Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981

The Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act and, in particular:

providing for the manner of service of notices under this Act; and

providing for the imposition of penalties not exceeding 10 penalty units.

Regulations under subsection (1) may declare that a specified area of sea on the seaward side of the territorial sea of Australia or the territorial sea of an external Territory is included in Australian waters for the purposes of this Act.

Before the Governor‑General makes a regulation prescribing material for the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of seriously harmful material in subsection 4(1), the Minister must be satisfied that the material is capable of causing serious harm to the marine environment.

The Minister may be satisfied that material is capable of causing serious harm to the marine environment even though there is no conclusive evidence to prove a causal relationship between the input of the material into the marine environment and serious harm to the marine environment.

For the purposes of subsection (3), the Minister must have regard to the principle that material should be prescribed as seriously harmful material if there is reason to believe that the material is likely to cause serious harm to the marine environment even though there is no conclusive evidence to prove a causal relationship between the input of the material into the marine environment and serious harm to the marine environment.