Western Australian Current Acts

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LAND ADMINISTRATION ACT 1997 - SECT 267

267 .         Offences on Crown land and proceedings for them

        (1)         In this section —

        plant includes spore, seed or other product of the reproductive cycle of a plant;

        structure includes —

            (a)         building; and

            (b)         post, pile, stake, pipe, chain, wire or other thing that is fixed to the soil or to anything fixed to the soil; and

            (c)         materials, objects and fixtures in the area of the structure.

        (2)         A person commits an offence if the person, without either the permission of the Minister or reasonable excuse —

            (a)         resides on Crown land; or

            (b)         constructs roads or tracks, or erects any structure, on Crown land; or

            (c)         clears, encloses, cultivates or causes or allows stock to graze on Crown land; or

            (d)         excavates Crown land or reclaims Crown land below high water mark; or

            (e)         collects, drills for or stores water on, or takes water from, Crown land; or

            (f)         removes from Crown land any plant (whether alive or dead) or such other thing of any kind as is prescribed; or

            (g)         deposits or leaves any thing of any kind on Crown land; or

            (h)         discharges any firearm or other weapon on Crown land.

        Penalty for this subsection:

            (a)         a fine of $20 000;

            (b)         a daily penalty of a fine of $400 for each day or part of a day during which the offence continues.

        (3)         If a continuing state of affairs is created by an offence under subsection (2) and that state of affairs continues after —

            (a)         a person is convicted of that offence; and

            (b)         the court considers that that state of affairs could reasonably have been discontinued by the person,

                the person commits an additional offence and is liable to an additional penalty of $400 for each day on which the additional offence so continues.

        (4)         Subject to subsection (5), a prosecution for an offence under subsection (2) must be commenced within 10 years after the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.

        (5)         If an offence under subsection (2) is of a continuing nature, a prosecution for the offence may be commenced at any time during the continuance of that offence.

        (6)         In addition to any penalty imposed for an offence under subsection (2) or (3), a person convicted of that offence is liable to pay such amount by way of compensation or reimbursement for the reinstatement or rehabilitation of any Crown land and the cost of inspection, harvesting of crops or removal of stock or any other cost incurred in relation to that reinstatement or rehabilitation as the court convicting that person specifies.

        (7)         A person required under subsection (6) to pay an amount specified under that subsection must pay that amount to the clerk of the relevant court for transmission by that clerk to the Minister.

        (8)         An amount required under subsection (6) to be paid may be recovered by the Minister as a judgment debt by action in a court of competent jurisdiction.

        (9)         Nothing in this section affects any other provision of this Act or any provision of another written law so far as that provision would, but for this section, have effect in relation to a reserve, but a person is not liable to be punished more than once for an act or omission that constitutes an offence both under this section and any other such provision.

        (10)         In proceedings for an offence under subsection (2), the accused has the onus of proving in relation to the act or omission giving rise to that offence that —

            (a)         the Minister permitted that act or omission or that the accused had a reasonable excuse for that act or omission; or

            (b)         the land on which that offence is alleged to have been committed was not at the relevant time Crown land.

        [Section 267 amended: No. 59 of 2004 s. 141; No. 84 of 2004 s. 82; No. 4 of 2023 s. 84 and 91.]



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