27Emergency, urgent and temporary actions

27 Emergency, urgent and temporary actions

27 Emergency, urgent and temporary actions

(1) If the Chief Executive reasonably believes that—

(a) subsidence damage to the surface of land may cause danger to a member of the public, the Chief Executive may take the following actions to eliminate or minimise the danger—

(i) for subsidence damage caused by an active coal mine—direct the proprietor of the coal mine to fill in or fence off the land or take other necessary action,

(ii) fill in or fence off the land or take other necessary action,

(iii) direct persons to evacuate the land,

(iv) arrange temporary accommodation for persons evacuated from the land, and

(b) improvements or goods have experienced subsidence damage and urgent repairs are required to ensure the continued use of the improvement, the Chief Executive may—

(i) for subsidence damage caused by an active coal mine—direct the proprietor of the coal mine to carry out urgent repairs, or

(ii) for subsidence damage caused by a non-active coal mine—carry out urgent repairs, and

(c) improvements or goods have experienced subsidence damage and further subsidence is likely to occur, the Chief Executive may—

(i) for subsidence damage caused by an active coal mine—direct the proprietor of the coal mine to carry out temporary repairs, or

(ii) for subsidence damage caused by a non-active coal mine—carry out temporary repairs and defer payments for claims for subsidence damage to the improvements or goods until the Chief Executive is satisfied that the subsidence has settled or is unlikely to recur within a reasonable period.

(2) The proprietor of the coal mine must comply with a direction under this section.

Maximum penalty—

(a) in the case of an individual—2,365 penalty units, or

(b) in the case of a corporation—11,820 penalty units.

Note.

Under section 380A of the Mining Act 1992, decision-makers may take contraventions of this Act into consideration in determining whether a person is a fit and proper person under that Act.