57 Civil enforcement—Land and Environment Court
(1) The Minister may bring proceedings in the Land and Environment Court for an order to remedy or restrain a breach of this Act or the Code.(2) Any such proceedings may be brought whether or not any right of the Minister or the State has been or may be infringed by or as a result of the breach.(3) If the Land and Environment Court is satisfied that a breach of this Act or the Code has been committed or that a breach of this Act or the Code will, unless restrained by order of the Court, be committed, it may make such orders as it thinks fit to remedy or restrain the breach.(4) In this section:breach includes a threatened or apprehended breach.
58 Minister may make stop work order
(1) If the Minister is of the opinion that any plantation operations on a plantation are being or are about to be carried out in contravention of this Act or the Code, the Minister may, by notice in writing given to the owner or manager of the plantation, order the owner or manager not to carry out the plantation operations concerned.(2) The order:(a) takes effect immediately (or from a later date specified in the notice), and(b) is subject to such conditions as the Minister may specify in the notice.(3) The Minister may vary or revoke the order or the conditions of the order by further notice in writing given to the owner or manager of the plantation.(4) An order under this section remains in force until whichever of the following happens first:(a) the order is revoked by the Minister,(b) the period (if any) for which the order is expressed in the notice to be in force ends,(c) the period of 2 years from the day on which the order took effect ends.(5) A person who, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with an order in force under this section is guilty of an offence.Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units and in addition, in the case of a continuing offence, 100 penalty units for each day the offence continues.
(6) The Minister is not required, before making, varying or revoking an order under this section, to notify any person who may be affected by the order.
59 Directions for remedial work
(1) If the Minister is satisfied that any plantation operations have been carried out on a plantation in contravention of this Act or the Code, the Minister may, by notice in writing, direct the owner or manager of the plantation to carry out specified work in a specified manner and within a specified time.(2) Any one or more of the following types of work may be directed to be carried out by a notice under this section:(a) work to repair any damage caused by the plantation operations,(b) work to rehabilitate any land affected by the plantation operations,(c) work to ensure that specified land (including any river or other body of water) will not be damaged or detrimentally affected, or further damaged or detrimentally affected, by the plantation operations.(3) A direction under this section may be varied or revoked by a further notice.(4) A person who, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a direction under this section is guilty of an offence.Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units and in addition, in the case of a continuing offence, 100 penalty units for each day the offence continues.
(5) If a person fails to comply with a direction under this section, the Minister may authorise any other person to enter the land and carry out the specified work.(6) The Minister may recover the cost of that work from the person given the direction in any court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due by that person to the State.(7) The Minister is not required, before giving, varying or revoking a direction under this section, to notify any person who may be affected by the direction.
(1) The owner or manager of a plantation may appeal against an order or direction of the Minister under this Part to the Land and Environment Court within 30 days of the service of the notice of the order or direction.(2) The lodging of an appeal does not, except to the extent that the Land and Environment Court otherwise directs in relation to the appeal, operate to stay action on the order or direction appealed against.
61 Appointment of authorised officers
(1) The Minister may appoint any appropriately qualified person as an authorised officer to investigate and report to the Minister on whether this Act and the Code are being complied with.(2) The authority of an authorised officer may be limited by the relevant instrument of appointment to the functions specified in the instrument of appointment.(3) An authorised officer cannot exercise the functions of an authorised officer under this Act unless the officer is in possession of an identification card issued on behalf of the Minister.(4) In the course of exercising the functions of an authorised officer under this Act, the officer must, if requested to do so by any person who is subject to the exercise of the functions, produce the officer’s identification card to the person.
61A Powers of entry and inspection
(1) For the purpose of exercising his or her functions under this Act, an authorised officer may, on giving reasonable notice to the owner or manager, enter an authorised plantation or land that the authorised officer reasonably suspects is required to be authorised as a plantation under this Act.(2) However, an authorised officer may enter such a plantation or land without giving reasonable notice if:(a) the officer considers there is a risk of significant harm to the environment occurring in respect of the plantation or land, and(b) the officer has attempted to contact the owner or manager before entering the plantation or land.(3) An authorised officer may, for the purpose of exercising his or her functions under this Act:(a) conduct such investigations, make such inquiries, examinations and inspections, and take such samples and recordings (including photographs) as the officer considers necessary, and(b) require the owner or manager to provide such reasonable assistance and facilities as may be requested by the officer to exercise the officer’s functions under this section.(4) A person may accompany an authorised officer and take all reasonable steps to assist an officer in the exercise of the officer’s functions under this Act if the officer is of the opinion that the person is capable of providing assistance to the officer in the exercise of those functions.(5) An authorised officer is not entitled to enter any part of premises used only for residential purposes except with the consent of the occupier of the premises.
