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FACT SHEET
Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Bill
2014
The Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Bill 2014 amends the Pulp Mill
Assessment Act 2007 to extend the period in which the Pulp Mill Project
must be substantially commenced.
The Bill provides certainty to any new proponent that the Pulp Mill Permit is still
in force by extending the time during which the Pulp Mill Project (the Project)
must be substantially commenced from four to 10 years (that is by 30 August
2017).
The Bill clarifies that the Pulp Mill Permit cannot be taken to have lapsed at
any time during that 10 year period.
The Bill provides that the entire Pulp Mill Permit lapses if the Project is not
substantially commenced before the end of the period of 10 years from the
Pulp Mill Permit coming into force.
It also provides that the permits, licences and other approvals contained in
the Pulp Mill Permit, that are taken to have been issued under other
Tasmanian legislation, will not lapse unless the Pulp Mill Permit lapses.
These amendments apply retrospectively.
The Bill confirms the operation of Section 8(1)(c) of the Pulp Mill Assessment
Act 2007.
In the Second Reading Speech for the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 it was
stated that, once the Pulp Mill Permit was accepted by both Houses of
Parliament, the conditions specified in the Pulp Mill Permit apply as if a permit,
licence or other approval to which they relate had been issued under the
legislation that would normally apply to those conditions.
This provision is given effect in Section 8(1)(c) of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act
2007 and mirrors similar provisions in the State Policies and Projects Act 1993,
which has been in operation for many years.
14/3323
2
Section 9(1) of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 was designed to suspend
the usual application of legislative provisions referred to in that section for so
long as the standalone assessment process established under the Act was in
force.
The Bill makes explicit that which is currently implied; that Section 9(1) ceases
to apply once the Pulp Mill Project has been accepted by both Houses of
Parliament.
It makes it clear that every permit, licence or other approval relating to the
Project can be enforced, varied, suspended or amended by the person
responsible for enforcing it, as if it were a permit, licence or approval that had
been issued under the relevant legislation that usually applies to it.
The Bill removes Section 8(3) of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007, which
provides that if the proponent does not comply with a condition of the Pulp
Mill Permit, the entire Pulp Mill Permit is automatically suspended until the
condition is complied with.
Section 8(3) is unnecessary, as the person responsible for enforcing a permit,
licence or other approval, contained in the Pulp Mill Permit is able to respond
appropriately and proportionately by exercising all the usual sanctions and
powers available under Tasmanian legislation in relation to any breach of a
condition, in exactly the same way that they may exercise those sanctions
and powers for every other industry, project or activity in Tasmania.
This is affirmed by the amendments reinforcing the operation of Section
8(1)(c), detailed above.
The Bill provides a power for the Minister for Economic Development to
terminate a permit, licence or other approval.
The Bill provides a standalone power for the Minister for Economic
Development to cancel, revoke or otherwise terminate a permit, licence or
other approval contained in the Pulp Mill Permit. The Minister can only
exercise this power on the recommendation of the regulator responsible for
that permit, licence or other approval.
This power does not prevent the person responsible for enforcing a permit,
licence or other approval from terminating it themselves, where they have
the power to do so under the applicable legislation.
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The Bill amends the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 to explicitly provide for
the transfer of the Pulp Mill Permit, in whole or in part, to a new proponent.
The Bill provides a power to the holder of the Pulp Mill Permit to sell assign or
otherwise transfer the Pulp Mill Permit to another person, either in whole or in
part.
It provides an administratively expedient mechanism for vesting the rights
and obligations contained in the Pulp Mill Permit to that other person, and to
transfer the permits, licences or other approvals to which those rights and
obligations relate.