Part 5General
30Powers of public
authorities
Notwithstanding anything in any other Act, any
public authority is hereby authorised and empowered to enter into agreements
for the purposes of this Act with a corporation and may do or suffer anything
necessary or expedient for carrying any such agreement into
effect.
31
s 31: Am 1979 No 205,
Sch 2, Part 1; 1981 No 31, Sch 1 (10). Rep 1992 No 9, Sch 1
(8).
32Disputes
(1)
In this section, corporation does not include the
Ministerial Development Corporation.
(2)
If any difference, whether arising out of the
construction of this Act or not, arises between a corporation and a council,
with respect to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act or with respect
to the fulfilment and exercise of the corporation’s responsibilities,
powers, authorities, duties, functions or privileges, the corporation or the
council may submit the difference to the Minister, who may refer the matter
for inquiry to some person appointed by the Minister in that behalf, or may
make his or her own inquiry.
(3)
The Minister, after consultation with the
Minister for Local Government, may thereupon make such order as in the public
interest and in the circumstances of the case may seem to the Minister just
and equitable, and by the order may direct the payment of any costs and
expenses incidental to the conduct of the inquiry.
(4)
Any such order may, upon the application of the
Minister, the corporation or the council, by leave of the Supreme Court, be
enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order of the Supreme Court to the
same effect.
(5)
If any such difference arises between a
corporation and a Government Department, the parties to the dispute may
mutually agree to submit the matter in dispute to the Minister, and in any
such case the provisions of this section shall apply to the settlement of the
dispute as if the dispute were between a corporation and a
council.
s 32: Am 1992 No 9,
Sch 1 (11).
32AStaff
Such staff as may be necessary to enable a
corporation to exercise and discharge its responsibilities, powers,
authorities, duties and functions may be employed under and subject to the
Public
Service Act 1979.
s 32A: Ins 1981 No
31, Sch 1 (11).
33Misuse of
information
(1)
Where, through association with a corporation, a
person has knowledge of specific information relating to proposals made, or to
be made, by the corporation in respect of the use and development of land and
that information is not generally known but, if generally known, might
reasonably be expected to affect materially the market price of that land, the
person is guilty of an offence against this Act if the person:
(a)
deals, directly or indirectly, in that land for
the purpose of gaining an advantage for himself or herself by the use of that
information, or
(b)
divulges that information for the purpose of
enabling another person to gain an advantage by using that information to
deal, directly or indirectly, in that land,
and is liable to a penalty not exceeding 20 penalty
units.
(2)
Where, through association with a corporation, a
person is in a position to influence proposals made, or to be made, by the
Corporation in respect of the use and development of land and does influence
the proposals by securing the inclusion or alteration of any matter in, or the
exclusion or omission of any matter from, the proposals, the person is guilty
of an offence against this Act if:
(a)
the person does so for the purpose of gaining an
advantage for himself or herself, or
(b)
the person does so for the purpose of enabling
another person to gain an advantage,
and is liable to a penalty not exceeding 20 penalty
units.
(3)
Where:
(a)
an offence under subsection (1) is committed and
an advantage, referred to in that subsection, is gained from any dealing in
land to which the offence relates, or
(b)
an offence under subsection (2) is committed and
an advantage, referred to in that subsection, is gained from any dealing in
land which would not have been gained if the proposals concerned had not been
influenced,
any person who gained that advantage is, whether or not
any person has been prosecuted for or convicted of an offence under subsection
(1) or (2), as the case may be, liable to another person for the amount of any
loss incurred by that other person by reason of the gaining of that
advantage.
(4)
Where a loss referred to in subsection (3) is
incurred by reason of an advantage gained from a dealing in land, the amount
of the loss is the difference between the price at which the dealing was
effected and:
(a)
in the case of any dealing to which subsection
(1) relates, the price that, in the opinion of the court before which it is
sought to recover the amount of the loss, would have been the market price of
the land at the time of the dealing if the specific information used to gain
that advantage had been generally known at that time, or
(b)
in any case to which subsection (2) relates, the
price that, in the opinion of the court before which it is sought to recover
the amount of the loss, would have been the market price of the land at the
time of the dealing if the proposals concerned had not been
influenced.
(5)
An action to recover a loss or profit, referred
to in subsection (3), may not be brought after the expiration of five years
next succeeding the dealing in land to which the transaction
relates.
