{"id":"government-agreements-act-1979","name":"Government Agreements Act 1979","slug":"government-agreements-act-1979","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":30593,"registerId":"wa-government-agreements-act-1979-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Government Agreements Act 1979","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nGovernment Agreements Act 1979\n\nWestern Australia\n\nGovernment Agreements Act 1979\n\nContents\n\n1. Citation 1\n\n2. Interpretation 1\n\n3. Operation and effect of Government agreements 2\n\n4. Offences 2\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 4\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nGovernment Agreements Act 1979\n\nAn Act in respect of Government agreements and for related purposes.\n\n##### 1. Citation\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Government Agreements Act 1979* 1.\n\n##### 2. Interpretation\n\nIn this Act —\n\n  Government agreement means —\n\n(a) an agreement scheduled to, incorporated in, or appearing in, an Act the administration of which is for the time being committed by the Governor to, or approved by the Governor to be placed under the control of, the Minister, and any other agreement scheduled to, incorporated in, or appearing in, an Act and declared by proclamation to be a Government agreement for the purposes of this Act,\n\nand includes —\n\n(b) any variation of that agreement —\n\n(i) which is or has been entered into pursuant to that agreement; or\n\n(ii) the signing or implementation, or both, of which has been ratified, approved, or authorised by Parliament;\n\nand\n\n(c) any document or instrument, including any grant, lease, licence, permit, approval, authorisation, right, concession, or exemption, or any other thing made, executed, issued, or obtained for the purposes of that agreement or its implementation;\n\n  subject land means —\n\n(a) land that is set aside, or is being used, for the purposes of or incidental to implementing a Government agreement; or\n\n(b) land where activity is being, or is about to be, carried on pursuant to, or for the purposes of or incidental to implementing, a Government agreement.\n\n[Section 2 amended: No. 30 of 1990 s. 4.]\n\n##### 3. Operation and effect of Government agreements\n\nFor the removal of doubt, it is hereby expressly declared that —\n\n(a) each provision of a Government agreement shall operate and take effect, and shall be deemed to have operated and taken effect from its inception, according to its terms notwithstanding any other Act or law; and\n\n(b) any purported modification of any other Act or law contained, or provided for, in such a provision shall operate and take effect so as to modify that other Act or law for the purposes of the Government agreement, and shall be deemed to have so operated and taken effect from its inception, according to its terms notwithstanding any other Act or law.\n\n##### 4. Offences\n\n(1) A person shall not without lawful authority remain on any subject land after being warned to leave it by —\n\n(a) the owner or occupier, or a person authorised by or on behalf of the owner or occupier, of that subject land; or\n\n(b) a member of the Police Force.\n\nPenalty: $5 000 or 12 months’ imprisonment.\n\n(2) A person shall not without lawful authority prevent, obstruct, or hinder any activity which is being, or is about to be, carried on pursuant to, or for the purposes of or incidental to implementing, a Government agreement, or attempt to do so.\n\nPenalty: $5 000 or 12 months’ imprisonment.\n\n(3) For the purposes of any proceedings for an offence under this Act an averment in the prosecution notice —\n\n(a) that an agreement is scheduled to, incorporated in, or appearing in, an Act the administration of which is for the time being committed by the Governor to, or approved by the Governor to be placed under the control of, the Minister; or\n\n(b) that an agreement is scheduled to, incorporated in, or appearing in, an Act and declared by proclamation to be a Government agreement for the purposes of this Act,\n\nshall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to be proved.\n\n[Section 4 amended: No. 30 of 1990 s. 5; No. 84 of 2004 s. 80.]\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Government Agreements Act 1979* and includes the amendments made by the other written law referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about any reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | | **Number and year** | | **Assent** | **Commencement** | |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Government Agreements Act 1979* | | 112 of 1979 | | 21 Dec 1979 | 21 Dec 1979 | |\n| *Government Agreements Amendment Act 1990* | | 30 of 1990 | | 9 Oct 1990 | 5 Jul 1991 (see s. 2 and *Gazette* 5 Jul 1991 p. 3317) | |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Government Agreements Act 1979* as at 22 Aug 2003** (includes amendments listed above) | | | | | | |\n| *Criminal Procedure and Appeals (Consequential and Other Provisions) Act 2004* s. 80 | 84 of 2004 | | 16 Dec 2004 | | | 2 May 2005 (see s. 2 and *Gazette* 31 Dec 2004 p. 7129 (correction in *Gazette* 7 Jan 2005 p. 53)) |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nGovernment agreement 2\n\nsubject land 2\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Unable to assess scope — no legislative content was provided. The submission contains only a website error message and an Acknowledgement of Country, neither of which constitute legislative text."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative text was retrievable — the URL returned a system error/redirect page rather than actual legislation","Impossible to assess legal complexity without content","Score of 1 reflects absence of data, not simplicity of the underlying Act"],"plain_english_summary":"**No legislation content could be retrieved.