{"id":"nsw:act-2018-040","name":"Forestry Legislation Amendment Act 2018","slug":"forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"nsw","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"40 of 2018","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":29218,"registerId":"nsw-act-2018-040-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name of Act","content":"#### 1 Name of Act\n\n1 Name of Act\n\n> This Act is the [Forestry Legislation Amendment Act 2018](/view/html/inforce/current/act-2018-040).","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"#### 2 Commencement\n\n2 Commencement\n\n> This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"Schedule 1","sectionType":"schedule","heading":null,"content":"# Schedule 1\n\nSchedules 1, 2 (Repealed)\n\n**sch 1:** Rep 1987 No 15, sec 30C.\n\n**sch 2:** Rep 1987 No 15, sec 30C.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"Schedule 3","sectionType":"schedule","heading":"Amendment of other Acts and instruments","content":"# Schedule 3 Amendment of other Acts and instruments\n\nSchedule 3 Amendment of other Acts and instruments\n\n3.1–3.6\n\n(Repealed)\n\n3.7 [Local Land Services Regulation 2014](/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2014-0001)\n\n3.8–3.13\n\n(Repealed)\n\n**sch 3:** Am 1987 No 15, sec 30C.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":null,"content":"#### 6\n\n\\[2\\]–\\[6\\] (Repealed)","sortOrder":5}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a narrow, technical amendment consistent with the Act's purpose of updating forestry-related legislation. The amendment aligns land classification with existing forestry approval frameworks without expanding beyond the original scope of amending forestry legislation."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely short amendment - only one substantive change (omitting and replacing sub-paragraph (d))","Single cross-reference to Part 5B of the Local Land Services Act (private native forestry plans)","No new defined terms introduced","Straightforward substitution amendment with no conditional logic or nested exceptions","Most of the Act's schedules have been repealed, leaving only this minor technical amendment"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation makes a technical change to how land is classified under NSW environmental laws. Specifically, it amends the **Local Land Services Regulation 2014** to add a new type of land to the 'category 2-sensitive regulated land' classification.\n\n**What it does:**\n- Adds land covered by a **private native forestry plan** to the list of sensitive regulated land categories\n- This means landowners with approved forestry plans for native forests on their property will have their land classified as 'sensitive regulated land'\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Landowners in NSW who have or want private native forestry plans (these are formal approvals allowing selective logging of native forests on private land)\n- Local Land Services, which administers land classification and clearing rules\n\n**Why it matters:**\n- 'Category 2-sensitive regulated land' carries stricter rules about vegetation clearing than ordinary rural land\n- This change ensures private native forestry operations are subject to appropriate environmental oversight and land management standards\n- It closes a potential gap where forestry land might have escaped proper classification under the land management framework"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The amendment expands the statutory scope of \"category 2-sensitive regulated land\" by adding land that is the subject of a private native forestry plan (Schedule 3 — replacement of clause 108(2)(d)). Before the amendment, that specific class of land was not included in clause 108(2)(d); after the amendment, such land falls within the category and so becomes subject to the legal treatment that attaches to category 2-sensitive regulated land. The supplied text leaves the substantive obligations tied to that category unchanged in their original sources; this instrument alters which parcels are captured by those obligations. Commencement is left to proclamation (s 2), so the timing of when scope expands is discretionary."},"complexity_factors":["Amendment is narrow and targeted: a single insertion into clause 108(2)(d) expanding the definition of category 2-sensitive regulated land.","Cross-references to Part 5B (definition of private native forestry plan) require reading multiple provisions to understand full effects.","Commencement is by proclamation (s 2), introducing timing discretion separate from the substantive change.","Several repeals and references to other instruments (e.g. Local Land Services Regulation 2014) mean the statutory context is fragmented and requires checking multiple instruments.","The amendment text ends as part of a list (the inserted text finishes with 'or'), so full meaning depends on adjacent items in clause 108 not supplied here."],"plain_english_summary":"### What this amendment does, in plain language\n\n- Mechanically, the Act changes an existing regulatory definition so that land which is \"subject to a private native forestry plan within the meaning of Part 5B of the Act\" is explicitly included as a form of \"category 2-sensitive regulated land\" by altering clause 108(2)(d) (Schedule 3, amendment to clause 108). Several other schedule items are repealed and the Act's commencement is left to proclamation (s 2).\n\n### Who it affects\n\n- Private landowners or occupiers whose land is covered by a private native forestry plan under Part 5B of the principal Act. By the text, those parcels are newly treated as category 2-sensitive regulated land (Schedule 3 — insertion into clause 108(2)(d)).\n\n- Administrators of the forestry/regulatory regime who must treat such land under the category 2-sensitive rules once the amendment commences.\n\n### Why it matters (mechanical effects and likely practical implications)\n\n- The direct legal effect is an expansion of the kinds of land that fall into the category 2-sensitive regulated land classification (Schedule 3, item changing clause 108(2)(d)). Classifying land as category 2-sensitive regulated land will bring whatever permissions, prohibitions, standards, or procedural requirements attach to that category into play for land subject to private native forestry plans. The amendment text itself does not set out those procedural or substantive duties — those remain in the provisions that define and implement category 2-sensitive regulated land and in Part 5B.