Part 5Miscellaneous
24Expert
Panel
(1)
An Expert Panel is established consisting of the
following as members of the Expert Panel:
(a)
the Secretary or the Secretary’s
nominee,
(a1)
a person employed in the Department with
expertise in regional industry development nominated by the
Secretary,
(a2)
the Chairperson of the Environment Protection
Authority or the Chairperson’s nominee,
(a3)
the Director-General of the Department of Primary
Industries within the Department of Industry, Skills and Regional Development
or the Director-General’s nominee,
(a4)
the Commissioner for Fair Trading or the
Commissioner’s nominee,
(a5)
the Secretary of the Department of Finance,
Services and Innovation or the Secretary’s nominee,
(b)
the Secretary of the Treasury or the
Secretary’s nominee,
(c)
up to 3 persons appointed by the Minister who
have recent experience or expertise in the petroleum or biofuels
industry.
(2)
The Secretary is to be the Chairperson of the
Expert Panel.
(2A)
Schedule 2 contains provisions relating to the
constitution and procedure of the Expert Panel.
(3)
The function of the Expert Panel is to provide
advice to the Minister on:
(a)
a proposed exemption from, or a proposed
suspension of, the operation of a minimum biofuel requirement,
and
(b)
a proposed variation or revocation of such an
exemption, and
(c)
such other matters in connection with the
operation of this Act as may be referred to the Expert Panel by the
Minister.
(4)
The Minister can issue guidelines to the Expert
Panel from time to time as to:
(a)
the matters that are relevant for the purpose of
determining whether grounds exist for the grant of an exemption from or
suspension of the operation of a minimum biofuel requirement,
and
(b)
such other matters in connection with the
operation of this Act as may be referred to the Expert Panel by the
Minister.
s 24 (previously s
20): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14]. Subst 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [22]. Am
2010 No 59, Sch 2.9 [3] [4]; 2012 No 30, Sch 1 [4]; 2012 No 92, Sch 1
[14]–[17]; 2013 No 47, Sch 1.4; 2014 No 88, Sch 2.3 [3]; 2015 No 58, Sch
3.11 [2]–[5].
25Secrecy
(1)
This section applies to the following
persons:
(a)
the Minister,
(b)
the Secretary and a person who is or was a member
of staff of the Department,
(c)
a person who is or was a member of the Expert
Panel.
(2)
A person to whom this section applies must not,
directly or indirectly, except for the purposes of this Act or otherwise in
connection with the exercise of the person’s functions under this
Act:
(a)
make a record of any information, acquired by the
person by reason of, or in the course of, the exercise of the person’s
functions under this Act, or
(b)
divulge or communicate to any person any such
information.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units or imprisonment
for 12 months, or both.
(3)
A person to whom this section applies cannot be
required:
(a)
to produce to any person or body any document or
other thing that has come into the person’s possession, custody or
control by reason of, or in the course of, the exercise of the person’s
functions under this Act, or
(b)
to divulge or communicate to any person or body
any matter or thing that has come to the person’s notice in the exercise
of the person’s functions under this Act.
(4)
Despite this section, a person to whom this
section applies may divulge any such information:
(a)
for the purposes of and in accordance with this
Act, or
(b)
for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act,
or
(c)
in accordance with a direction of the Secretary,
if the Secretary certifies that it is necessary to do so in the public
interest, or
(d)
to any person or body prescribed by the
regulations.
(5)
A person or body to whom information is divulged
under subsection (4), and any person or employee under the control of that
person or body, is subject to the same rights, privileges, obligations and
liabilities under subsections (2) and (3) in respect of that information as if
he or she were a person to whom this section applies and had acquired the
information in the exercise of functions under this Act.
(6)
In this section:
body includes any court, tribunal,
authority or body having power to require the production of documents or the
answering of questions.
produce includes permit access
to.
s 25 (previously s
21): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14]. Am 2010 No 59, Sch 2.9
[2].
26Liability
(1)
The State does not incur any liability, and
compensation is not payable by or on behalf of the State, arising directly or
indirectly from any of the following matters occurring before or after the
commencement of this section:
(a)
the enactment or operation of this
Act,
(b)
the exercise by any person of a function under
this Act or a failure to exercise any such function,
(c)
any statement or conduct relating to the
regulation of the ethanol content of petrol supplied by petrol suppliers or
the biodiesel content of diesel fuel supplied by diesel fuel
suppliers.
