New South Wales Bills New South Wales Bills[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]
This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
New South Wales
Crimes Amendment (Bushfires)
Bill 2002
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Amendment of Acts 2
Schedules
1 Amendment of Crimes Act 1900 No 40 3
2 Amendment of Criminal Procedure Act 1986 No 209 5
I certify that this PUBLIC BILL, which originated in the LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, has
finally passed the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL and the LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY of NEW
SOUTH WALES.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.
Legislative Assembly,
Sydney, , 2002
New South Wales
Crimes Amendment (Bushfires)
Bill 2002
Act No , 2002
An Act to amend the Crimes Act 1900 and the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 with
respect to causing bushfires.
I have examined this Bill, and find it to correspond in all respects with the Bill as
finally passed by both Houses.
Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Assembly.
Clause 1 Crimes Amendment (Bushfires) Bill 2002
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts:
1 Name of Act
This Act is the Crimes Amendment (Bushfires) Act 2002.
2 Commencement
This Act commences on a day to be appointed by proclamation.
3 Amendment of Acts
Each Act specified in Schedules 1 and 2 is amended as set out in those
Schedules.
Page 2
Crimes Amendment (Bushfires) Bill 2002
Amendment of Crimes Act 1900 No 40 Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Amendment of Crimes Act 1900 No 40
(Section 3)
Part 4, Division 2, Subdivision 5
Insert after Subdivision 4 of Division 2 of Part 4:
Subdivision 5 Bushfires
203D Definitions
In this Subdivision:
causing a fire includes:
(a) lighting a fire, or
(b) maintaining a fire, or
(c) failing to contain a fire, except where the fire was lit by
another person or the fire is beyond the control of the
person who lit the fire.
firefighter means a member of a fire brigade under the Rural
Fires Act 1997 or the Fire Brigades Act 1989 or of any other
official firefighting unit (including a unit from outside the
State).
spread of a fire means spread of a fire beyond the capacity of
the person who causes the fire to extinguish it.
203E Offence
(1) A person:
(a) who intentionally causes a fire, and
(b) who is reckless as to the spread of the fire to vegetation
on any public land or on land belonging to another,
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 14 years.
(2) For the purposes of this section, recklessness may also be
established by proof of intention.
Page 3
Crimes Amendment (Bushfires) Bill 2002
Schedule 1 Amendment of Crimes Act 1900 No 40
(3) A person is not criminally responsible for an offence against
this section if:
(a) the person is a firefighter or acting under the direction
of a firefighter, and
(b) the person caused the fire in the course of bushfire
fighting or hazard reduction operations.
(4) If on the trial of a person for an offence against this section the
jury is not satisfied that the accused is guilty of the offence
charged but is satisfied on the evidence that the accused is
guilty of an offence against section 100 (1) of the Rural Fires
Act 1997, it may find the accused not guilty of the offence
charged but guilty of the latter offence, and the accused is liable
to punishment accordingly.
Page 4
Crimes Amendment (Bushfires) Bill 2002
Amendment of Criminal Procedure Act 1986 No 209 Schedule 2
Schedule 2 Amendment of Criminal Procedure
Act 1986 No 209
(Section 3)
Schedule 1 Indictable offences triable summarily
Insert after item 9 in Table 1:
9A Bushfires
An offence under section 203E of the Crimes Act 1900.
Page 5
[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]