What are the responsibilities of the Australian Government in biodiversity conservation?
The Australian Government is responsible for managing Australia’s international border; this includes regulating the import and export of animals and plants, and substances and items made from them. It also manages Commonwealth lands, such as defence establishments and Commonwealth national parks, and administers the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The EPBC Act, among other things, protects matters of ‘national environmental significance’. The seven matters of national environmental significance to which the EPBC Act applies are: world heritage sites; national heritage places; wetlands of international importance (Ramsar-listed wetlands); nationally threatened species and ecological communities; migratory species; Commonwealth marine areas and nuclear actions. The Australian Government is also responsible for the oceans between the limit of state and territory managed waters (within three nautical miles of their coasts) and the 200 nautical mil
