A monetary penalty of $100,000 (discounted to $80,000) was appropriate for a council's offence of moderate objective gravity involving the discharge of nearly 1.1ML of raw sewage into a river, where actual environmental harm was limited, the council had no intent to pollute, had one prior conviction for a similar offence over a decade earlier, entered a late guilty plea, and agreed to pay substantial prosecution costs of $344,189. The De Simoni principle precludes taking into account a failure to report an overflow as an aggravating factor where that failure constitutes an uncharged offence under s 148 of the Act, but the failure may be considered in assessing contrition, remorse and assistance to authorities.
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