Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007

The Act constructs a small set of controlling legal concepts that determine how approval, regulatory rights and duties are created, assigned and enforced for the project.

• Project (s 3(1)): A defined, specific proposal by Gunns Limited for a bleached kraft pulp mill in northern Tasmania, explicitly including ancillary infrastructure for energy, water, waste, access, transport, port storage/transport and production of materials for operation. The project definition explicitly extends to "any use or development which is necessary or convenient for the implementation of the project" (s 3(1)).
• Consultant and consultant’s assessment (s 3(1); s 4): The Minister must appoint a consultant to carry out an assessment against the Schedule 1 guidelines, with express obligations to take into account changes in pulping technology since August 2004, best available technology and environmental emission limits for a mill processing both pine and eucalypt, and documents used by the Resource Planning and Development Commission in its earlier assessment (s 4(1)-(2)). The consultant must report a binary outcome (proceed or not) and, if proceed, state compliance with guidelines and recommend conditions (s 4(3)-(4)).
• Guidelines (s 3(1); Schedule 1): The "Recommended Environmental Emission Limit Guidelines for any new Bleached Eucalypt Kraft Pulp Mill in Tasmania" are incorporated by reference in s 3(1) and set out in Schedule 1. The consultant’s assessment is measured against these guidelines (s 4(1)).
• Relevant person (s 3(1)): A variable, Minister‑determined group of persons or bodies, "including a State Service Agency", who, in the Minister's opinion, would have been responsible for issuing or regulating permits, licences or approvals or regulating actions related to the project but for this Act. The Minister requests them to make recommendations on conditions and they must take the consultant’s report into account (s 6(1), (2), (3)).
• Pulp Mill Permit (s 3(1); s 6(8), s 8): The Minister prepares a permit called the Pulp Mill Permit (s 6(8)). If the consultant reports "proceed" and both Houses accept the Pulp Mill Permit by resolution within the five‑day window, the project is approved and the Permit comes into force (s 7(1)-(2); s 8(1)(a)). The Permit is the operative instrument that takes the place of other statutory permits and approvals for the project: it is to be treated as if the specific permits, licences or approvals set out in the Permit had been issued under the Acts specified (s 8(1)(c)).
• Deeming and override (s 8(1)(b)-(c); s 9(1)): The Act provides that notwithstanding any other Act, the project may proceed on the conditions specified in the Pulp Mill Permit (s 8(1)(b)). Section 9(1) goes further by declaring that provisions of any Act, planning scheme, special planning order or interim order requiring approvals, consents, prohibitions or conditions in relation to the project do not apply to the project.
• Transferability (s 10A-10C): The Permit is transferable in whole or part (s 10A(1), 10B(1)). Transfers vest rights and obligations in the transferee and transfer any permits taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) (s 10A(2), 10B(2)). The Act disapplies transfer provisions in other Acts that would otherwise regulate transfers of the underlying permits (s 10A(3), 10B(3)). There is a transferee notification duty to the Minister within 28 days (s 10C(1)), and the Minister must notify enforcement bodies (s 10C(2)).
• Enforcement and executive control (s 6(7); s 8(1)(d); s 10D): Relevant persons must identify the enforcement body responsible for each condition (s 6(7)(c)). Enforcement bodies are required to enforce the condition "to the extent of its powers" (s 8(1)(d)). The Minister may cancel, revoke or terminate a permit taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) on an enforcement body's recommendation (s 10D(1)-(2)), while preserving that enforcement body's independent powers (s 10D(3)).
• Limitation of judicial and administrative review (s 11): Third‑party appeals, judicial review under the Judicial Review Act 2000, declaratory relief and other proceedings that relate to any assessment or approval under the Act are barred, except in matters involving criminal conduct; reviews that fall within the criminal exception cannot delay issuing the Permit or its operation (s 11(1)-(4)).

These concepts operate together to centralise the decision to approve and the terms of approval in the Pulp Mill Permit, produced through a ministerial process informed by the consultant and recommendations from otherwise responsible regulators, then ratified by Parliament and insulated from ordinary administrative and judicial challenge.

The Act creates direct legal consequences for a small set of identifiable actors and consequentially affects several other groups by the change in regulatory pathways.

Directly affected:

• The person proposing the project, identified in the project definition as Gunns Limited's proposal (s 3(1)), is directly affected. The Pulp Mill Permit conditions apply to the person proposing the project; if the Permit requires the person to apply for other permits or approvals, the person must comply (s 8(2)).
• The Minister (Minister for Planning under the Administration provisions until otherwise ordered, s 12(a)) is given active decision‑making and administrative responsibilities: to appoint the consultant (s 4(1)), request recommendations from relevant persons (s 6(1)), prepare the Pulp Mill Permit incorporating recommended conditions (s 6(8)), lay the consultant’s report and the Permit before Parliament (s 6(9)), require amendment of planning schemes inconsistent with the Permit (s 10(1)), and act on recommendations to cancel or revoke permits (s 10D(1)).
• The consultant appointed by the Minister (s 3(1); s 4(1)-(4)) is empowered to produce the decisive recommendation on whether the project should proceed and to recommend conditions. The consultant’s assessment is specifically required to consider technology changes, best available technology and prior RPC documents (s 4(2)(a)-(c)).
• "Relevant persons" as defined in s 3(1) and engaged under s 6(1)-(7): these are the persons or bodies who would, in the Minister’s opinion, have been responsible for issuing permits or regulating actions related to the project save for this Act. They are obligated to take the consultant’s report into account (s 6(3)), recommend conditions, and specify how each recommended condition would normally be imposed and who would enforce it (s 6(7)). Their role is consultative but mandatory under the statutory process.
• Enforcement bodies, including State Service Agencies and other persons or bodies identified by relevant persons as responsible for enforcement of particular conditions (s 6(7)(c); s 8(1)(d)), are obliged to enforce the Permit conditions to the extent of their powers. They are entitled to make recommendations that can lead to ministerial cancellation or revocation of permits under s 10D(1).

