The Court of Criminal Appeal held that an offence under ss 19(1) and 33 of the WHS Act (NSW) is not a single continuing offence but rather one where a distinct offence may be committed whenever the duty is not complied with at any time while workers are at work, such that breaches observed at different inspections at different times constitute distinct offences for limitation purposes. The Court further held that even if the offence were characterised as a single continuing offence, the limitation period would be 'extensible' and would not bite while the offence continued, making the applicant's argument self-defeating. The judgment establishes a four-category taxonomy for analysing continuing offences and identifies seven factors relevant to characterising statutory offences within that framework, with broad application to regulatory prosecutions.
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