44Use of air conditioners on residential premises

44 Use of air conditioners on residential premises

44 Use of air conditioners on residential premises

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if—

(a) the person causes or permits an air conditioner to be used on residential premises in a way that emits noise that can be heard within a residential room of another residential premises, whether or not a door or window to the residential room is open, and

(b) the noise occurs—

(i) on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday—before 8am or after 11pm, or

(ii) otherwise—before 7am or after 11pm, and

(c) within 10 days of the noise occurring, the person is warned by an authorised officer or enforcement officer not to cause or permit an air conditioner to be used on residential premises in the way specified in paragraphs (a) and (b), and

(d) the person again causes or permits an air conditioner to be used on residential premises in that way within 40 days after the warning has been given.

Maximum penalty—

(a) for an individual—50 penalty units, or

(b) for a corporation—100 penalty units.

(2) A person is not guilty of an offence under this section if the person causes or permits an air conditioner to be used on residential premises during an extreme or severe heatwave.

(3) For subsection (2), an air conditioner is used on residential premises during an extreme or severe heatwave if—

(a) the Bureau of Meteorology’s website has issued a heatwave warning for the weather district in which the residential premises are located, and

(b) the heatwave warning was in force when the air conditioner was in use, and

(c) the heatwave warning is classified by the Bureau of Meteorology as a severe heatwave or extreme heatwave.

(4) In this section—

Bureau of Meteorology means the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology established under the Meteorology Act 1955 of the Commonwealth, section 5.