Queensland Consolidated Acts

STATE DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ORGANISATION ACT 1971 - SECT 139

139 Compensation for exercise of power under ss 136 and 138

(1) A person who claims to have suffered damage resulting from an exercise of power under section 136 or 138 may apply for and be awarded compensation as provided for in this section.

(2) Every application for compensation on account of such damage shall be made and dealt with in the manner prescribed by the Acquisition of Land Act 1967 in relation to applications for compensation made under that Act and the entitlement to such compensation (including right of appeal in respect thereof) and the assessment of such compensation shall be as prescribed by that Act in so far as the provisions of that Act are appropriate to a claim for compensation made on account of such damage and subject always to the provisions of this section.

(3) Compensation that may be payable on a claim made on account of damage resulting from an exercise of power under section 136 may include compensation in respect of—

(a) damage of a temporary nature as well as of a permanent nature; or

(b) the taking of clay, earth, gravel, sand, timber, wood, and other material;

but shall not in any case exceed the amount that would have been payable under the Acquisition of Land Act 1967 had the land in question been taken by the Coordinator-General.

(4) The assessment of compensation that may be payable on a claim made on account of damage resulting from an exercise of power under section 138 is subject to the following conditions—

(a) compensation is not payable for the taking, impounding, diversion or use, permanently or temporarily, of water from any body of water;

(b) compensation is not payable on account of a diminution or deterioration in a supply of water to any person unless it—

(i) deprives the person of a supply of water theretofore enjoyed by the person lawfully; and

(ii) is the direct result of the works for or in connection with which the power was exercised; and

(iii) will be permanent in its duration;

(c) where the damage appears to be of a permanent or recurrent nature—an amount of compensation may be agreed on or awarded on account of damage sustained up to the date of the application for compensation and to be sustained thereafter in full satisfaction of the claim and in such case no further compensation shall be payable on account of future such damage.

(5) Where at the time when an application is made for compensation on account of damage resulting from an exercise of power under section 136 or 138 the works for or in connection with which the power is exercised are not completed a member of the Land Court may, on the application of the Coordinator-General, order that the matter of the application for compensation be deferred until the works are completed or for a time limited in the order and thereupon no further proceeding shall be had on the application for compensation (save an application hereinafter in this subsection referred to) until the completion of the works or, as the case may be, the expiration of the time so limited unless a member of the Land Court on the application of the applicant for compensation otherwise orders.