Native Vegetation Act 1991

Where, on the application of an authorised officer, a magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the inspection of documents may provide information relevant to the administration or enforcement of this Act, the magistrate may issue a warrant authorising an authorised officer—

to require a specified person to produce documents under section 33B(1)(d);

and

to examine, copy and take extracts from those documents or to require a person to provide a copy of any of those documents under section 33B(1)(e).

Where, on the application of an authorised officer, a magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person may have committed a breach of this Act, the magistrate may issue a warrant authorising an authorised officer to take action under section 33B(1)(h).

An application for the issue of a warrant may be made either personally or by telephone.

The grounds of an application for a warrant must be verified by affidavit.

An application for the issue of a warrant may not be made by telephone unless in the opinion of the applicant a warrant is urgently required and there is insufficient time to make the application personally.

Where an application for the issue of a warrant is made by telephone, the following provisions apply:

the applicant must inform the magistrate of his or her name and identify himself or herself as an authorised officer, and the magistrate, on receiving that information, is entitled to assume, without further inquiry, that the applicant is an authorised officer; and

the applicant must inform the magistrate of the grounds on which he or she seeks the issue of the warrant; and

if it appears to the magistrate from the information furnished by the applicant that there are proper grounds for the issue of a warrant, the magistrate must inform the applicant of the facts on which he or she relies as grounds for the issue of the warrant, and must not proceed to issue the warrant unless the applicant undertakes to make an affidavit verifying those facts; and

if the applicant gives such an undertaking, the magistrate may then make out and sign a warrant, noting on the warrant the facts on which he or she relies as grounds for the issue of the warrant; and

the warrant will be taken to have been issued, and will come into force, when signed by the magistrate; and

the magistrate must inform the applicant of the terms of the warrant;

and

the applicant must, as soon as practicable after the issue of the warrant, forward to the magistrate an affidavit verifying the facts referred to in paragraph (c).

A magistrate by whom a warrant is issued must file the warrant, or a copy of the warrant, and the affidavit verifying the grounds on which the application for the warrant was made, in the ERD Court.

An authorised officer who executes a warrant must, as soon as practicable after execution of the warrant—

prepare a notice in the prescribed form containing—

his or her own name and a statement that he or she is an authorised officer under this Act; and

the name of the magistrate who issued the warrant and the date and time of its issue; and

a description of the authority conferred by the warrant; and

give the notice to the person affected by the warrant.

A warrant, if not executed at the expiration of one month from the date of its issue, then expires.