Part 3 of the National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 sets out the manner in which management plans are formulated and reviewed. It is the responsibility of the Director of National Parks and Wildlife to cause management plans to be prepared in respect of specified reserved land, a specified part of any reserved land, a specified group of reserved lands, or a specified class of reserved land. Before the plan is approved, the Minister calls for representations from any interested parties and advises the locations at which the plan may be inspected for that purpose.
The Director is then required to provide to the Commission a copy of each of the representations received, and a report containing a summary of those representations, the Director's opinion on the merits of the representations and whether they warrant modification of the plan, a summary of any proposed modifications, and any additional information the Director considers relevant.
At the direction of the Minister, the Commission must review the representations and the Director's report and provide the Minister with a report of its review and a copy of each representation. The Commission may hold hearings to assist in its review.
Set out below is a diagrammatic representation of the review process.