(6)
For the purposes of this section, a person is
associated with a corporation:
(a)
in the case of a development corporation—if
the person is a member or officer or employee of the development corporation
or a person appointed to a committee or a sub-committee of the development
corporation,
(ai)
(b)
if the person is a member of staff of the
Department of Urban Affairs and Planning,
(c)
(d)
if the person is an officer or servant of a
council,
(e)
if the person acts or has acted as banker,
solicitor, auditor or professional adviser or in any other capacity for the
corporation, the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning or a council,
or
(f)
where the person, so associated by virtue of
paragraph (e), is a body corporate, if the person is a director, manager or
secretary of that body corporate.
s 33: Am 1979 No 136,
Sch 1 (5); 1981 No 31, Sch 1 (12); 1986 No 218, Sch 18 (3); 1992 No 9, Sch 1
(12); 1992 No 112, Sch 1; 1999 No 31, Sch 1.17 [6].
34Disclosure of
interest
(1)
If a member of a development corporation, or a
member of a committee or a sub-committee of a development corporation has an
interest, directly or indirectly, in land, proposals in respect of the
development or use of which are to be considered by the corporation, the
committee or the sub-committee, as the case may be, or has a pecuniary
interest, direct or indirect, in a contract or proposed contract with the
corporation or in any other matter in which the corporation is concerned and
is present at a meeting of the corporation, the committee or the
sub-committee, as the case may be, at which the proposals are or the contract,
proposed contract or other matter is the subject of consideration, the member
shall, at the meeting, as soon as practicable after the commencement thereof,
disclose his or her interest and shall not take part in the consideration or
discussion of or vote on any question with respect to the proposals or the
contract, proposed contract or other matter.
(2)
For the purposes of this section, a person shall
be treated as having an indirect interest in land or a contract, proposed
contract or other matter if:
(a)
the person or any nominee of the person is a
member of a company or other body which has an interest in the land, or with
which the contract is made or is proposed to be made or which has a direct or
indirect pecuniary interest in the other matter under consideration,
or
(b)
the person is a partner, or is in the employment
of, a person who has an interest in the land, or with whom the contract is
made or is proposed to be made or who has a direct or indirect pecuniary
interest in the other matter under consideration.
(3)
Notwithstanding subsection (2):
(a)
that subsection does not apply to membership of
or employment under any council or statutory body,
(b)
a member of a company or other body shall not, by
reason only of the person’s membership, be treated as being so
interested if the person has no beneficial interest in any shares of that
company or other body, and
(c)
a member of a company having not less than
twenty-five members shall not be treated as having an interest in land or in
any contract or proposed contract with the corporation or in any other matter
in which the corporation is concerned by reason only that the company has an
interest in the land or the contract or proposed contract is with or the other
matter concerns the company.
(4)
In the case of a married couple who are living
together, the interest of one spouse shall, if known to the other, be deemed,
for the purposes of this section, to be also an interest of the other
spouse.
(5)
A general notice in writing to the secretary or
the prescribed officer of the development corporation by a member, or a member
of a committee or a sub-committee, of a development corporation to the effect
that the member or the member’s spouse is a member, or is in the
employment of a specified company or other body, or that the member or the
member’s spouse is a partner or in the employment of a specified person
shall, unless and until the notice is withdrawn, be deemed to be a sufficient
disclosure of the member’s interest in any land in which that company or
other body has an interest or in any contract, proposed contract or other
matter relating to that company or other body or to that person which may be
the subject of consideration after the date of the
notice.
(6)
The Secretary or officer referred to in
subsection (5) shall record in a book to be kept for the purpose particulars
of any disclosure made under subsection (1) and of any notice given under
subsection (5) and the book shall be open at all reasonable hours to the
inspection of any person on payment of such fees as may be determined by the
development corporation from time to time.
(7)
Subject to subsection (8), if any person fails to
comply with the provisions of subsection (1), the person is guilty of an
offence against this Act and liable to a penalty not exceeding 4 penalty
units, unless the person proves that the person did not know that proposals in
respect of the development and use of the land in which the person had an
interest were, or that the person did not know that a contract, proposed
contract or other matter in which the person had a pecuniary interest was, the
subject of consideration at the meeting.
(8)
The Minister may, subject to such conditions as
the Minister thinks fit to impose, remove any disability imposed by subsection
(1) in any case in which the number of members referred to in subsection (1)
so disabled at any one time would be so great a proportion of the whole of the
members of the development corporation or a committee or sub-committee of a
development corporation as to impede the transaction of business, or in any
other case in which it appears to the Minister that it is in the public
interest that the disability should be removed.
(9)
The development corporation or a committee or
sub-committee of a development corporation may, by resolution, provide for the
exclusion of any member thereof from a meeting of the development corporation,
committee or sub-committee, as the case may be, while any proposal, in respect
of any land or any contract, proposed contract or other matter in which that
person has an interest as referred to in this section is under
consideration.
(10)
In this section, shares includes
stock.
(11)
The provisions of this section apply to a member
of a council in relation to an interest in land that is within a growth centre
and held by the member, directly or indirectly, proposals in respect of the
development and use of which are to be considered by the council at a meeting
of the council in the same way as they apply to a member of a development
corporation having an interest, directly or indirectly, in land proposals in
respect of the development and use of which are to be considered by the
development corporation at a meeting of the development
corporation.
