Collecting Permits

Scientific research undertaken on public land (and water) in Victoria must have the approval of the land manager and meet legislative requirements under a number of acts, including the Wildlife Act 1975 , the National Parks Act 1975 , the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and the Reference Areas Act 1978 . The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) is responsible for administering the research permit process in Victoria to ensure compliance with biodiversity conservation and legislative requirements. Similar requirements apply to other States.

The School of Botany is committed to ensuring it is compliant with these requirements.

The School of Botany has developed several procedures to ensure that all staff and students are aware of, and comply with, requirements of collecting and research on public land.

• A Permit Officer (appointed by the Head of School) monitors compliance on all permit issues.
• All permit applications must be processed via the Permit Officer.
• Copies of all applications and permits are held in a central file located in the collection managers office in The University of Melbourne Herbarium. These are summarized in a Permits Register.
• All activity conducted under a permit must be recorded by the permit holder, and a summary of the activity appended to the report on expiry of the permit.
• All activity conducted under a permit must be recorded by the permit holder, and a summary of the activity appended to the report on expiry of the permit. The following pro-forma is the minimum record required.
• A report must be submitted to the Permit Issuing Authority via the School's Permit Officer within 30 days of expiry of the permit.
• The Permit Officer reports on permit issues to the Herbarium Committee, which in turn reports to the Head of School via the Departmental Committee.
• Corrective Actions are reported to the Herbarium Committee and resolved by the Permit Officer
• Serious Breaches of Compliance are reported to the Head of School for appropriate action.

Collecting permit FAQ