Litter Act 1973
An Act to make better provision in respect of litter
[Royal Assent 10 May 1973]
Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:
1. Short title and commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Litter Act 1973 .(2) This Act shall commence on a date to be fixed by proclamation.
[Section 2 Amended by No. 30 of 1995, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –district means a municipal area;land means ground, soil, or earth and includes fields, meadows, pastures, woods, moors, waters, marshes, heaths, orchards, gardens, beaches, highways, pavements, yards, recreation grounds, bridges, wharves, quays, piers, jetties, and moles and any buildings and structures thereon;litter includes rubbish, refuse, junk, filth, garbage, scrap, or other articles or material abandoned or unwanted by the owner or possessor thereof;municipal district means a municipal area;municipality means a council.
[Section 3 Subsection (1) amended by No. 58 of 1976, s. 2 ][Section 3 Subsection (1) amended by No. 60 of 1979, s. 4 ][Section 3 Subsection (1) amended by No. 37 of 1996, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ][Section 3 Amended by No. 5 of 1990, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ](1) [Section 3 Subsection (1) amended by No. 28 of 1976, s. 74 and Sched. 3 ]The following persons are authorized officers for the purposes of this Act:(a) all authorized officers, and council officers, within the meaning of the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 ;(b) all police officers within the meaning of the Police Regulation Act 1898 ;(c) all bailiffs of Crown lands appointed under section 11 of the Crown Lands Act 1976 ;(d) persons appointed under subsections (2) and (2A) .(1A) [Section 3 Subsection (1A) omitted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 4 ]. . . . . . . .(1B) [Section 3 Subsection (1B) omitted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 4 ]. . . . . . . .(2) [Section 3 Subsection (2) amended by No. 30 of 1995, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]A municipality may appoint persons to be authorized officers in and for its municipal district by warrant under the hand of its mayor.(2A) [Section 3 Subsection (2A) inserted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 4 ]In addition to those persons who are authorized officers by virtue of subsection (1) (a) , (b) , or (c) or of having been appointed under subsection (2) , the Secretary of the Department may, subject to subsection (2B) , appoint to be an authorized officer for the purposes of this Act any other person who, in his opinion, is sufficiently competent to carry out the duties and exercise the powers of such an officer.(2B) [Section 3 Subsection (2B) substituted by No. 29 of 1984, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]An employee, within the meaning of the Tasmanian State Service Act 1984 , shall not be appointed under subsection (2A) , except with the approval of the Head of the Agency, within the meaning of that Act, in which he is employed.(3) Every authorized officer, other than a police officer, shall, when acting in the execution of this Act, produce to any person against whom he so acts, if required by that person, and to any court or justice, evidence of his authority, which shall be in the prescribed form.(4) [Section 3 Subsection (4) inserted by No. 70 of 1980, s. 4 ]The duties and powers of an authorized officer under this Act may be performed or exercised in respect of land declared under section 4 (3) to be subject to this Act only by a person who is such an officer by virtue of his having been appointed under subsection (2) of this section.
[Section 4 Subsection (1) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ](1) [Section 4 Subsection (1) amended by No. 70 of 1980, s. 5 ]A person shall not –(a) cast litter onto;(b) place litter on;(c) leave litter cast or placed by him or by a person under his orders or control onto or on;(d) suffer litter to fall or be blown onto;(e) break any glass on; or(f) leave any glass broken by him or by a person under his orders or control on –any land not owned or occupied by him except –(g) in a place or receptacle appointed or intended therefor;(h) with the permission of the occupier of, or a person in charge of or exercising control over, the land; or(i) where at the time a charge is being made for admission to the land and that land is not at that time declared under subsection (3) to be land that is subject to this Act.Penalty: 20 penalty units.(2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1) it is declared that –(a) it is an offence thereunder to cast litter –(i) onto a highway;(ii) onto unoccupied Crown land;(iii) onto water covering land; or(iv) from a highway onto adjoining land; and(b) the principles of paragraph (a) of this subsection apply also to paragraphs (b) to (f) of subsection (1) .(3) [Section 4 Subsection (3) inserted by No. 70 of 1980, s. 5 ]A municipality, in whose district there is land in respect of which a charge for admission is to be made, may, by public notification, published in such manner as may be prescribed, declare that land to be subject to this Act for the duration of the period in respect of which that charge for admission is made, and any notification so published shall have effect accordingly.(4) [Section 4 Subsection (4) omitted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 5 ]. . . . . . . .(5) [Section 4 Subsection (5) omitted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 5 ]. . . . . . . .(6) [Section 4 Subsection (6) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ]A person who has been duly ordered to remove or deposit anything under section 6 shall not fail to comply with the order.Penalty: 5 penalty units.(7) [Section 4 Subsection (7) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ]A person who fails to give his true name and address when asked by an authorized officer so to do is liable to a penalty of 5 penalty units.(8) [Section 4 Subsection (8) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ]A driver of a vehicle from which or from something attached to which litter or glass has been cast who fails to stop when required by an authorized officer is liable to a penalty of 5 penalty units.
