Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts

STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT ACT 2009 (NO. 20 OF 2009) - SCHEDULE 1

Schedule 1     Minor amendments

(see s 5)

Part 1.1     Environment Protection Act 1997

[1.1]     New section 164A

insert

164A     Expiry of notifiable instruments

    (1)     This section applies to a notifiable instrument under any of the following provisions:

              •     section 25 (Consultation on draft environment protection policy);

              •     section 41 (Notification of environmental protection agreements);

              •     section 48 (Consultation on application for environmental authorisation);

              •     section 50 (Notification of grant);

              •     section 59 (Notification of review of environmental authorisations).

    (2)     If the notifiable instrument does not state when the instrument expires, the instrument expires 6 months after the day it is notified.

Explanatory note
The Act requires public notice (by way of notification on the ACT legislation register) of the making of applications for environmental authorisations and the granting or review of environmental authorisations. Environmental authorisations can cover things as diverse as holding outdoor concerts to running pest control operations. Once a notice has been notified or, in the case of applications for authorisations, the period for public consultation has ended, there is little value in the notifications remaining current.

While future notices may include expiry clauses, this amendment includes a provision in the Act that automatically expires notices once they have served their purpose. The expired notices will still be available on the legislation register, but will appear under the ‘repealed' heading. This will ensure that only truly current instruments are included under the ‘current' heading on the register, making it easier to access them.

Part 1.2     Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act 1994

[1.2]     New section 140A

insert

140A     Protection of officials from liability

    (1)     An official is not civilly liable for conduct engaged in honestly and without recklessness—

        (a)     in the exercise of a function under this Act; or

        (b)     in the reasonable belief that the conduct was in the exercise of a function under this Act.

    (2)     Any civil liability that would, apart from this section, attach to the official attaches instead to the Territory.

    (3)     In this section:

"conduct" means an act or omission to do an act.

"official" means—

        (a)     the chief psychiatrist; or

        (b)     the care coordinator; or

        (c)     a mental health officer; or

        (d)     an official visitor; or

        (e)     anyone else exercising a function under this Act.

Note     A reference to an Act includes a reference to the statutory instruments made or in force under the Act, including any regulation (see Legislation Act, s 104).

Explanatory note

This amendment inserts a standard provision to make it clear that officials exercising functions under the Act are protected from any civil liability that may arise in the proper exercise of those functions.