This Act replaces the Bushfires Act. The purpose of the Act is to improve bushfire management leading to increased public safety.
The Act clarifies the role of stakeholders in bushfire management and puts in place fire management zones that define fire management planning and mitigation. Native title holders, particularly those engaging in fire management or abatement programs should be aware that they may have to comply with this Act. Native title holders should particularly be aware of the powers of a Fire Control Officer to enter land and to require a person to extinguish a fire, as well as the offences related to contravention of those powers.
For further information please see the Explanatory Statement.
Relevant provisions:
s 47 Powers in relation to bushfires
(1) Subject to section 89 , in responding to a bushfire incident, a fire control officer or fire warden has power to do anything necessary for or incidental to:
(a) controlling the bushfire; or
(b) protecting property, or the life of any person, from existing or imminent danger arising out of the bushfire.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), power conferred by that subsection includes the power:
(a) to enter any land or building and for that purpose to break open any lock, or cut any chain, on a door or gate; and
(b) to pull down, cut or remove any fence or gate; and
(c) to pull down, or destroy, any building or structure, wholly or partially; and
(d) to close any road or public place to traffic and the movement of persons; and
(e) to destroy living or dead vegetation or flammable material; and
(f) to establish, by using fire or otherwise, firebreaks, despite any other provision of this Act; and
(g) to take and use water from any source, other than water:
(i) in a tank, dam or well connected to a dwelling; and
(ii) used by a person as a supply of drinking water; and
(h) to do any other act necessary for, or incidental to, the exercise of any of the powers mentioned in this section.
s 48 Ancillary powers
(1) A fire control officer may:
(a) at any time, without warrant, enter any land:
(i) to examine a fire burning in the open air on that land or on any neighbouring land; or
(ii) to investigate the cause of a bushfire (whether during or after the bushfire); or
(iii) if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that an offence against this Act has been committed on the land – to investigate the offence; or
(b) at any time, require a person whom the officer suspects on reasonable grounds of having committed an offence against this Act:
(i) to state their full name and place of residence; and
(ii) to produce any permit held by them; or
(c) at any time, require a person who has lit, or is maintaining or using, a fire in contravention of this Act to extinguish the fire immediately, or before leaving it, as the officer considers appropriate; or
(d) at a reasonable time without warrant, enter any land to assess whether it is necessary for firebreaks to be established on, or bush or other flammable material to be removed from, the land.
(2) In conducting an investigation mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii) or (iii), the fire control officer may:
(a) carry out a search of the land; or
(b) carry out a search of any vehicle or vessel on the land; or
(c) seize anything found on the land, vehicle or vessel that the officer believes on reasonable grounds is connected with the cause of a bushfire or the commission of an offence against this Act.
(3) Before carrying out an assessment mentioned in subsection (1)(d), if there is a person on the land who is or appears to be the occupier of the land, the fire control officer must show their identity card to the person.
(4) A fire control officer may direct a fire warden to exercise a power that the fire control officer may exercise under this section.
(5) If a fire warden is directed to do a thing by a fire control officer under subsection (4), the fire warden has power to do that thing.
s 73 Offence to light fire unless authorised by permit
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person intentionally lights a fire (other than a small fire) in the open air; and
(b) the fire is:
(i) within a fire protection zone; or
(ii) within a fire danger area during a fire danger period; and
(c) the person is not authorised by a permit to light the fire and is reckless in relation to that circumstance.
Maximum penalty: 500 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years.
(2) Strict liability applies to subsection (1)(b).
(3) For this section, a person is only authorised by a permit to do a thing if any conditions set out in the permit for the doing of that thing are complied with.
s 97 Entry on Aboriginal land
(1) This section applies if:
(a) a person is empowered by this Act to enter land of which the person is not the occupier; or
(b) it is necessary or convenient for a person to enter land for the purpose of carrying out a function or duty, or exercising a power, conferred or imposed on the person by this Act.
(2) The person may enter the land despite:
(a) the land being Aboriginal land as defined in section 3 of the Aboriginal Land Act ; and
(b) the person not holding a permit under that Act to enter or remain on the land.