[Section 5 Subsection (1) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ](1) [Section 5 Subsection (1) amended by No. 60 of 1979, s. 6 ]Where there is a contravention of section 4 (1) , an authorized officer may give a notice in the prescribed form to the offender requiring him to pay –within 14 days an amount equivalent to one penalty unit by way of composition for the contravention.(a) where the authorized officer has been appointed under section 3 (2) , to the collector of the municipality that appointed him; and(b) in any other case, to a collector of revenue within the meaning of the Audit Act 1918 who is specified in the notice –(2) Subject to subsection (3) , if a composition is made as provided in subsection (1) it bars any subsequent proceedings in respect of the same contravention.(3) [Section 5 Subsection (3) amended by No. 60 of 1979, s. 6 ]A composition for the purposes of subsection (1) may be made by the offender and shall be accepted by the relevant collector at any time before a complaint of the contravention is called on for hearing, but if made –(a) after the 14 days referred to in that subsection and before the filing of the complaint shall be an amount equivalent to 1·5 penalty units; and(b) after the filing of the complaint shall be an amount equivalent to 2 penalty units.(4) For the purposes of this section –(a) a notice under subsection (1) authorizes the relevant collector to receive money tendered pursuant thereto; and(b) a person who files a complaint as mentioned in subsection (3) shall forthwith inform the relevant collector that he has done so.(5) The Minister may issue, and publish as he thinks fit, instructions as to which collectors shall be specified in what circumstances for the purposes of subsection (1) .
(1) An authorized officer who finds a person contravening section 4 (1) may order that person then and there –(a) to remove the litter or glass from the land; or(b) to deposit the litter or glass in the nearest place or receptacle on the land appointed or intended therefor.(2) [Section 6 Subsection (2) omitted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 7 ]. . . . . . . .(3) The court before which a person is convicted of a contravention of section 4 may, instead of or in addition to the penalty prescribed for the contravention, order the offender to remove the litter or glass within a specified time to a specified place and in default of so doing to pay to –as the case may require, a sum appearing to the court to be equal to the cost of removing it to a convenient place.(a) the Crown; or(b) the authority having control, or the occupier, of the land where the litter or glass is –(4) Whether or not a complaint has been made of a contravention of section 4 , the Crown, or any person on whose land (including land under his control) such a contravention has occurred, may recover upon a complaint under the Justices Act 1959 any expense to which it or he has been put in removing the litter or glass the subject of the contravention.(5) A complaint of a contravention of section 4 and a complaint for the recovery of expenses under subsection (4) may be –(a) combined in one document;(b) proceeded on by one summons; and(c) heard together.
