South Australian Consolidated Acts

ENVIRONMENT, RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT COURT ACT 1993 - SECT 28B

28B—Mediation and conciliation

        (1)         If it appears to the Court at the commencement or during the course of proceedings, or to the member of the Court presiding at a conference under section 16, that there would be a reasonable likelihood of settling matters in dispute between the parties by doing so, the Court or member may, with the consent of the parties, appoint a mediator to endeavour to achieve a negotiated settlement of the matters.

        (2)         The Court may during the course of proceedings, if it appears that there would be a reasonable likelihood of settling matters in dispute between the parties, itself endeavour to achieve a negotiated settlement of the matters.

        (3)         Except with the consent of the parties, any processes of mediation on conciliation under this section will be conducted in private.

        (4)         Any settlement to which counsel for or any other representative of a party agrees in processes under this section is binding on the party.

        (5)         Subject to subsection (7), the Court may record any settlement reached under this section and make a determination or order (including an order under, or for the purposes of, a relevant Act) necessary to give effect to a settlement.

        (6)         Evidence of anything said or done in the course of processes under this section is inadmissible in proceedings before the Court except by consent of all parties to the proceedings.

        (7)         The Court—

            (a)         must not accept a settlement that appears to be inconsistent with a relevant Act (but may adjourn the proceedings to enable the parties to explore the possibility of varying the settlement to comply with a relevant Act); and

            (b)         may decline to accept a settlement on the basis that the settlement may materially prejudice any person who was not a participant in the processes leading to the settlement but who has a direct or material interest in the matter.

        (8)         Where the Court appoints a mediator, or itself endeavours to achieve a settlement, under this section, the member or members comprising the Court are not disqualified from continuing to sit for the purpose of hearing and determining the proceedings.

        (9)         A mediator appointed under this section has the same privileges and immunities as a member of the Court and such of the powers of the Court as the Court may delegate.