(12)
s 34: Am 1981 No 31,
Sch 1 (13); 1986 No 218, Sch 18 (3), (7); 1992 No 9, Sch 1 (13); 1992 No 112,
Sch 1; 1997 No 152, Sch 4.12 [2].
35Proceedings at meetings
confidential
A person shall not, unless the development
corporation otherwise determines, disclose any information with respect to the
business discussed at any meeting of a development corporation.
Maximum penalty: 20 penalty
units.
s 35: Am 1981 No 31,
Sch 1 (14); 1992 No 112, Sch 1.
35AProceedings at committee
meetings confidential
A person shall not, unless the corporation
otherwise determines, disclose any information with respect to the business of
a corporation discussed at any meeting of a committee or of a sub-committee of
the corporation.
Maximum penalty: 20 penalty
units.
s 35A: Ins 1981 No
31, Sch 1 (15). Am 1992 No 112, Sch 1.
36Delegation
(1)
A corporation may, by instrument in writing under
seal, delegate to a member or officer or employee of the corporation, or to an
officer, employee or servant of a Government Department or public authority
whose services are being used by the corporation pursuant to section 21, the
exercise or performance of such of the corporation’s responsibilities,
powers (other than this power of delegation), authorities, duties and
functions as may be specified in the instrument of delegation, and may, by
such an instrument, revoke wholly or in part any such
delegation.
(2)
A responsibility, power, authority, duty or
function, the exercise or performance of which has been delegated under this
section, may, while the delegation remains unrevoked, be exercised or
performed from time to time in accordance with the terms of the
delegation.
(3)
A delegation under this section may be made
subject to such conditions or such limitations as to the exercise or
performance of any of the responsibilities, powers, authorities, duties or
functions delegated, or as to time or circumstance, as may be specified in the
instrument of delegation.
(4)
Notwithstanding any delegation under this
section, the corporation may continue to exercise or perform all or any of the
responsibilities, powers, authorities, duties or functions
delegated.
(5)
Any act or thing done or suffered by a delegate
while acting in the exercise of a delegation under this section shall have the
same force and effect as if the act or thing had been done or suffered by the
corporation and shall be deemed to have been done or suffered by the
corporation.
(6)
An instrument purporting to be signed by a
delegate of the corporation in his or her capacity as such a delegate shall in
all courts and before all persons acting judicially be received in evidence as
if it were an instrument executed by the corporation under seal and, until the
contrary is proved, shall be deemed to be an instrument signed by a delegate
of the corporation under this section.
s 36: Am 1979 No 136,
Sch 1 (6).
37
s 37: Rep 1992 No 9,
Sch 1 (14).
38Service of
process
Any notice, summons, writ or other proceeding to
be served on a corporation may be served:
(a)
by being left, or
(b)
in the case of a notice, by posting it addressed
to the corporation,
at its office or, if it has more than one office, at one
of its offices.
39
s 39: Am 1979 No 136,
Sch 1 (7). Subst 1981 No 31, Sch 1 (16). Am 1986 No 218, Sch 18 (3). Rep 1992
No 9, Sch 1 (14).
40Penalties
(1)
Any penalty imposed by this Act or the
regulations may be recovered in a summary manner before a Local
Court.
(2)
Where the penalty is a daily penalty it may be
recovered either under a separate information or complaint for each day or
under an information or complaint for the sum of the daily
penalties.
s 40: Am 1999 No 31,
Sch 4.36.
41Recovery of
money
Any charge, fee or money due to a corporation may
be recovered as a debt or liquidated demand in a court of competent
jurisdiction.
42Regulations
(1)
The Governor may make regulations, not
inconsistent with this Act, for or with respect to any matter that by this Act
is required or permitted to be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient
to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act and, in
particular, for or with respect to:
(a)
forms including forms of lease for use for the
purposes of this Act, and
(b)
the payment of fees and travelling and
out-of-pocket expenses to members of committees or sub-committees of a
corporation for attending meetings, transacting business of the committees or
sub-committees and making inspections for the purposes of this
Act.
(2)
Regulations may be made so as to apply
differently according to such factors as may be specified in the
regulations.
(3)
A regulation may:
(a)
impose a penalty for any breach thereof and also
distinct penalties in case of successive breaches thereof but no such penalty
shall exceed 1 penalty unit, and
(b)
impose also a daily penalty for any continuing
breach thereof not exceeding 0.1 penalty unit per
day.
s 42: Am 1992 No 112,
Sch 1.
43Savings, transitional and
other provisions
Schedule 6 has effect.
s 43: Ins 1985 No
231, Sch 31.