7. Facilitation of proof of certain offences
[Section 7 Amended by No. 29 of 1984, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ][Section 7 Amended by No. 5 of 1990, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ](1) [Section 7 Subsection (1) amended by No. 90 of 1999, Sched. 1, Applied:14 Aug 2000] Where a contravention of section 4 (1) is alleged to have been committed by the driver of or a passenger in a motor vehicle as defined in the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 or by a passenger on a trailer as so defined while drawn by such a motor vehicle –(a) [Section 7 Subsection (1) amended by No. 90 of 1999, Sched. 1, Applied:14 Aug 2000] the registered operator of the motor vehicle, on demand by an authorized officer, shall give him all such information as he may require as to the identity or whereabouts of the driver of the motor vehicle at any time relevant to the charge;(b) [Section 7 Subsection (1) amended by No. 90 of 1999, Sched. 1, Applied:14 Aug 2000] if any information so required is not known to the registered operator, he shall forthwith with all reasonable diligence (proof of which shall be upon him) take steps to obtain the information and shall report to the authorized officer within 7 days, or sooner if practicable, the result of the steps so taken; and(c) on demand made to any person by an authorized officer for any information in that person's knowledge as to the identity of the driver, or as to any fact that may lead to the driver's identification, that person shall give the information to the authorized officer.(2) [Section 7 Subsection (2) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ]A person shall not fail to comply with any requirement of subsection (1) .Penalty: 5 penalty units.(3) Where a contravention has been committed as mentioned in subsection (1) the driver may be convicted of the contravention unless on proceedings taken under subsection (4) a passenger is convicted of actually committing the offence and it appears that the driver could not be charged with committing the offence under section 73 of the Justices Act 1959 .(4) A driver charged with a contravention as mentioned in subsection (3) may obtain from a justice a summons to another person to attend the hearing of the complaint and answer thereto and on the filing of the summons that other person shall be deemed to be named as a defendant in the complaint and charged therein with the offence jointly with the driver, and at the hearing the driver may show that the other person should be convicted of the offence and the driver should not.(5) [Section 7 Subsection (5) inserted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 8 ][Section 7 Subsection (5) substituted by No. 90 of 1999, Sched. 1, Applied:14 Aug 2000] In this section,registered operator has the same meaning as in the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 .(6) [Section 7 Subsection (6) inserted by No. 60 of 1979, s. 8 ][Section 7 Subsection (6) omitted by No. 90 of 1999, Sched. 1, Applied:14 Aug 2000] . . . . . . . .
8. Prosecution of offenders under other Acts
Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other Act for an offence punishable by this Act, or from being liable under any other Act to any other or higher penalty or punishment than is provided for the offence by this Act: Provided that no person shall be punished twice for the same offence.
[Section 9 Subsection (2) amended by No. 37 of 1996, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ](1) The Governor may make regulations for the purposes of this Act.(2) [Section 9 Subsection (2) amended by No. 91 of 1987, s. 2 and Sched. 1 ]The regulations may –(a) prescribe the cases and manner in which persons who –shall provide receptacles for discarded containers or documents, as the case requires;(i) sell commodities in non-returnable containers for consumption in or near the place of sale; or(ii) issue tickets or other documents to give entry to any place for admission to which a charge is made –(b) regulate the use and disposal of –(i) boxes, packets, bags, bottles, tins, and other containers;(ii) papers; and(iii) things of no use or no further use to their possessor, so that their use or disposal will not contribute to the increase of litter nor environmental harm within the meaning of the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 ;(c) prescribe uniform dress, articles of clothing, badges, or signs to be worn by any class of authorized officers, other than police officers; and(d) prescribe penalties not exceeding 4 penalty units for breaches of the regulations.(3) Nothing in subsection (2) affects the generality of subsection (1) .(4) [Section 9 Subsection (4) omitted by No. 53 of 1997, Sched. 1, Applied:26 Jun 2000] . . . . . . . .
10. Appropriation of penalties
Penalties imposed upon convictions of contraventions of this Act made upon the complaint of –shall be paid into the municipal fund of the municipality of which the complainant is an officer.(a) an authorized officer appointed under section 3 (2) ; or(b) any other officer of a municipality –
The Minister and municipalities may enter into agreements for –(a) the execution of this Act in their municipal districts;(b) the employment of staff for that purpose;(c) the better execution of other laws directed to keeping their municipal districts free from litter or similar things; and(d) purposes related to any of the foregoing paragraphs of this section.