(2)
In this section:
compensation includes damages or any
other form of monetary compensation.
conduct includes any act or
omission, whether unconscionable, misleading, deceptive or
otherwise.
statement includes a representation
of any kind:
(a)
whether made verbally or in writing,
and
(b)
whether negligent, false or misleading or
otherwise.
the
State means the Crown within the meaning of the Crown Proceedings Act 1988, and includes
an officer, employee or agent of the Crown and an investigator appointed under
section 18.
this
Act includes any regulation made under this Act and any
suspension or exemption under this Act.
s 26 (previously s
22): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14]. Am 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [23]
[24].
27Proceedings for
offences
(1)
Proceedings for an offence against this Act or
the regulations are to be disposed of summarily before:
(a)
the Local Court, or
(b)
the Supreme Court in its summary
jurisdiction.
(2)
If proceedings are brought before the Local
Court, the maximum monetary penalty that the Local Court may impose for the
offence is 500 penalty units, despite any higher maximum monetary penalty
provided in respect of the offence.
(3)
Proceedings for an offence against this Act or
the regulations must be commenced within 2 years of the date of the alleged
offence.
s 27 (previously s
23): Am 2007 No 94, Sch 2. Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14]. Am 2012 No
92, Sch 1 [18] [19].
28Authority to
prosecute
Proceedings for an offence against this Act or
the regulations may be instituted only with the written consent of the
Minister.
s 28 (previously s
24): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14].
29Penalty
notices
(1)
An authorised officer may serve a penalty notice
on a person if it appears to the officer that the person has committed an
offence against this Act or the regulations, being an offence prescribed by
the regulations as a penalty notice offence.
(2)
A penalty notice is a notice to the effect that,
if the person served does not wish to have the matter determined by a court,
the person can pay, within the time and to the person specified in the notice,
the amount of the penalty prescribed by the regulations for the offence if
dealt with under this section.
(3)
A penalty notice may be served personally or by
post.
(4)
If the amount of penalty prescribed for an
alleged offence is paid under this section, no person is liable to any further
proceedings for the alleged offence.
(5)
Payment under this section is not to be regarded
as an admission of liability for the purpose of, and does not in any way
affect or prejudice, any civil claim, action or proceeding arising out of the
same occurrence.
(6)
The regulations may:
(a)
prescribe an offence for the purposes of this
section by specifying the offence or by referring to the provision creating
the offence, and
(b)
prescribe the amount of penalty payable for the
offence if dealt with under this section, and
(c)
prescribe different amounts of penalties for
different offences or classes of offences.
(7)
The amount of a penalty prescribed under this
section for an offence is not to exceed the maximum amount of penalty that
could be imposed for the offence by a court.
(8)
This section does not limit the operation of any
other provision of, or made under, this or any other Act relating to
proceedings that may be taken in respect of offences.
(9)
In this section, authorised officer means a member of
staff of the Department authorised in writing by the Secretary as an
authorised officer for the purposes of this section.
s 29 (previously s
25): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14]. Am 2010 No 59, Sch 2.9
[2].
30Regulations
(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.
(2)
A regulation may create an offence punishable by
a penalty not exceeding 100 penalty units.
s 30 (previously s
26): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14].
31Delegation
The Minister may delegate the exercise of any
function of the Minister under this Act (other than this power of delegation)
to:
(a)
any member of staff of the Department,
or
(b)
any person, or any class of persons, authorised
for the purposes of this section by the
regulations.
s 31 (previously s
27): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14]. Subst 2009 No 11, Sch 1
[25].
32Review of
Act
(1)
The Minister is to review this Act to determine
whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of
the Act remain appropriate for securing those
objectives.
(2)
The review is to be undertaken as soon as
possible after the period of 3 years from the date of assent to this
Act.
(3)
A report on the outcome of the review is to be
tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months after the end of the
period of 3 years.
s 32 (previously s
28): Renumbered 2009 No 11, Sch 1 [14].