Northern Territory Explanatory Statements

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ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENCES AND PENALTIES AMENDMENT BILL (NO. 2) 2010


ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENCES AND PENALTIES AMENDMENT BILL (NO. 2) 2010
SERIAL NO. 126

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE
NORTHERN TERRITORY

MINISTER FOR NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE


EXPLANATORY STATEMENT


GENERAL OUTLINE

This Bill amends the Environmental Offences and Penalties Act.

The Environmental Offences and Penalties Act establishes a penalty structure for environmental offences based around four offence levels. Penalties for infringement notices are also defined. These penalties are picked up in a variety of environmental statutes such as the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act and the Mining Management Act, which create the actual offence provisions. The effect is to create a common penalty structure for environmental offences across different legislation.

The purpose of this Bill is to clarify the purpose and refine the scope of the Environmental Offences and Penalties Act so that it can continue to be used to establish a consistent penalty structure for offences in existing as well as an expanded range of future environmental legislation.


NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1. Short Title
This is the formal clause that provides for the citation of the Bill. The Bill when passed may be cited as the Environmental Offences and Penalties Amendment Act (No. 2) 2010.



Clause 2. Commencement

Creates the process by which the Environmental Offences and Penalties Amendment Act (No. 2) 2010 will be commenced.

Commencement occurs on the day fixed by the Administrator in the Gazette notice. This is because of the requirement for regulations.


Clause 3. Act amended

This clause indicates that it is the Environmental Offences and Penalties Act that is to be amended.


Clause 4. Long title amended

This clause makes an amendment to the Long title reflecting the amendment made to section 3.

The amendment recognises the capacity of the Parliament to designate offences as environmental offences and to apply a consistent penalty structure to such offences.

Clause 5. Section 3 amended

This clause amends section 3 so that, upon commencement, only an offence designated as an environmental offence level 1 to 4 under an Act prescribed by regulations is an offence to which the Environmental Offences and Penalties Act applies.

This approach has been designed to enable a flexible and consistent approach to designating offences as environmental offences in the future.


Clause 6. New section 11

This clause adds a new section to the Environmental Offences and Penalties Act. It serves to ensure the validity all existing designations of offences at a particular environmental offence level (i.e. designations made prior to commencement of the Environmental Offences and Penalties Amendment Act (No. 2) 2010).

 

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