Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts38. Removal of vehicle, &c.
(1) In addition to the powers specified in section 37(1), the Territory Controller, the Director, a Regional Controller, a Local Controller, a member of the Police Force or an authorized person may, during a state of disaster, direct the owner or person apparently in charge:
(a) of a vehicle, aircraft, ship, boat, barge or animal; or
(b) of a thing the presence or unsecured state of which on the land or in the place where it is located is, in his opinion, a threat to the life or health of a person in the vicinity or the use or continued operation of a road, utility or other facility the use or continued operation of which in or after the state of disaster is, in his opinion, necessary for the alleviation of the disaster or its effect,
to remove it from the land or place or from the land or place to such other place, or to secure it in such manner and within such time, as the person giving the direction specifies.
(2) If a person so directed refuses to, or does not within the time specified by the person giving the direction for doing so, remove or secure, as the case may be, the vehicle, aircraft, ship, boat, barge, animal or thing in accordance with the direction, the person giving the direction may remove or secure it and, for that purpose, may use such force as is reasonably necessary to break into it, in the case of a vehicle, aircraft, ship, boat or barge, or remove or secure it.
(3) Where a person takes action under subsection (2), the reasonable costs incurred in his so doing shall be a debt due and payable to the Territory by the owner of the vehicle, aircraft, ship, boat, barge, animal or thing or, where after reasonable inquiry the owner cannot be identified or located, by the owner of the land from which it was removed or on which it was secured, as the case may be.
(4) Where the owner of a vehicle, aircraft, ship, boat, barge, animal or thing cannot conveniently be found and there is no other person apparently in charge of it, the Territory Controller, the Director, a Regional Controller, a Local Controller, a member of the Police Force or an authorized person may exercise his powers under this section as if the owner or person apparently in charge had refused to comply with a direction given under subsection (1).
(5) For the purposes of this section, authorized person means any person authorized to carry out counter disaster functions by the Council, the Territory Controller, the Director, a Regional Controller or a Local Controller.