Wildlife licensing reforms

The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 regulates human interactions with native animals and plants and commenced on 25 August 2017.

It introduced a risk-based approach to wildlife regulation to reduce administrative burden and streamline regulation.

Key features of the Biodiversity Conservation Act

The Biodiversity Conservation Act:

• strengthens protections for native animals and plants
• increases penalties for non-compliance
• establishes public registers of wildlife licences.

The Act makes it an offence to:

• harm, capture or kill protected animals
• pick protected plants
• damage threatened ecological communities, habitats of threatened species and areas of outstanding biodiversity value
• liberate an animal to the wild
• approach or interfere with marine mammals.

These offences do not apply to activities that are:

• authorised under other legislation
• authorised under a biodiversity conservation licence
• undertaken in accordance with an approved Biodiversity Conservation Act code of practice
• exempted under the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017.

Risk-based approach to regulating human–wildlife activities

Under this approach, some low-risk activities may no longer require a biodiversity conservation licence and may instead be regulated by enforceable codes of practice. These codes of practice will require record keeping and registration.

Codes of practice reduce administrative burden for lower-risk activities and allow the department to focus enforcement on higher-risk activities.

Until a code of practice is adopted, existing licensing requirements remain in place. 

Activities that require a licence

Higher-risk activities will continue to require a biodiversity conservation licence to manage conservation threats and harm to wildlife populations, animal welfare, and human health and safety.

Recordkeeping requirements continue to apply.

Activities that are exempt from regulation

The Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 has exemptions for:

• mitigating damage to crops by native birds
• keeping and dealing in 41 species of captively bred native birds – for example, various parrot species and budgerigars. These birds are exempt from the requirement to hold an animal keeper licence and codes of practice regulation.

What happens to my current licence?

Before implementing changes to existing wildlife licences, the department will notify relevant licensees and applicants if they:

• have applied but no longer need a licence
• currently have a licence but may be eligible to transition to a code of practice.