Biosecurity Act 2015

Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a biosecurity officer may give the person in charge or the operator of a vessel that intends to be moored at a port in Australian territory a direction requiring the vessel not to be moored at any port in Australian territory.

The person in charge or the operator of the vessel may commit an offence or contravene a civil penalty provision for failing to comply with a direction given under this subsection (see section 251).

A biosecurity officer must not give a direction under subsection (1) without the written approval of the Director of Biosecurity.

Before giving approval under this subsection, the Director of Biosecurity must be satisfied of the matters referred to in subsection (3) and the matters referred to in section 32 (the principles).

The Director of Biosecurity must not give approval for a direction to be given under subsection (1) unless the Director is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that:

the level of biosecurity risk associated with the vessel or any person or thing on board the vessel is unacceptable; and

biosecurity measures cannot be taken to reduce that level of biosecurity risk to an acceptable level.

A direction must not be given under subsection (1) for the purpose of managing human health risks associated with the vessel or any person or thing on board the vessel.

A biosecurity officer must revoke a direction given under subsection (1) if the Director of Biosecurity is satisfied that:

the level of biosecurity risk associated with the vessel or any person or thing on board the vessel is no longer unacceptable; or

biosecurity measures can be taken to reduce the level of biosecurity risk associated with the vessel or any person or thing on board the vessel to an acceptable level; or

the direction should be revoked for any other reason.

See also section 572 (general provisions relating to directions).