Water Act 1989

A person who is aggrieved by the setting of a tariff, or the imposing of a fee under a tariff, by an Authority may, within 1 month after receipt of the demand for payment, object in writing to the Authority on any of the following grounds—

where the fee imposed under the tariff is based on valuation of the land, that the land is not rateable;

that the person is not liable for the tariff;

that the tariff was not set in accordance with an Order under section 4D(1)(a) of the Water Industry Act 1994 or in accordance with the Essential Services Commission Act 2001;

that the Authority did not give the required notice that the property is a serviced property;

that the fee imposed by the Authority is not a correct application of the tariff as set.

An Authority must, within 2 months after receipt of an objection from a person, notify the person of its decision on the objection.

If an Authority has not notified the person of its decision within 2 months after the objection was made, the Authority must be taken to have notified the person of its decision to overrule the objection at the expiry of the 2 month period.

A person who has objected may apply to the Tribunal for review of the Authority's decision on the objection on any of the grounds specified in subsection (1).

An application for review must be made within 28 days after the later of—

the day on which the decision is made;

if, under the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998, the person requests a statement of reasons for the decision, the day on which the statement of reasons is given to the person or the person is informed under section 46(5) of that Act that a statement of reasons will not be given.

An objection does not prevent the recovery of any fee or interest due under a tariff.

A person who objects to—

the calculation or application of a valuation equalisation factor; or

the fixing of different fees imposed under a tariff under section 259(5) that are based on valuation—

The provisions of Division 4 of Part III of the Valuation of Land Act 1960, with such modifications as are necessary, apply to an application under subsection (6).

If a tariff is quashed by the Tribunal under this section, the Authority may—

set a new tariff for the particular year, even if the year has ended; and

retain any amount paid to it by a person in respect of that tariff on account of any amount payable by that person in respect of the next effective tariff set.