23General duty to preserve certain biota, habitats, sites and species etc.

23  General duty to preserve certain biota, habitats, sites and species etc.

 (1) The operator of an undertaking at an airport must take all reasonable and practicable measures to ensure that the operation of the undertaking, and any work in connection with the undertaking:

 (a) will not:

 (i) adversely impact biota or habitats of native species; or

 (ii) interfere with sites of heritage value; and

 (b) will not:

 (i) adversely impact a listed threatened species, or a listed threatened ecological community, within the meaning of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999; or

 (ii) interfere with sites of significance to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people; and

 (c) if it is reasonably discoverable that, at the airport, there is a listed threatened species, or a listed threatened ecological community, within the meaning of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999—is not inconsistent with action taken or proposed to be taken by an appropriate person to lessen the threat to the species or ecological community; and

 (d) is not inconsistent with an international convention, treaty or other agreement to which Australia is a party, and that relates to a matter to which this instrument applies.

Note 1: A person that contravenes subsection (1) of this section commits an offence against subsection 132(2) of the Act.

Note 2 Under section 75 of this instrument, an airport environment officer may require the operator of an undertaking to take specified action to comply with subsection (1) of this section.

Note 3: The duty under this section may be affected by Division 3 of Part 4, which provides for the granting of authorisations.

 (2) For the purposes of subsection 132(2) of the Act, the maximum number of penalty units for a contravention of subsection (1) of this section is declared to be 50.

 (3) In subsection (1):

appropriate person includes the following:

 (a) the Environment Department;

 (b) a body, established in the State in which the airport is located, that has responsibilities in relation to the conservation of biota, habitat, heritage, ecological communities or biodiversity in the area where the airport is located.