49Emergency declarations

49 Emergency declarations

(1)  In this section –

State law means a law of the State, or a council by-law, relating to the State's physical environment.

(2)  The Minister may, by emergency declaration, declare that a State law, other than the Emergency Management Act 2006 , is of no effect to such extent, either as to scope or area, or both, and for such period, not exceeding 14 days, as is specified in the declaration if the Minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that –

(a) a maritime casualty, or other incident, involving the actual or potential marine pollutant spill into State waters has occurred, or is reasonably likely to occur; and

(b) the incident, by its nature or magnitude, constitutes a grave and imminent threat to –

(i) State waters, the coastline or another part of the State's physical environment; or

(ii) the related interests of the State; and

(c) urgent action must be taken to deal with the incident; and

(d) the State law is inconsistent with, or would impede, the taking of that action.

(3)  The Minister is not required to engage in consultation about the emergency declaration.

(4)  An emergency declaration made under subsection (2)  –

(a) takes effect on the day on which it is made by the Minister, unless another day is specified for this purpose in the declaration; and

(b) must identify the incident and describe the nature of the emergency; and

(c) is to be published in the Gazette; and

(d) may be published in such other ways as the Minister sees fit; and

(e) expires 14 days after it is made unless sooner revoked by the Minister.

(5)  The Minister must revoke the emergency declaration before its expiry if the Minister is satisfied that the emergency has passed, or abated to such an extent that the declaration is no longer warranted.