Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION MEASURES (IMPLEMENTATION) ACT 1998 - SECT 19

State authorities or officers may exercise functions or powers

(1)

If:

(a)

a provision of a law of a State or Territory confers functions or powers on:

(i)

an authority of the State or Territory other than a local governing authority; or

(ii)

an officer of the State or Territory other than an officer of a local governing authority; and

(b)

the provision is applied as mentioned in section 17;

then, subject to section 18, the authority or officer has corresponding functions or powers under the applied provision.

How functions or powers are to be exercised

(2)

In performing a function or exercising a power conferred by subsection (1) in relation to an applied provision of a law of a State or Territory, an authority or officer must act as nearly as practicable as the authority or officer would act in performing the same function or exercising the same power under the corresponding provision of the law of the State or Territory.

State or Territory laws for investigation of offences to apply

(3)

The laws of a State or Territory respecting the investigation of offences against an applied provision of a law of a State or Territory apply so far as they are applicable to the investigation, by an authority or officer of the State or Territory under subsection (1), of offences against the applied provision, and so apply to the exclusion of the laws of the Commonwealth that would otherwise apply to the investigation of an offence against a Commonwealth law.

Commonwealth laws not affected

(4)

To avoid doubt, subsection (3) does not affect the operation of any of the following laws in relation to offences against an applied State or Territory law:

(a)

the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983 ;

(b)

section 21B of the Crimes Act 1914 ;

(c)

Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 ;

(d)

the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987 ;

(e)

the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 .