61B Power to obtain information
(1) If an authorised officer enters land for the purpose of exercising functions under this Act, the authorised officer may require the owner or manager of the land to provide such relevant information as the officer requires.(2) The Director-General may, by notice in writing served on the owner or manager of land, require the owner or manager to give to an authorised officer, in accordance with the notice, any relevant information.(3) In this section, relevant information means information or documents relating to matters that are reasonably connected with the administration of this Act or required for the purposes of determining whether this Act or the Code is being complied with, but does not include information or documents of a commercially sensitive nature.(4) A person is not excused from giving relevant information under this section on the ground that the information may tend to incriminate the person.(5) Any relevant information obtained from a natural person under this section is not admissible against the person in criminal proceedings other than proceedings for an offence under section 61C.
61C Offences in respect of authorised officers
(1) A person must not, without reasonable excuse:(a) obstruct an authorised officer in the exercise of the officer’s functions under this Act, or(b) fail or refuse to comply with a requirement made by an authorised officer or the Director-General under this Act, or(c) provide information to an authorised officer which the person knows is false or misleading in a material respect.Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units.
(2) In this section, obstruct includes delay, threaten or hinder.
61D Protection from personal liability
(1) Any matter or thing done or omitted to be done by an authorised officer does not, if the matter or thing was done or omitted to be done in good faith for the purpose of exercising a function under this Act, make the authorised officer personally liable to any action, liability, claim or demand in respect of that matter or thing.(2) However, any such liability attaches instead to the Crown.
(1) An authorised officer may serve a penalty notice on a person if it appears to the officer that the person has committed an offence against this Act or the regulations, being an offence prescribed by the regulations as a penalty notice offence.(2) A penalty notice is a notice to the effect that, if the person served does not wish to have the matter determined by a court, the person can pay, within the time and to the person specified in the notice, the amount of penalty prescribed by the regulations for the offence if dealt with under this section.(3) A penalty notice may be served personally or by post.(4) If the amount of penalty prescribed for an alleged offence is paid under this section, no person is liable to any further proceedings for the alleged offence.(5) Payment under this section is not to be regarded as an admission of liability for the purpose of, and does not in any way affect or prejudice, any civil claim, action or proceeding arising out of the same occurrence.(6) The regulations may:(a) prescribe an offence for the purposes of this section by specifying the offence or by referring to the provision creating the offence, and(b) prescribe the amount of penalty payable for the offence if dealt with under this section, and(c) prescribe different amounts of penalties for different offences or classes of offences.(7) The amount of a penalty prescribed under this section for an offence is not to exceed the maximum amount of penalty that could be imposed for the offence by a court.(8) This section does not limit the operation of any other provision of, or made under, this or any other Act relating to proceedings that may be taken in respect of offences.(9) (Repealed)
A certificate signed by the Minister or an officer prescribed by the regulations certifying any one or more of the following:(a) that any land specified in the certificate was or was not, at a time or during a period specified in the certificate, an authorised plantation,(b) that any land specified in the certificate was or was not, at a time or during a period specified in the certificate, an authorised timber plantation,(c) that a written notice, order or direction purporting to be given under this Act, and a copy of which is set out or annexed to the certificate, was given on a day specified in the certificate,(d) that a person was, at a time or during a period specified in the certificate, the owner or manager of a plantation,(e) that a person was, at a time or during a period specified in the certificate, an authorised officer,(f) that any instrument made under this Act was, at a time or during a period specified in the certificate, in force,is admissible in any proceedings under this Act and is prima facie evidence of the matters so specified.
(1) Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the regulations are to be dealt with:(a) summarily before the Local Court, or(b) summarily before the Land and Environment Court.(2) If the proceedings are brought before the Local Court, the maximum monetary penalty that the Local Court may impose for the offence is 100 penalty units, despite any higher maximum monetary penalty provided in respect of the offence.(3) Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the regulations may only be brought by or with the approval of the Minister.(4) Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the regulations may be brought at any time within 2 years after the act or omission alleged to constitute the offence, despite any Act to the contrary.(5) However, proceedings for any such offence may also be commenced within, but not later than, 2 years after the date on which evidence of the alleged offence first came to the attention of an authorised officer.(6) If subsection (5) is relied on for the purpose of commencing proceedings for an offence, the process commencing the proceedings must contain particulars of the date on which evidence of the offence first came to the attention of an authorised officer and need not contain particulars of the date on which the offence was committed. The date on which evidence first came to the attention of an authorised officer is the date specified in the process commencing the proceedings, unless the contrary is established.