Eclipse Resources Pty Ltd v The Minister for Environment [No 2]

[2017] WASCA 90

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Local Government and Environment
2. › Waste management
3. › Statutory construction
4. › Meaning of 'waste'
5. › Whether materials deposited and compacted in quarry voids constituted 'waste'
6. › Whether materials were 'accepted for burial'
7. › Whether materials were 'disposed of to landfill'
8. › Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Levy Act 2007 (WA)
9. › Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Levy Regulations 2008 (WA)
1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Duties of excise
3. › Section 90 of the Constitution
4. › Whether levy imposed on waste disposed of to landfill is a duty of excise
5. › Whether materials buried at landfill premises were 'goods' or 'articles of commerce'
6. › Whether levy bore sufficiently close relation to production, manufacture, sale or distribution of goods
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Construction of regulatory regime
3. › Meaning of ordinary English words in statutory context
4. › Whether statutory definition of 'waste' extends to materials with potential future use
5. › Relevance of legislative purpose and context

Quick Take

Materials received from third parties who have no use for them and who pay the recipient to accept them constitute 'waste' under the WA waste levy regime, even where the recipient uses the materials as fill in quarry voids as part of an integrated land rehabilitation business. The depositing and compacting of such materials in quarry voids constitutes disposal to landfill attracting the waste levy. The waste levy is not a duty of excise where the materials buried are not goods or articles of commerce and the levy bears no close relation to the production, manufacture, sale or distribution of any goods.