\n\n- Who pays: If category 2-sensitive status carries consent, reporting, operational, or remediation obligations, the immediate financial and administrative costs fall on the owners or operators of land covered by a private native forestry plan (Schedule 3 insertion). The Act does not specify fees or amounts in the supplied text.\n\n- Who decides: Whether a parcel is covered turns on whether it is \"subject to a private native forestry plan within the meaning of Part 5B\" (Schedule 3). Interpretation and certification of that status will therefore be governed by the rules and authorities established under Part 5B. The Act itself comes into force on days chosen by proclamation, so timing of effect is decided by proclamation (s 2).\n\n- Behaviour changes: Landowners with private native forestry plans will need to assume they are within the category 2-sensitive regime and comply with any related requirements. Administrators must treat such land consistently with the category 2-sensitive classification.\n\n### Trade-offs, incentives and risks (mechanisms, not verdicts)\n\n- Incentives: The amendment increases regulatory coverage of privately planned native forestry activities by folding them into a defined sensitivity category. That creates an incentive for prospective plan-holders to account for additional regulatory requirements when deciding whether to prepare or continue a private native forestry plan (Schedule 3 insertion).\n\n- Compliance burden and opportunity cost: The supplied text does not list the specific new obligations that attach to category 2-sensitive land; therefore the concrete compliance costs and opportunity costs (e.g. limits on land use, additional approvals) depend on the existing regime for category 2-sensitive regulated land and Part 5B. Those are the operative sources for obligations referenced by the amendment.\n\n- Implementation risk and administrative discretion: The amendment relies on cross-references (clause 108 and Part 5B). That creates a need for administrators and courts to interpret how the two sets of provisions interact. The Act’s commencement depends on proclamation (s 2), which creates timing discretion for when the change takes effect.\n\n- Concentrated benefits / diffuse costs and substitution effects: The amendment concentrates legal effect on a specific subgroup (land covered by private native forestry plans). Any concentrated regulatory impact will therefore fall on that identifiable group; other landholders are unaffected directly by this specific textual change. Whether this induces substitution (e.g., fewer private native forestry plans in future) depends on obligations that lie outside the supplied amendment text.\n\n### Text citations\n\n- Amendment to include private native forestry plan land in category 2-sensitive regulated land: Schedule 3, replacement text for clause 108(2)(d).\n- Commencement: section 2 — commencement by proclamation.\n- Other items in the schedule are marked repealed in the supplied text (Schedule 1, Schedule 2, various items in Schedule 3)."},"summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Insufficient substantive content is available in this document to determine whether the Act's scope changed from its original intent. The document is a legislative register entry rather than the full text of the Act. No amendment history, explanatory memorandum, or operative provisions are visible to allow this assessment."},"complexity_factors":["This document contains almost no substantive legal content — it is primarily a legislation website status/metadata page, making meaningful complexity assessment very difficult","As an amending Act, complexity depends entirely on the underlying legislation being amended, which is not reproduced here","Two commencement dates (27 June 2018 and 10 November 2018) suggest a staged rollout of provisions, adding some interpretive complexity","The note about automatic repeal under section 30C of the Interpretation Act 1987 adds a procedural layer typical of NSW amending legislation","Forestry law in general intersects with environmental, land tenure, native title, and commercial law — inherently cross-jurisdictional complexity that may or may not be reflected in the actual amendments"],"plain_english_summary":"## Forestry Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (NSW)\n\nThis is an **amending Act** from New South Wales — meaning it doesn't stand alone as a complete law, but instead makes changes to existing forestry legislation already on the books.\n\n**What it does:** It modifies one or more existing NSW laws that govern forestry — likely covering things like how forests are managed, logged, or protected, and possibly the powers and responsibilities of Forestry Corporation NSW or related government bodies.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Forestry operators and timber industry participants in NSW\n- Landowners near state forests\n- Environmental and conservation groups\n- Government agencies managing forest resources\n- Potentially Aboriginal communities with connections to forested land\n\n**Why it matters:** Forestry law in NSW governs how public forests are used, who can log them, what environmental safeguards apply, and how disputes are handled. Amendments to this framework can shift the balance between commercial timber harvesting and environmental protection.\n\n**Important limitation:** The actual substance of the changes cannot be fully assessed from this document — it is essentially a metadata/status page from the NSW legislation website, showing only that the Act exists, when it commenced (27 June 2018, with further changes from 10 November 2018), and administrative details. The specific amendments made to underlying laws are **not visible** in the text provided."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018","history":"/api/acts/forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018/history","analysis":"/api/acts/forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/forestry-legislation-amendment-act-2018/documents"}}