Biosecurity Act 2015

The Director of Biosecurity or a biosecurity officer may give a direction under this section to the person in charge of a vessel if:

the Director or the biosecurity officer is satisfied that:

a sample of the vessel’s ballast water indicates that the vessel poses an unacceptable level of biosecurity risk; or

the person in charge or crew of the vessel are not familiar with, or have not implemented, essential shipboard procedures relating to ballast water management that are set out in the ballast water management plan for the vessel; or

the vessel does not have appropriate ballast water records; or

if ballast water were discharged from the vessel, an offence against this Chapter involving the vessel would be committed; or

the Director or the biosecurity officer has reasonable grounds for believing that an offence against this Chapter involving the vessel has been committed.

The Director of Biosecurity or a biosecurity officer may direct the person in charge not to discharge ballast water from the vessel until the conditions specified in the direction are met.

A person who fails to comply with a direction given under this section may commit an offence (see section 305).

A condition specified in the direction must be for the purposes of reducing the biosecurity risk associated with the vessel to an acceptable level.

The person in charge of the vessel must comply with the direction.

A biosecurity officer may vary or revoke the direction.

See section 306 for the manner in which a direction may be varied or revoked.