Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Notice under subsection 368(2)

INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORIES (NOTICE INVITING COMMENTS ON A PROPOSAL TO PREPARE TWO DRAFT MANAGEMENT PLANS) 2023

This instrument revokes the Notice Inviting Comments on a Proposal to Prepare Two Draft Management Plans (F2023N00181).

This instrument is to let interested parties know that the Director of National Parks proposes to prepare a draft of the first Christmas Island Marine Park Management Plan and the first Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park Management Plan. The Director now invites members of the public to make suggestions about the content of these draft management plans. Comments must clearly identify the marine park which is the subject of the comments. If comments are intended to apply to both marine parks, this must be clearly expressed. 

Comments should be submitted to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s Consultation Hub at: https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/ no later than 3.30 AM AEST, 17 August 2023. Anyone unable to use the portal may send their comments to IOTmarineparksNOI@dcceew.gov.au. Comments submitted after the indicated date or via other means may not be considered in the preparation of the draft management plans.

All comments will be treated as public documents and may be published on both the Director of National Parks website and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website.

All comments and personal information will be managed in accordance with the privacy policy applicable to the Director of National Parks which is available at https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/national-parks/parks-australia/privacy-policy. Your personal information may be disclosed to the Minister, relevant government agencies and where required by law.

Comments will inform the preparation of draft management plans for Christmas Island Marine Park and Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park. The draft management plans will be made available for comment in accordance with subsection 368(5) of the EPBC Act before they are finalised. Once finalised, the plans will guide management of the two marine parks for a period of 10 years.

More information about the management plan development process and general information about Christmas Island Marine Park and Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park is available at https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/parks/indian-ocean-territories/. For further information or if you have a question, please email iotmarineparks@dcceew.gov.au.

[signed]

Jason Mundy

Division Head

On behalf of the Director of National Parks

04/07/2023