24AAD—Prohibition of disposal of garbage into State waters
(1) Subject to this
section, if any disposal of garbage occurs (whether intentional or not) from a
ship into State waters, the master and the owner of the ship are each guilty
of an offence.
Maximum penalty:
(a) if
the offender is a natural person—$50 000; or
(b) if
the offender is a body corporate—$250 000.
(2)
Subsection (1) does not apply to—
(a) the
disposal of garbage from a ship for the purpose of securing the safety of the
ship and persons on board the ship or of saving life at sea; or
(b) the
escape of garbage from a ship in consequence of damage to the ship or its
equipment, if all reasonable precautions were taken before and after the
occurrence of the damage for the purpose of preventing or minimising the
escape of the garbage; or
(c) the
accidental loss of a synthetic fishing net, or synthetic material used in the
repair of such a net, if all reasonable precautions were taken to prevent the
loss; or
(d) the
disposal from a ship of dunnage, lining or packing materials that will float
and are not plastics if the ship—
(i)
is as far as practicable from, and is at a distance of
not less than 25 nautical miles from, the nearest land; and
(ii)
is not alongside, or within 500 metres of, a fixed or
floating platform engaged in the exploration, exploitation and associated
offshore processing of seabed mineral resources; or
(e) the
disposal from a ship of garbage other than plastics, garbage referred to in
paragraph (d) or food wastes if the ship—
(i)
is as far as practicable from the nearest land; and
(A) not less than 12 nautical miles from
the nearest land; or
(B) if the garbage is passed through a
comminuter or grinder so that it is capable of passing through a screen with
no opening greater than 25 millimetres—not less than 3 nautical
miles from the nearest land; and
(iii)
is not alongside, or within 500 metres of, a platform of
a kind referred to in paragraph (d)(ii); or
(f) the
disposal of food wastes from a ship if—
(i)
the ship—
(A) is as far as practicable from, and is
at a distance of not less than 12 nautical miles from, the nearest land; and
(B) is not alongside, or within 500 metres
of, a platform of a kind referred to in paragraph (d)(ii); or
(ii)
the conditions referred to in subparagraphs (i) and
(ii)(B) of paragraph (e) are satisfied.
(a)
garbage is mixed with matter the discharge or disposal of which from a ship
into State waters is prohibited under another Part unless certain conditions
are complied with; and
(b) the
conditions referred to in paragraph (a) are more stringent than the
conditions referred to in subsection (2),
subsection (1)—
(c)
applies to the disposal of the garbage from a ship despite the fact that the
conditions referred to in subsection (2) have been complied with; but
(d) does
not apply to the disposal of the garbage from a ship if those more stringent
requirements were complied with.
(4) In proceedings for
an offence against subsection (1) in relation to a ship, it is sufficient
for the prosecution to allege and prove that garbage was disposed of from the
ship into State waters, but it is a defence if it is proved that, by virtue of
subsection (2) or (3), subsection (1) does not apply in relation to
the disposal.
(5) In this
section—
"plastics" includes synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets, plastic garbage
bags and plastic or synthetic strapping.