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This Act may be cited as the Contaminated Sites Act 2003.
This Act comes into operation on a day fixed by proclamation.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
act includes an omission and extends to a series of acts or omissions;
affected site means a site on which contamination is caused, or contributed to —
by contamination; or
by a substance,
which has migrated to that site from another site (the source site);
auditor means a person accredited under section 69 as a contaminated sites auditor;
binding, in relation to a notice under Part 4, has the meaning given by section 47;
CEO means the chief executive officer of the Department;
CEO of the Health Department means the chief executive officer of the department principally assisting the Minister responsible for the administration of the Health Legislation Administration Act 1984;
certificate of contamination audit means a certificate referred to in section 63;
classify, in respect of a site, means to classify the site under Part 2;
clean up notice means a notice referred to in section 50;
committee means the Contaminated Sites Committee established under section 33;
contaminated has the meaning given by section 4;
database means the contaminated sites database kept under section 19;
decision as to responsibility for remediation has the meaning given by section 35;
EP Act means the Environmental Protection Act 1986;
exemption certificate means a certificate referred to in section 65;
guidelines means the guidelines made under section 97;
hazard abatement notice means a notice referred to in section 51;
insolvent means —
in the case of a natural person — a person who is an insolvent under administration within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth; and
in the case of a body corporate — a body corporate that is a Chapter 5 body corporate within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth;
investigation notice means a notice referred to in section 49;
management plan means a plan for the investigation or remediation, or both, of a site;
mandatory auditor’s report means a report by an auditor that is required for the purposes of this Act or the EP Act;
occupier, in relation to land, means a person in occupation or control of the land, whether or not the person also owns the land;
orphan site has the meaning given by section 32(1);
owner has the meaning given by section 5;
person responsible, in respect of a site classified as contaminated — remediation required, means a person responsible for remediation of the site in accordance with Part 3;
records means the information and documents to be kept under section 20;
remediation in respect of a site that is contaminated includes —
the attempted restoration of the site to the state it was in before the contamination occurred;
the restriction, or prohibition, of access to, or use of, the site;
the removal, destruction, reduction, containment or dispersal of the substance causing the contamination, or the reduction or mitigation of the effect of the substance;
the protection of human health, the environment or any environmental value from the contamination;
site means an area of land and includes —
underground water under that land; and
surface water on that land;
source site means a site —
on which contamination; or
on which a substance,
has originated and from which it has migrated to another site (the affected site) causing, or contributing to, contamination on that other site.
A word or expression used in this Act has the same meaning as it has in the EP Act unless —
this Act gives it another meaning; or
the contrary intention appears in some other way.
[Section 3 amended: No. 40 of 2005 s. 4; No. 14 of 2025 s. 8(2).]
In this Act —
contaminated, in relation to land, water or a site, means having a substance present in or on that land, water or site at above background concentrations that presents, or has the potential to present, a risk of harm to human health, the environment or any environmental value.
However, land, water or a site, or land, water or a site of a prescribed class or description, is not contaminated where the regulations so provide.
In this Act —
owner means —
in relation to freehold land —
a holder of the freehold; and
a mortgagee in possession;
and
in relation to Crown land —
the care, control and management of which has been placed in a management body, that management body;
which is reserved, set apart or vested for, or dedicated to, the purposes of another written law, the person who is responsible for the administration of that Crown land while it is so reserved, set apart, vested or dedicated;
which comprises all, or part, of an orphan site taken in accordance with section 32(4), the Minister; and
other than land referred to in subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii), the Minister for Lands, as referred to in section 7(1) of the Land Administration Act 1997.
In this section —
Crown land and management body have the same respective meanings as in the Land Administration Act 1997.
In this Act, a reference to an owner, occupier, mortgagee or lessee of a site is a reference to each person who is an owner, occupier, mortgagee or lessee, as is relevant, of land that comprises all, or part, of the site.
This Act binds the State.
Those who generate pollution and waste should bear the cost of containment, avoidance or abatement.
The users of goods and services should pay prices based on the full life cycle costs of providing goods and services, including the use of natural resources and assets and the ultimate disposal of any wastes.
All reasonable and practicable measures should be taken to minimise the generation of waste and its discharge into the environment.
The provisions of this Act are complementary to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other law of the State.
Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), this Act is not to be construed so as to prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other enactment for an offence punishable by this Act, or from being liable under any other law of the State to any other or higher penalty or punishment than is provided for the offence by this Act.
Nothing in this section affects the operation of section 11 of the Sentencing Act 1995.
Nothing in this Act affects any right a person has at law to prevent, control or abate contamination or to obtain damages.
The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor, declare by order that all or any of the provisions of this Act specified in the order do not apply in respect of —
any specified area of the State;
any specified premises, act or thing; or
all premises, acts or things comprised in a specified class or situated in a specified area of the State,
if, in the opinion of the Minister —
it is in the general interest of the public to do so; and
no significant risk to human health, the environment or any environmental value will fail to be dealt with under this Act as a result of the order.
Before making an order the Minister —
is to consult with the Minister responsible for the administration of the Health Legislation Administration Act 1984 and, if possible, reach agreement on any proposed aspect of the order relating to human health; and
may seek comments from any public authority or any person which or who has, in the opinion of the Minister, a direct interest in the proposed subject matter of the order.
The Minister may —
specify any conditions to which the order is subject; and
require specified persons or members of specified classes of persons to comply with any condition to which the order is subject.
The Minister is to fix the day on which an order made under subsection (1) comes into operation by notice to be published in the Gazette, unless the order is disallowed under section 42(2) of the Interpretation Act 1984 as applied by subsection (12).
The day fixed under subsection (4) is to be after there is no longer any possibility of the order ceasing to have effect under section 42(2) of the Interpretation Act 1984 as applied by subsection (12).
The Minister is to cause to be published in the Gazette in which an order is published a notice, for public information, setting out reasons for the making of the order.
Despite any other provisions of this Act, an order has effect according to its tenor subject to subsection (8).
An order ceases to have effect if —
a condition to which it is subject ceases to exist or is contravened; or
it is revoked under subsection (9).
Subject to subsection (10), the Minister may, with the approval of the Governor, by order revoke an order made under subsection (1).
Before revoking an order the Minister is to publish in the Gazette, at least 14 days before the day on which the Minister revokes the order, notice of the intention to revoke the order so that persons likely to be aggrieved by that revocation may make representations in writing to the Minister.
A person must not contravene a condition to which an order is subject.
Penalty: $250 000, and a daily penalty of $50 000.
Section 42 of the Interpretation Act 1984 applies to an order as if that order were regulations within the meaning of that section, except that the reference in section 42(1) of that Act to 6 sitting days is for the purposes of this section to be construed as a reference to 9 sitting days.
Nothing in this section affects or prevents the application of section 43(8)(d) of the Interpretation Act 1984 to regulations made under this Act.
In this section —
specified means specified in the order.