A review of the Native Vegetation Act 2003 (NSW) was being undertaken by an independent panel. Over a decade after the Act’s implementation, the review was called amid concerns from some stakeholders that the Act wasn’t meeting its objectives.
Evidentiary was engaged by NSW Farmers Association to research the key areas of the Act that were not working for their members. The resulting report was the core part of the Association’s submission to the review. While they often write their own submissions, NSW Farmers wanted their submission to be objective, credible and evidence based. This was particularly important given the polarised nature of the debate around the implementation of the Act. Having an independent third party using robust, transparent methods for finding and synthesising the evidence helped their submission to cut through the heat of an emotive issue.
Evidentiary delivered a report based on findings from interviews with landholders and Local Land Service staff, along with a structured literature review to cross-confirm findings. There was strong correlation between the respondents’ experiences with the Act and the conclusions drawn from the literature review.
Our report was submitted by NSW Farmers Association as the core component of their submission. It is available in full text here from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment website.
The Independent Panel’s final report as a result of the review incorporated a number of points raised in the NSW Farmers Submission, including the recommendation to focus on conserving biodiversity at a bioregional or state scale. The panel’s final report can be found here.