Multiple acts of water pollution resulting from carrying out an activity specified in an environment protection licence will ordinarily be sufficiently connected to be charged compendiously as a single offence under s 120(1) of the POEO Act, where the discharges share the same scheduled activity, premises, discharge point, and licence conditions. An application to withdraw a guilty plea to a compendious charge must be determined before the question of duplicity, and a finding of duplicity does not automatically entitle the defendant to withdraw a guilty plea.
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