Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

This section applies to the following disputes—

a dispute between a party to a biodiversity certification, or a party to a biodiversity certification agreement, and the Minister in connection with a decision of the Minister to suspend, revoke or modify the biodiversity certification,

a dispute between a public authority that is a party to a biodiversity certification and the Minister in connection with a failure by the public authority to comply with any of the approved conservation or other measures under the biodiversity certification or to implement equivalent conservation measures,

a dispute between a public authority that is a party to a biodiversity certification and the Minister in connection with a decision of the Minister to require the public authority to pay a penalty under this Part.

A dispute to which this section applies may be referred to the Premier.

The Premier may, for the purpose of resolving a dispute referred to the Premier under this section—

appoint a person or panel to hold an inquiry and make a report to the Premier, or

hold an inquiry into the dispute.

After the completion of the inquiry, and after considering any report, the Premier may make such order with respect to the dispute, having regard to the public interest and to the circumstances of the case, as the Premier thinks fit.

An order made by the Premier may direct the payment of any costs or expenses of or incidental to the holding of the inquiry.

A public authority is to comply with an order given under this section and is, despite the provisions of any Act, taken to have power to comply with any such order.

If a matter that is referred to the Premier under this section is also the subject of proceedings before the Land and Environment Court—

the Premier may suspend or terminate action under this section pending a decision of the Land and Environment Court, and

a decision of the Land and Environment Court prevails.

In this section—