New South Wales Consolidated Acts

STOCK DISEASES ACT 1923 - SECT 7

7 Powers of inspectors

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act, any inspector may at any time:

(a) with or without assistants enter any land, building, vehicle, vessel, aeroplane or airship for the purpose of inspecting or treating any stock, artificial breeding material, carcass, fodder or fittings, or enforcing the provisions of this Act or the regulations,

(b) detain or take possession of any stock, artificial breeding material or carcass which is infected or which the inspector suspects to be infected or any stock which in his or her opinion is straying, or any fodder or fittings which are contaminated with disease or which the inspector suspects to be so contaminated, or any stock, artificial breeding material, carcass, fodder or fittings in respect of which in his or her opinion an offence against this Act or the regulations has been committed,

(bi) cause any stock or artificial breeding material to be tested for any disease or take from any stock or artificial breeding material or carcass a specimen of any kind,

(bii) order the owner or person in charge of stock or artificial breeding material to cause the stock or artificial breeding material to be tested for any disease in a manner approved by the Director-General, whether or not the stock or artificial breeding material has previously been tested, and whether or not that testing was ordered or caused to be done by an inspector,

(c) order the owner or person in charge of stock, or the occupier of any land on which are any stock, to muster them at a specified place on the land or, where in the opinion of the inspector no facilities suitable for the purposes of the order exist on that land, at a specified place on other land, for the purpose of examination or treatment or of enabling the inspector to cause any or all of them to be tested for any disease or to take any specimens from them and to provide such assistance as the inspector may reasonably require,

(d) detain travelling stock or order them to be detained for the purpose of examination or treatment or of enabling the inspector to cause any or all of them to be tested for any disease or to take any specimens from them, or until the provisions of this Act and the regulations have been complied with to the satisfaction of the inspector, and order the owner or person in charge of the stock to take them to a specified place for such examination or treatment or test or to enable specimens to be taken from them, or in order that such provisions may be complied with,

(e) order the owner or person in charge of travelling stock which are infected or which the inspector suspects to be infected to forthwith take them back to any place from which they have been or are being removed or through which they have passed.

(1A) For the purposes of (and without limiting) subsection (1) (b), an inspector may detain or take possession of stock by displaying a notice stating that the inspector has detained or taken possession of the stock (as appropriate). The notice must be prominently displayed on, next to, or on a gate to, the pen, yard, paddock or other enclosure or area where the stock are located.

(2) An order under subsection (1) (bii) or (c), and an order under subsection (1) (d) requiring a person to take stock to a place specified in the order, may specify a time at which, or a period within which, the order shall be complied with.

(3) Where an inspector is of the opinion:

(a) that stock (not being travelling stock) should be mustered for the purposes specified in subsection (1) (c), and

(b) that no facilities suitable for those purposes exist on the land on which the stock are located,

and the inspector is of the further opinion:

(c) that the stock should not, for those purposes, be removed from that land because of the presence or suspected presence of disease on that or any other land, or

(d) that no facilities suitable for those purposes are available within a reasonable distance of the land on which the stock are located,

the inspector may, with the approval of an authorised officer, order the occupier of the land on which the stock are located to provide at a specified place on that land, within such time as is specified in the order, such facilities, including crushes, as the inspector may deem necessary for those purposes.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), an authorised officer is the Director-General or a person, or a person of a class, prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.

(5) An inspector may, in a manner approved by the Director-General, brand or otherwise mark any stock or things:

(a) which the inspector otherwise suspects on reasonable grounds are infected, or

(b) which the inspector suspects on reasonable grounds have been moved contrary to this Act or a regulation or other instrument made under this Act, or

(c) which are straying, or the subject of any order, or seized, under this Act, or

(d) otherwise for the purpose of investigating or controlling diseases, even if the stock or things themselves are not infected.

(6) An inspector may issue a written permit to a person who is the owner, or person in charge, of stock, permitting that person (despite the provisions of this Act) to move the stock in accordance with the terms of the permit.