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Compulsory changes to NSW Parking Fines – 10 Minute Grace Period

Starting 31 January 2019, amendments to section 123C of the Road Transport (General) Regulation 2013 were introduced by Road Transport (General) Amendment (Parking Fine Flexibility and Grace Period) Regulation 2018 which states that Councils will now be required to implement a regulated 10 minute grace period for certain paid parking offences that have a duration of more than one hour. These changes will affect all parking fine issuing authorities including NSW government agencies, Local Councils and Universities. These changes are compulsory and are not related to the recent NSW governments ‘opt in’ provisions to reduce the amount of parking fines. [...]  READ MORE →

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Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Asbestos Waste) Bill 2018

On 24 October 2018, the New South Wales upper house introduced the Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Asbestos Waste) Bill 2018 (the Bill) with the stated aim of ‘[making] clearer the Government is serious about protecting the environment of New South Wales and the health of its citizen’, as well as ‘provide greater deterrence against illegal dumping of asbestos waste’.

The current laws on illegal dumping, transporting, and recycling of asbestos waste

The current version of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW) (the Act) provides for prohibitions against unauthorised dumping and receiving of waste in general [Ss 143 & 144, of the Act]. This general prohibition is complimented by asbestos-related provisions within the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulations 2014 (NSW) (Waste Regulations), which detail the requirements for handling of asbestos waste. For example, the Waste Regulations requires the person delivering the asbestos waste to notify the owner of the landfill that will be receiving the asbestos waste [Clause 80(2), Waste Regulations], the occupier of the landfill site to cover up the disposed asbestos waste in certain manners [Clause 80(4), Ibid], the transportation of asbestos waste to follow certain regulatory requirements, including securing the asbestos materials securely during transport [Clause 78, Ibid] and wetting down the waste if the asbestos materials are contained soil [Clause 78(d), Ibid]. The Waste Regulations also expressly bans recycling and reusing asbestos materials [Clause 81, Ibid]. [...]  READ MORE →

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Inland Code: Simplifying development approval in Regional Code

The NSW Department of Planning & Environment has recently announced new legislation aimed to simplify and speed up the approval process for homes, home renovations and farm buildings in regional NSW. The Inland Code commences on 1 January 2019, with its major purpose to simplify the complying and exempt development rules in residential and rural areas of regional NSW. The rules and regulations with respect to complying and exempt development are going to be consolidated into the Inland Code, which will then form part of 3D of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008.  [...]  READ MORE →

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Deferred Commencement Consents

On 21 June 2018, the Land and Environment Court of NSW handed down a decision which reinforced the importance of time limits on deferred commencement conditions.

The decision of Commissioner Preston in Dennes v Port Macquarie-Hastings Council [2018] NSWLEC 95 found that the Court had no jurisdiction to grant the appeal on its merits regardless of whether the evidence submitted as part of the deferred commencement condition was satisfactory given the fact that Consent had lapsed.

Background

On 17 August 2016 the Applicant appealed against Council’s refusal of an application for development consent (Consent). Commissioner Fakes upheld this appeal and granted development consent subject to a deferred commencement condition which required the Applicant to submit to Council for approval a Flood Emergency Response Plan (‘FERP’) by 17 August 2017. [...]  READ MORE →

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Sentencing Principles for Water Pollution Offences

BACKGROUND

On 7 and 8 March 2018, judgment was delivered in Environment Protection Authority v Ardent Leisure Ltd (ACN 104 529 106) [2018] NSWLEC 36 (Ardent) to impose a fine totalling $157,950 on Ardent Leisure Ltd (AL) for polluting Sydney Harbour after approximately 6000L of diesel fuel escaped into the waters from a fuel storage system at Rushcutters Bay marina.

