Western Australian Consolidated Acts

AGRICULTURE AND RELATED RESOURCES PROTECTION ACT 1976 - SECT 51

51 .         Failure to comply with direction

        (1)         An owner or occupier of private land who has been served with a notice under section 50 and who — 

            (a)         fails to commence to comply with the direction contained in the notice on or before the commencement date specified in the notice; or

            (b)         fails to fully comply with the direction contained in the notice on or before the completion date specified in the notice,

                commits an offence.

        Penalty: For a first offence under paragraph (a) or (b), $300; for any subsequent offence under the same paragraph, $1 500.

        (2)         Where the owner and the occupier of private land are both served with a notice under subsection (1) it is a defence in any proceeding against either of them under subsection (1)(a) or (b) for the accused to show that the other has complied with the provisions of that paragraph.

        (2a)         In any proceeding under subsection (1) for an offence relating to a notice by the Protection Board under section 50(1)(b), it is a defence for the accused to show that the direction contained in the notice was, in so far as it applied to the land to which the proceedings relate, unnecessary or inappropriate.

        (3)         For the purposes of this section and section 52 an owner or occupier of private land who has been served with a notice under section 50 —

            (a)         shall not be regarded as having failed to commence to comply with the direction contained in the notice by reason only that he has not commenced to control declared plants or declared animals in the manner specified in the notice so long as he has commenced to control the plants or animals in some other manner;

            (b)         shall not be regarded as having failed to comply, or fully comply, with the direction contained in the notice by reason only that he has not controlled declared plants or declared animals in the manner specified in the notice so long as he has controlled the plants or animals in some other manner.

        [Section 51 amended by No. 31 of 1983 s. 5; No. 59 of 1986 s. 7; No. 20 of 1989 s. 3; No. 84 of 2004 s. 82.]