Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641:body:0:p11
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 28795–31671

under Part 3 of the EPBC Act to take an action that will have a significant impact on listed species anywhere in Australia unless approved under Part 9. Actions likely to have a significant impact on a marine turtle species may be assessed by the Minister and where impacts are found to be acceptable may be approved subject to a range of conditions.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (GBRMP Act), which operates in conjunction with the EPBC Act, affords protection to marine turtles in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. There are other Commonwealth and state/territory marine parks and reserves in Australia that also afford protection for marine turtles.
Marine turtles are also protected by state/territory legislation. Table 4 outlines relevant Acts by jurisdiction and provides the conservation status of the marine turtle species under each piece of legislation. Many of these Acts also require environmental assessment for actions likely to impact turtles.
The Native Title Act 1993 identifies activities such as hunting and fishing as potential native title rights and interests. Section 211 of the Native Title Act 1993 generally provides that a law which prohibits or restricts persons from carrying out a particular class of activity, other than in accordance with a licence or permit, does not prohibit or restrict native title holders from carrying out that activity for the purpose of personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs and in exercise of native title rights and interests. This protects the pre-existing legal rights of native title holders.
Many Acts have specific clauses that identify the right and authority for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to hunt as part of cultural practice. These include:
    * The GBRMP Act which permits the traditional use of marine resources by Traditional Owner groups in accordance with accredited traditional use of marine resource agreements.
    * Turtle and dugong hunting in the Torres Strait Protected Zone are managed as traditional subsistence fisheries under the Commonwealth Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984. The fisheries are limited to the Traditional Inhabitants of the Torres Strait, and animals may only be taken in the course of traditional fishing and used for traditional purposes.
    * Section 61 of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities (Justice, Land and Other Matters) Act 1984 allows a member of a community of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people resident in a community government or Indigenous Regional Council Area to take marine products or fauna by traditional means for consumption by members of the community.
    * The Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 provides an exemption otherwise applying to the taking of fauna for persons of Aboriginal descent to take fauna for food for their selves and their