New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WATER MANAGEMENT ACT 2000 - SECT 109

109 Suspension and cancellation of approvals

(1) The Minister may suspend or cancel an approval (or any part of an approval) on any one or more of the following grounds--

(a) that the holder of the approval has failed to comply with any term or condition to which the approval is subject,

(b) that the holder of the approval has been convicted of an offence against--

(i) this Act or the regulations, or

(ii) the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2011 or the regulations under that Act,

(c) that the holder of the approval has failed to make due payment with respect to any fee or charge that is payable under this Act in relation to the approval,

(c1) in the case of an approval granted in relation to a water supply work, if--

(i) the holder of the approval is also the holder of an access licence for which the water supply work has been nominated under section 71W (Access licence may nominate water supply works), and

(ii) the holder of the access licence has failed to make due payment with respect to any fees, charges or civil penalties that are payable in respect of the licence (whether or not those fees, charges or civil penalties were incurred by the current holder of the approval),

(c2) in the case of an approval granted in relation to a water supply work referred to in section 104 (3), if--

(i) the holder of the approval cannot, on the written request of the Minister, demonstrate that the water bore the subject of the approval is being maintained in accordance with the conditions of the approval, or

(ii) the water bore has been decommissioned,

(d) in the case of an approval granted in relation to a water management work, the holder of the approval has failed to comply with any direction given to the holder under this Act in connection with the work,

(e) that the approval was granted as a result of false, misleading or materially inaccurate information supplied by or on behalf of the applicant.

(2) Instead of or in addition to suspending or cancelling an approval, the Minister may order a major utility to pay to the Minister a civil penalty not exceeding $500,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, a further penalty not exceeding $20,000 for each day for which the offence continues.

(2A) If the Minister suspends or cancels a part of an approval, the Minister may amend the approval so as to give effect to that suspension or cancellation.

(3) Action under this section may not be taken in relation to an approval unless the Minister--

(a) has given written notice to the holder of the approval that the Minister proposes to take such action, and

(b) has given the holder of the approval a reasonable opportunity to make submissions to the Minister with respect to the proposed action, and

(c) has taken any such submissions into consideration.

(4) If the Minister fails to give notice to the holder of an approval before taking action under this section, the Minister is taken to have complied with subsection (3) (a)-(c) in relation to that holder if the Minister took all reasonable steps to give notice under subsection (3) to the holder within the period of 28 days before taking the action.

Note : See also section 11 (1) (e) of the Natural Resources Access Regulator Act 2017 and Schedule 2 to that Act.