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Protected areas of Australia include Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas managed by the Australian government, as well as protected areas within each of the six states of Australia and two self-governing territories (Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory), which are managed by the eight state and territory governments.
Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas in the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, the Christmas Island Territory, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Territory, the Norfolk Island Territory and the Australian Antarctic Territory are managed by Parks Australia, a division of the Department of the Environment and Water Resources, with the exception of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a separate body within the department.
Protected areas cover 895,288 km² of Australia's land area, or about 11.5% of the total land area. The Australian Capital Territory has the highest level of protection at nearly 55% of its territory, followed by Tasmania with nearly 40% and South Australia with 25%. Lowest level of protection is in Queensland and the Northern Territory with less than 6%.[1] Of all protected ares, two-thirds are considered strictly protected (IUCN categories I to IV), and the rest is mostly managed resources protected area (IUCN category VI). Over 80% of the protected area in Australia is publicly owned and managed by the Australian government or state and territory governments. The second largest component of protected areas are the Indigenous Protected Areas while only 0.3% are privately owned.[2]
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Source: UNESCO [3]
The following list shows only the Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas that are managed by the Australian government; a small portion of all the protected areas of Australia. Each state and territory is responsible for the management of the state and territory protected areas under its jurisdiction. This does not include the Commonwealth areas listed below, some of which (e.g. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park) are inside state and territory boundaries. Most Australian "national" parks are managed by the state and territory governments.
Australia's first national park - and the second in the world - is Royal National Park in New South Wales, established in 1879.[4]
The Australian Government manages an estate of marine protected areas (MPA) that are Commonwealth reserves under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
These are referred aquatic reserves declared under the Fisheries Management Act 1994
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