Last month, the ACT Government released a draft of the new ACT Nature Conservation Strategy 2025-2035 for public comment, following extensive targeted stakeholder consultation. The Conservation Council welcomes the development of the new Strategy and supports the Government’s vision of a nature-positive ACT.
We’re asking you to join us in making a submission as part of this consultation process by 27 March 2026 that advocates for:
- Timely development and implementation of the ACT Landscape Plan, critical to establishing the Nature Conservation Network
- Consultation on amendments to the Nature Conservation Act, which will operationalise aspects of the Strategy Consultation on the criteria for identification of Priority Conservation Areas
- Permanent protection for Priority Conservation Areas outside the ACT’s protected areas Rigorous application of the mitigation hierarchy (Avoid, Mitigate, Offset) to all new developments
- Offsets, when proposed, are to be genuinely additional, valuable and ‘like for like’; with net gains achieved against a baseline before the impact is allowed to occur
If you’d like to learn more about the Strategy, you can watch a recording of our recent webinar, where we’ll take you through the core principles, key targets and outline areas for further improvement.
We’ve also created a submission guide to help you draft your response, including a template with key points and recommendations.
You can make a submission by 27 March 2026 via the Your Say platform, or by emailing your feedback to natureconservationpolicy@act.gov.au.