Biosecurity Act 2014

Statutory compensation is not payable to a person for loss of, or damage to, property suffered by the person and arising out of a biosecurity response if a compensation scheme provides for compensation for the person’s loss or damage.

Subsection (1) applies even if, in the person’s particular circumstances, scheme compensation is not actually payable to the person because the person has failed to comply with a requirement of the compensation scheme relating to eligibility for payment.Example for subsection (2)—During a biosecurity emergency involving a virus outbreak, an infected crop is destroyed by an inspector. A compensation scheme provides for reimbursement of a crop’s owner for the crop loss in circumstances of the loss. However, the scheme requires that, to be eligible to be paid compensation under the scheme, the crop owner must make an annual payment, in the nature of a premium, to a fund established under the scheme. The crop owner has not made an annual payment by the due date for its payment. Because of that, the person is ineligible for payment under the compensation scheme and, because of the existence of the scheme, is not entitled to statutory compensation under this chapter.