Penalty for breach of duty to take all reasonable steps in management of waste transport to third party premises
Orders for final relief
Civil penalty
Quick Take
1A sum ordered under s 332 of the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) in lieu of a pecuniary penalty is not an order of a different character; it stands in the place of the penalty and falls to be fixed by the same deterrence-driven principles, including the s 315(2) considerations, the maximum penalty as a yardstick, and instinctive synthesis
2Where two contraventions of the same civil penalty provision arise from the same underlying procedural deficiency and are framed in identical terms differing only in date, transporter, and receiving location, the Court may exercise the s 323(1) discretion to impose a single penalty — but the quantum of that single penalty may be adjusted upward to reflect that the second contravention occurred after proceedings were commenced in respect of the first
3In environmental civil penalty proceedings, general deterrence carries greater weight than specific deterrence where the contraventions were not deliberate; the fact that the contravener's practice accorded with general industry practice does not dilute the general deterrence consideration but rather reinforces the need for a substantial penalty to signal that common but deficient practices are unacceptable
