Page 3863 - Week 12 - Thursday, 30 October 2014
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In response to the matters raised by the scrutiny of bills committee, the committee queried section 136K being a strict liability offence. Proposed part 14A, enforceable undertakings, which includes proposed section 136K, is an important addition to the territory’s environmental laws which provides an alternative to criminal prosecutions for an offence against division 15.1 of the act.
An enforceable undertaking allows an alleged offender to enter voluntarily into a binding agreement to undertake actions to settle an alleged contravention of the law and remedy the harm to the environment and the community. If an enforceable undertaking is contravened, the EPA can apply to the court for an order. The court can order compliance with the undertaking, order payment of money or take any other action.
Proposed section 136K makes it an offence for a person to fail to take all reasonable steps to comply with a court order resulting from a contravention of an enforceable undertaking. The offence is limited to these specific circumstances. Based on the committee’s query, the government has considered this matter further and decided not to progress this section 136K offence as a strict liability offence.
Through the scrutiny of bills process and investigation into enforceable undertakings, it also became evident that an important principle had been inadvertently omitted from the act—namely, the polluter-pays principle. This principle was omitted erroneously during the drafting stage of the bill. It is therefore moved now as a government amendment. The polluter-pays principle is essential to the underlying premise of the bill—that polluters should bear the appropriate share of the costs that arise from their activities.
This principle goes hand in hand with clause 33 of the bill, which inserts new part 14A, enforceable undertakings. It is upon this principle that the polluter should bear the appropriate share of the costs that arise from their activities. Under an enforceable undertaking, for example, the alleged offender may enter into an enforceable undertaking to agree to rectify alleged harm to the environment.
While it is an underlying premise of the bill, it is important that it remain explicitly stated in the principles of the bill, and that is the purpose of the other government amendments.
I commend the amendments to the Assembly.
Amendments agreed to.
Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.
Bill, as amended, agreed to.
Sitting suspended from 12.19 to 2.30 pm.
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