AL was convicted with the following offences and penalty imposed:

  1. Section 120(1) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW) (POEO Act) for the pollution of waters in Rushcutters Bay (Water Pollution Offence) – Penalty $135,000.00;
  2. Clause 19(2) of the Protection of the Environment Operations (Underground Petroleum Storage Systems) Regulation 2014 (NSW) (UPSS Regulation) in relation to Ardent’s failure to include current ‘as-built’ drawing for the fuel storage system (UPSS Regulation Offence) – Penalty $22,950.00

A publication order for a notice of the offences was also made for the purposes of improving the effectiveness of general deterrence. [...]  READ MORE →

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Powers of a Sydney District or Regional Planning Panel to “direct and control” a Council under the new amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act in a Class 1 Appeal:

Recently the Land and Environment Court has considered the newly introduced provision of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act which enables planning panels involved in application decisions to “direct and control” the Council involved.

In this landmark case, the Court found the Council was indeed subject to both the direction and control of the Planning Panel, but furthermore that when the application goes before the Court in order to enter into an agreement to solve proceedings, that the Panel also becomes joined as a party in this process. [...]  READ MORE →

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Bullying and Harassment Claims High in Local Government

Safe Work Australia have identified that local government employees are the third most represented group when it comes to compensation claims for Workplace Bullying and Harassment.

For the three years to 2016, approximately 190 local government employees received compensation for workplace bullying and harassment a year.

Bullying and harassment can take varying forms. It can be subtle or take the form of more overt behaviour.

What is Workplace Bullying and Harassment?

Bullying at work, as defined by the Fair Work Act 2009, occurs when: [...]  READ MORE →

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Commencement of the Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code

On 6 July 2018, the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 (Codes SEPP) will be amended to include the Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code (Medium Density Code). The effect of the Medium Density Code is to expand the scope of what is considered ‘complying development’ under NSW legislation.

The amendments to the Codes SEPP are part of the NSW Government’s overall agenda to increase affordable housing within the State by streamlining the development consent process. [...]  READ MORE →

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The New South Wales Land and Environment Court exercises its ‘repeat waste offender’ powers in landmark gaol sentence

On 31 May 2018 Chief Justice Preston of the Land and Environment Court recently convicted serial offender Mr Dib Hanna Abdallah Hanna of five offences against the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 under its relatively new ‘repeat waste offenders’ powers, and sentenced Mr Hanna to a three year gaol sentence.

Introduction of repeat waste offender provisions:

The Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Illegal Waste Disposal) Bill 2013 introduced section 144AB(2) which stipulates the following: [...]  READ MORE →

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EPA Fines Company $30,000 for Breaching Licence and Polluting Waters

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has recently fined South Coast Plant Hire Pty Ltd (South Coast), a resource recovery facility in Bomaderry, $30,000 for allegedly breaching its licence conditions and discharging waste water from the site.

It is alleged that South Coast Plant Hire failed in its responsibilities when its operations led to polluted water flowing off-site.

In December 2017, the EPA carried out a site inspection and found a containment system holding polluted water had overflowed. The water was used to suppress dust and contained waste water from stockpiles. [...]  READ MORE →

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The New Crown Land Management Act 2016

On 1 June 2018, the Minister for Lands and Forestry, the Hon. Paul Toole MP announced that the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (NSW) (CLM Act) will commence on 1 July 2018.

Local councils will commence management of Crown reserves under the Local Government Act 1993 (LGA) from 1 July 2018, and must be ready to start the transition to the new requirements from that date.

An Interim Schedule of Crown Reserves was distributed to each council to help complete the preparatory work of classifying and categorising Crown Reserves. [...]  READ MORE →

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Increased Council and Court Powers under the recently reformed Environment Planning and Assessment Act

The recently reformed Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (the Act) continues to be rolled out over the first half of 2018. As well as the other amendments aforementioned in our previous article, one of the major changes to the Act is with regard to the increased powers given to Local Councils and Courts when dealing with complying development certificates for local development applications.

In order to achieve the NSW Government’s primary purpose “to promote confidence in our state’s planning system”, the Act aims to enable Local Councils and Courts to adequately and appropriately deal with developments and their relative certificates with more ease by granting them increased powers in this area. [...]  READ MORE →