New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PLANT DISEASES ACT 1924 - SECT 26

26 Offences

(1) Every person commits an offence against this Act who, personally or by the person’s servant or agent:

(a) without reasonable excuse, sells, or brings onto or removes from the person’s premises, any plant, fruit, covering or thing of any nature whatever with the knowledge that the plant, fruit, covering or thing:

(i) is infected or is likely to convey infection, or

(ii) was imported, introduced or brought into New South Wales or any part of New South Wales in contravention of a provision of a proclamation, notification or undertaking made or given under this Act or the regulations, or

(b) alters, falsifies or misuses any notice or document issued by an inspector, or makes a false statement to an inspector, or

(c) does or attempts to do any act in breach of the provisions of this Act, or of any proclamation, notification, order, or undertaking given under this Act or any regulation, which act is not by any other provision of this Act specifically constituted an offence against this Act, or

(d) without reasonable excuse fails or neglects to perform any duty or obligation imposed on the person by this Act, or by any proclamation, notification, order, or undertaking given under this Act or any regulation which failure or neglect is not by any other provision of this Act specifically constituted an offence against this Act, or

(e) without reasonable excuse fails or neglects to comply with any direction given under this Act by the Minister or an inspector or the requirements of any notice served upon the person or given to the person by an inspector under this Act or the regulations, or

(f) in the State or any portion thereof has in the person’s possession any plant, fruit, covering, package, goods or thing of any nature or kind whatsoever which, to the person’s knowledge, was imported, introduced or brought into the State or portion thereof contrary to this Act or any regulation, proclamation or notification made under this Act, or

(g) without reasonable excuse, introduces into New South Wales any plant, fruit, vegetable, package or covering with the knowledge that it is infected with a pest or disease, or

(h) destroys, damages or interferes with a device installed under section 13.

(1A) A person who, but for this subsection, would be liable to be convicted for an offence under both section 25A (2) (b) and subsection (1) (b) of this section in respect of the same matter is liable to be convicted in respect of only one of those offences.

(2) A person who is found guilty of an offence against subsection (1) is liable to a penalty not exceeding 100 penalty units.

(2A) Proceedings for an offence against this Act or the regulations shall be dealt with summarily before the Local Court.

(2B) Any such proceedings must be commenced not later than 2 years from when the offence was alleged to have been committed.

(3) Where in any proceeding against any person for an offence arising under subsection (1) (a), (f) or (g) knowledge of the accused must be shown, such knowledge shall be presumed unless and until the contrary is proved, and the accused satisfies the court that the want of knowledge was reasonable, and was in no way imputable to negligence on the part of the accused personally, the accused’s servant or agent.

(4) In any such proceeding, in addition to any other method of proof available, evidence that the person proceeded against appears by the record kept by the council of the area (within the meaning of the Local Government Act 1993 ) under section 602 of that Act to be the owner or occupier of the land in respect of which the proceeding is taken shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that such person is the owner or occupier, as the case may be, of the land.

(5) In any proceeding against any person for any offence against this Act or a contravention of any provision of any regulation, proclamation, order or notification made under this Act proof that any plant, fruit, covering, package, goods or other thing of any nature or kind whatever specified therein was found in any portion of the State in the possession of any person shall be prima facie evidence that the same was imported, introduced or brought into that portion of the State by such person.

(6) In any proceeding against any person for an offence against this Act or the regulations a certificate purporting to be signed by the Director-General stating that a person has been appointed or authorised to act as an inspector under this Act and during any period specified in the certificate held office or was authorised to act as such an inspector shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.

(7) In any proceeding against any person for an offence against this Act any printed paper purporting to be an order by the Minister published under this Act and to be printed by the Government Printer shall be evidence that an order by the Minister, in the words printed in that paper, was duly published under this Act.

(8) In this section, "notification" includes a notice.