on FRLI)."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this instrument does (mechanically)**\n\n- It revokes one older recovery plan and adopts thirteen newer recovery plans as national recovery plans under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).\n- The revocation uses the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (subsection 33(3)) to cancel the earlier adopted Basalt Greenhood (Pterostylis basaltica) Recovery Plan 2000–2004. (This cancels the older plan that had previously been adopted under the EPBC Act.)\n- Under section 269A(7) of the EPBC Act, the instrument adopts recovery plans made by the Northern Territory and Victoria as the official, nationally‑recognised recovery plans for the listed species and one ecological community named in the instrument.\n- The adoptions and the revocation each take effect on the day after the instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (FRLI).\n\n**Who is affected**\n\n- Species managers and conservation agencies: State agencies and the Commonwealth are affected because those agencies’ recovery plans are now the nationally adopted plans for the listed taxa and community.\n- Landowners, developers and businesses: Where actions they propose or carry out could affect one of the listed species or the listed ecological community, the newly adopted plans can inform environmental approvals, conditions, and required mitigation under the EPBC Act.\n- Regulators and permitting bodies: The Department and its delegates who assess referrals, approvals and conditions will use the adopted recovery plans in decision‑making under the EPBC Act.\n\n**Why it matters (practical effects)**\n\n- A “recovery plan” is a formal document that sets objectives and actions to support recovery of a threatened species or ecological community. When a recovery plan is adopted under the EPBC Act (s.269A(7)), it becomes an authoritative reference for Commonwealth decisions about activities that may have a significant impact on the listed species or community.\n- For private parties contemplating development or land use changes, the adopted plans can increase certainty about conservation priorities and expected mitigation measures, but they may also increase compliance tasks (surveys, avoidance, offsets, monitoring) and the potential for conditions attached to approvals.\n- The revocation removes an older plan for the Basalt Greenhood and replaces it with a newer Victorian plan adopted at the Commonwealth level, so the applicable objectives and actions for that species change to those in the 2010 plan.\n\n**How the instrument works (decision and timing)**\n\n- The Minister’s delegate (Assistant Secretary of the Approvals and Wildlife Division) makes the instrument using powers in the EPBC Act and the Acts Interpretation Act. The delegate revokes one named plan and adopts other named plans (listed with author and year). (See EPBC Act s.269A(7) and Acts Interpretation Act s.33(3).)\n- The legal effect starts the day after the instrument is registered on the FRLI.\n\n**Incentives, costs and trade‑offs (concrete mechanics)**\n\n- Who decides: the Commonwealth (via delegate) decides to adopt state plans as national recovery plans; the content is produced by state agencies or recovery teams and simply adopted here.\n- Who pays: the instrument itself does not allocate funding. Costs fall to parties required to comply with EPBC Act conditions — typically proponents of actions affecting the species, and to agencies implementing recovery actions. State and Commonwealth agencies that implement recovery actions bear implementation costs unless funding is separately allocated.\n- Behaviour changes: businesses and landholders potentially face more or clearer conservation requirements when seeking approvals under the EPBC Act; regulators will rely on the adopted plans when setting conditions or making decisions.\n- Effects on private enterprise and contracts: the instrument does not itself create new prohibitions or compensation mechanisms, but it strengthens the statutory weight of the adopted plans in approval processes, which can affect project feasibility, timing, and negotiation of conditions.\n- Implementation risk and administrative burden: because the instrument adopts plans made by states, successful implementation depends on coordination between Commonwealth and state agencies and on whether funding and resourcing follow. If plans set actions without matching funding, there is a gap between obligations and practical delivery.\n- Concentrated benefits and diffuse costs: benefits (clear recovery objectives) concentrate on the listed species and their managers; costs (compliance, delay) are borne by project proponents and landholders who interact with approvals processes. The instrument itself does not create direct payments or market transfers.\n\n**Source‑based statements (what the instrument claims and what that implies)**\n\n- The instrument asserts that the listed state plans are adopted as the Commonwealth’s recovery plans (EPBC Act s.269A(7)). That is a legal recognition: the plans become the authoritative recovery plans for the listed taxa and community in Commonwealth decision‑making.\n- The instrument revokes one previously adopted plan using the Acts Interpretation Act power to revoke (s.33(3)). That changes which text applies for the Basalt Greenhood.\n\n**Key cited provisions in this instrument**\n\n- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999: s.269A(7) — adoption of recovery plans.\n- Acts Interpretation Act 1901: s.33(3) — revocation of instruments.\n\n"},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument operates exactly within the scope intended by s.269A of the EPBC Act, which specifically provides for the Minister (or delegate) to adopt state and territory recovery plans as national recovery plans, and to revoke outdated ones. There is no scope creep; it performs the precise administrative function the section was designed for."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative section (s.269A) with straightforward adoption and revocation powers","No defined terms within the instrument itself — relies on external definitions in the parent Act","Simple tabular format for listing adopted plans with clear species-to-document mapping","Minimal conditional logic: only standard commencement clauses (day after registration)","No cross-references to other legislation beyond the empowering provisions (s.33(3) of Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and s.269A(7) of EPBC Act)","Short length (approximately 1 page of operative content plus tables)"],"plain_english_summary":"This decision, under the EPBC Act, cancels an outdated recovery plan for the Basalt Greenhood and adopts 13 state-written recovery plans as national instruments. \n\nIt gives legal weight to those plans — affecting conservation of listed species (e.g., Desert Sand-skipper, Northern Quoll, Murray Cod, Giant Gippsland Earthworm and several Victorian plants) and requiring land managers, developers and agencies to consider them in decisions."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r","history":"/api/acts/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r/history","analysis":"/api/acts/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/environment-protection-and-biodiversity-conservation-act-1999-section-269a-instrument-adopting-and-r/documents"}}