The elements of the offence of carrying out assessable development without a development permit under s 163 of the Planning Act 2016 (Qld) are confined to s 163(1); the matters in s 163(2) are not elements of the offence and need not be pleaded in the complaint or proved by the prosecution as part of its case. The construction adopted in Serratore v Noosa Shire Council is disapproved. A Council employee who commences proceedings by complaint describing herself as a public officer under the Justices Act 1886 is the complainant in her own name, not as agent for the Council, unless the complaint expressly describes her as acting 'as agent for' or 'for and on behalf of' the Council.
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