EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACT 2004 - SECT 37
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACT 2004 - SECT 37
37—State Emergency Relief Fund
(1) The State Disaster
Relief Fund continues in existence as the State
Emergency Relief Fund (the "fund").
(2) Any money received
by the Minister for the relief of persons who suffer injury, loss or damage as
a result of a declared emergency or proclaimed situation, or otherwise to
assist communities adversely affected by the impact of a declared emergency or
proclaimed situation (in response to a public appeal), must be paid into the
fund.
(3) The Minister may
appoint a committee of persons to administer the fund.
(4) A committee
appointed for the purposes of this section will administer the fund subject to
the directions of the Governor.
(5) Subject to this
section, no money received by the fund in respect of a particular
declared emergency or proclaimed situation may be disbursed otherwise than to,
or for the purpose of the relief of, persons who suffered injury, loss or
damage as a result of that declared emergency or proclaimed situation, or to
assist communities adversely affected by that declared emergency or proclaimed
situation.
(6) If the committee
is satisfied that it has made sufficient payment to persons or communities on
account of a particular declared emergency or proclaimed situation, the
committee may, with the approval of the Governor, leave the balance of the
money in the fund to be applied under this section for the purpose of
responding to some future declared emergency or proclaimed situation.
(7) Where the
committee is of the opinion that a person who suffered injury, loss or damage
as a result of a declared emergency or proclaimed situation has been
overcompensated for that injury, loss or damage by reason of being paid—
(a)
money from the fund; and
(b)
damages or compensation from another source,
the committee may, by notice in writing given personally or by post to the
person, require the person to pay to the fund the amount of the
overcompensation as determined by the committee and specified in the notice.
(8) A person who is
given a notice under subsection (7) is liable to pay to the fund, as a
debt due to the Crown, the amount specified in the notice within the time
specified in the notice (being a period of not less than one month from the
day on which the notice is given).
(9) Money paid to the
fund pursuant to subsection (8) may be disbursed for the purpose of
responding to the declared emergency or proclaimed situation in respect of
which the money was first paid, or for the purpose of responding to a future
declared emergency or proclaimed situation.
(10) No money in the
fund may be used to defray the administrative costs of administering the fund.
(11) In this
section—
"declared emergency" means an emergency in respect of which a declaration
under this Act has been made;
"proclaimed situation" means a situation or circumstance that is within the
ambit of a proclamation made by the Governor for the purposes of this section.
(12) A proclamation
made for the purposes of the definition of
"proclaimed situation"—
(a) may
apply by reference to any factor specified by the proclamation, including by
limiting the scope of the proclamation by area or a period of time; and
(b) may,
from time to time as the Governor thinks fit, be varied or substituted by a
new proclamation.