**\n\nThe link provided for the *Government Agreements Act 1979* (Western Australia) returned an error page — the content is no longer available at that URL due to system upgrades on the Western Australian legislation website.\n\n**What this means for you:** No meaningful legal analysis can be performed on the basis of this submission. To access the actual text of this Act, try:\n- Visiting the [Parliamentary Counsel's Office website](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au) and searching for the Act by name\n- Contacting the Parliamentary Counsel's Office Helpdesk directly\n- Searching via the State Law Publisher of Western Australia"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The compiled text shows amendments to the Act after its original 1979 enactment. Section 2 (definitions) was amended by No. 30 of 1990 (s.4) and section 4 (offences/evidence) was amended by No. 30 of 1990 (s.5) and No. 84 of 2004 (s.80), as recorded in the compilation notes. Those amendments altered the Act’s definitional and offence/evidentiary provisions in the published version, so the current scope differs from the original 1979 text in those respects (see compilation table and notes)."},"complexity_factors":["Broad and inclusive definition of \"Government agreement\" that covers agreements appearing in Acts, proclamations, variations and associated documents/instruments (s2).","A statutory primacy rule that makes agreement provisions operate \"notwithstanding any other Act or law\" and deems certain modifications to have effect from inception (s3), creating potential conflicts with other legislative regimes.","Criminal offences tied to land‑use and activity‑interference with fixed penalties and imprisonment (s4(1)–(2)).","An evidentiary presumption in prosecutions that an agreement is a Government agreement unless proved otherwise (s4(3)), which affects prosecutorial burden and defence strategy.","Multiple decision points and actors (Governor, Minister, Parliament, owner/occupier, police, proclamations) that determine scope and enforcement (s2; s4(1)).","Potential cross‑statutory interaction and interpretive issues where agreements purport to modify other Acts (s3)."],"plain_english_summary":"This law defines “Government agreements” and “subject land,” gives such agreements legal primacy over other laws for their operative purposes, and creates criminal offences for remaining on subject land after a warning or obstructing activities that implement an agreement. It chiefly benefits parties to designated agreements by ensuring their terms operate as written, and affects people on subject land — who face immediate removal and criminal penalties — while vesting designation and ratification powers in executive and parliamentary actors."},"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"source":"grok-batch-everything"},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation has not grown significantly beyond its original 1979 purpose of providing certainty to Government agreements (particularly resources and development contracts) by confirming their overriding effect and protecting related land and activities from interference. Amendments in 1990 and 2004 refined the definition, updated offence procedures and aligned with new criminal procedure rules without altering the core scope."},"complexity_factors":["Broad and multi-layered definition of 'Government agreement' that incorporates agreements scheduled to or appearing in other Acts, proclamations, variations ratified by Parliament, and any ancillary grants, leases, licences or approvals","Retroactive deeming provisions in s. 3 that apply 'from its inception' and override 'any other Act or law'","Evidentiary aids in s. 4(3) that shift the burden via averments in prosecution notices, requiring proof to the contrary","Cross-referencing to administration of other Acts by the Governor and Minister, plus historical amendments expanding the definition and updating penalties"],"plain_english_summary":"**The Government Agreements Act 1979** (Western Australia) gives legal certainty to special deals the State Government makes, usually for major projects like mining, infrastructure or resources development.\n\nIt defines a **Government agreement** as any deal listed in, attached to, or mentioned in a law that is managed by a particular Minister, plus any changes to that deal approved by Parliament, and all related paperwork such as leases, permits or approvals needed to carry it out. The Act declares that every part of these agreements is valid and works exactly as written, even if it conflicts with other Western Australian laws. It also states that if the agreement says it changes another law, that change actually takes effect for the purposes of the agreement.\n\nThe law creates two criminal offences to protect project land and activities: (1) staying on 'subject land' (land being used for the project) after being told to leave by the owner, occupier, their representative or police; and (2) blocking, obstructing or hindering work connected to the agreement. Both carry a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine or 12 months’ imprisonment.\n\nIn court, certain statements by prosecutors about whether an agreement qualifies are automatically accepted as true unless the defendant proves otherwise. The Act matters because it shields major government-backed projects from legal challenges based on conflicting rules, giving companies and the State confidence to invest and proceed."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/government-agreements-act-1979","history":"/api/acts/government-agreements-act-1979/history","analysis":"/api/acts/government-agreements-act-1979/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/government-agreements-act-1979/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/government-agreements-act-1979/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/government-agreements-act-1979/documents"}}