Rural Brief - November 2004

Cattle at Large

The July 2004 NSW Court of Appeal case of Cargill Australia Limited v Parsons dealt with an appeal from the decision of the judge at first instance who awarded Mrs Parsons damages of $560,300.00 when she was injured after the car she was driving collided with a Santa Gertrudis steer.

Unauthorised Clearing a Costly Offence

In October, the Federal Court of Australia handed down judgement in a long standing set of proceedings concerning the clearing of native vegetation in an area classified in accordance with Australia’s international treaty obligations as a protected wetland. In these proceedings, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage ("the Minister") sought orders requiring the payment of pecuniary penalties and other relief under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) ("the EPBC Act").

Irrigators' Associations - Protecting Executive Committee Members Against Personal Liability

Irrigators’ associations are usually set up as either unincorporated associations or incorporated associations; in the latter case, in New South Wales, incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act 1984 (NSW). Their membership is usually made up of local landowners, with members’ liability proportionate to their landholdings, and with an executive committee to manage the day-to-day affairs of the association and to deal with matters of policy, subject sometimes to oversight or veto powers by the members in general meeting. Though the members’ ultimate personal liability is relatively clear, what is the liability position of those forming the executive committee? Kemp Strang has recently had occasion to consider this issue.

A Reminder on Chemical Spills

The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 provides for a number of offences in the case of spills or escape of substances that harm or are likely to harm the environment. A person is guilty of an offence if he wilfully or negligently causes any substance to leak, spill or otherwise escape where such harm to the environment occurs or could occur, and if such person is not the owner of the substance, the owner of the substance is likewise guilty.

What's Heppening with Land Valuations?

How is irrigation land being valued in areas where water sharing plans have commenced and water rights are no longer "attached" to the land. Logically, one might assume that rating will occur on the land value only, exclusive of the value of the now "detached" access licence being used on that land.