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COVID-19 and Other Legislation Amendment (Regulatory Reforms) Bill 2022
UPDATE: this post was updated on 30 March 2022 to reflect the Bill’s assent on 24 March 2022. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW Government implemented a number of regulatory measures on a temporary basis. On 15 February…
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The use of evidence that may incriminate – Investigative powers under the POEO Act considered by the Court
In a recent decision of the NSW Land and Environment Court (Court), the Court considered how investigative powers under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) can be used to gather a broad range of evidence and…
UPDATE: COVID-19 Pandemic Arrangements Policy – Land and Environment Court
The Land and Environment Court of NSW (‘Court’) has updated its COVID-19 Pandemic Arrangements Policy (‘Policy’). The Policy commenced Wednesday, 1 December 2021 and replaces the previous policy made on 6 April 2021. A summary of the key changes are…
Changes to Compliance Cost Notices and Compliance Levies
On 27 October 2021, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Compliance Cost Notices) Regulation 2021 (Amendment) commenced with the purpose of simplifying compliance cost notices (CCN’s). The Amendment has been introduced as a result of council feedback that CCN’s were…
Excluded information and invalid GIPA Act applications
The objective of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (Act) is generally to maintain and advance a system of responsible government that is open and accountable and facilitates access to government information to the public. Although the Act provides…
GIPA Act and Privileged Legal Advice
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently discussed the risk of waiving privilege where the substance of legal advice is inadvertently disclosed. The proceedings arose out of an application for information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). The…
Is the GIPA application valid? The NCAT considers s41(1)(e) of the GIPA Act
The NSW Civil and Administrative Review Tribunal recently found an application made for information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) to be invalid because the application did not include sufficient information for the agency to identify the…
ALERT: Proposed Changes to NSW Privacy Laws – Release of Consultation Draft of Privacy and Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill 2021 including introduction of proposed mandatory notification of data breaches scheme
On 7 May 2021, the State Government released for public consultation a draft of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill 2021 (‘Draft Bill‘), which proposes to amend the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (‘PPIP Act‘) namely…
Reasonable searches in GIPA Act applications
A decision of the Appeal Panel of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal), changed the way that the Tribunal considers applications for review under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) where an agency finds that information…
NSW Government Finalises Regulatory Framework for Short-term Rental Accommodation
UPDATE 14 April 2021 – Following its receipt of significant feedback from key stakeholders, including local Councils, regarding the timeline for the introduction of the new regulatory framework for short-term rental accommodation discussed in this post, the State government has…
Conflicting Proposals for Reforms to the EPBC Act: Is the end of Bilateral Agreements in sight?
Reforms are proposed to the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). On 29 October 2019, the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Sussan Ley MP, commissioned the second Independent Review of the EPBC Act. Professor Graeme…
COVID-19 – Investigations via AVL
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Acts were amended to enable authorised officers and investigation officers to take evidence and answers to questions by audio link or audio visual link. Those provisions were repealed on 13 November…