Indirectly affected:

• Planning authorities and statutory regulators that would otherwise have issued approvals, licences or permits for the project are affected by the statutory displacement in s 9(1) and the deeming effect in s 8(1)(c), because normal regulatory pathways do not apply to the project once approved. Where the Minister amends planning schemes to remove inconsistencies (s 10(1)), planning authorities are required to be consulted but the amendment is outside the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 procedure (s 10(2)).
• Parties who might otherwise seek review or challenge decisions (neighbouring landowners, interest groups, local authorities, environmental NGOs, competitors) are affected by the limitation on appeals and judicial review (s 11(1)-(4)): they are largely precluded from appellate or judicial challenge of matters arising from the Act, except where criminal conduct is alleged (s 11(3)).
• Any prospective purchaser of the Pulp Mill Permit or parts of it are placed under a statutory duty to notify the Minister within 28 days of acquisition (s 10C(1)). Transferees acquire the Permit’s rights and obligations as vested in them by s 10A(2)/10B(2), and statutory transfer controls in other Acts do not apply to these transfers (s 10A(3), 10B(3)).

Who pays:

• The Act does not specify fees or cost recovery mechanisms. However, practical costs fall on the person proposing the project for complying with recommended conditions and for applying for any further permits required by the Permit (s 8(2)). The public purse bears the cost of consultant appointment (s 4(1)) and any administrative work by the Minister or Department (s 12), and enforcement costs will be borne by the enforcing bodies in performing their powers to the extent of those powers (s 8(1)(d)).

Who decides:

• The Minister initiates the assessment process, appoints the consultant, determines who the relevant persons are (by opinion, s 3(1)), prepares the Pulp Mill Permit, tables the documents in Parliament and executes amendment and cancellation powers (s 4(1); s 6; s 7; s 10; s 10D). The consultant makes the threshold factual/technical recommendation on proceed/not proceed and conditions (s 4(3)-(4)). Relevant persons make recommendations on conditions (s 6). Parliament decides accept/reject in a defined time window (s 7(2)).

The Act therefore centralises decision authority primarily in the Minister and the Minister‑appointed consultant, with procedural input from relevant persons and a short parliamentary ratification step.

This section sets out the statutory duties imposed on decision‑makers and proponents and the rights created by the Act.

Duties of the Minister

• Appoint a consultant to undertake the required assessment (s 4(1)).
• Request relevant persons to recommend conditions for the project (s 6(1)).
• Prepare the Pulp Mill Permit containing the substance of recommended conditions and other particulars specified in s 6(7) (s 6(8)).
• Lay the consultant’s report and the Pulp Mill Permit before each House of Parliament by no later than 31 August 2007 (s 6(9)).
• Amend any relevant planning scheme, special planning order or interim order to remove inconsistency with the Pulp Mill Permit, in consultation with the relevant planning authority, and publish notice of amendment in the Gazette (s 10(1), (3)). The amendment is outside the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 process (s 10(2)).
• On recommendation of an enforcing body, cancel, revoke or otherwise terminate a permit, licence or other approval taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) (s 10D(1)-(2)) and notify the recommending body within 28 days (s 10D(2)).

Duties of the consultant

• Assess the project against the Schedule 1 guidelines, taking into account developments in pulping technology and techniques since August 2004, best available technology and environmental emission limits for processing pine and eucalypt, and documents used by the Resource Planning and Development Commission in its earlier assessment (s 4(1)-(2)).
• Report to the Minister whether the project should proceed or not (s 4(3)).
• If recommending proceed, state whether the project complies with the guidelines, provide reasons why it should proceed and recommend matters to be considered in the conditions that should apply (s 4(4)).

Duties of the Resource Planning and Development Commission

• On the request of the consultant or the Minister, make available any documents received or prepared for the purposes of its assessment under the State Policies and Projects Act 1993 (s 5).

Duties of relevant persons

• Upon request by the Minister, undertake an assessment of conditions that should apply (s 6(2)).
• Take account of the consultant’s report in their assessment (s 6(3)).
• Make a recommendation to the Minister by the date the Minister determines (s 6(4)).
• Limit recommendations to matters that the relevant person would have been responsible for issuing or regulating if the Act had not been enacted, except that they may recommend requiring the proponent to apply for other permits if appropriate (s 6(5)-(6)).
• If recommending conditions, specify the conditions, the Act and permit/licence/approval in which each condition would normally be imposed, and the person/body/State Service Agency responsible for enforcement (s 6(7)).

Duties of the person proposing the project

• If the Pulp Mill Permit imposes a requirement to apply for other permits, licences or approvals, the person proposing the project must comply with that requirement (s 8(2)).
• If the Pulp Mill Permit or parts of it are transferred to another person, the transferee must notify the Minister within 28 days (s 10C(1)).

Rights created by the Act

• The Pulp Mill Permit, once accepted by both Houses, entitles the Permit holder to proceed with the project on the Permit’s conditions notwithstanding other Acts (s 8(1)(a)-(b)).
• The Pulp Mill Permit is formative of other statutory permits and approvals because specific permits and licences set out in the Pulp Mill Permit are to be taken to have been issued under the Acts specified, and those Acts apply as if the permits had been issued on the conditions set out in the Pulp Mill Permit (s 8(1)(c)).
• The holder of the Pulp Mill Permit may sell, assign or otherwise transfer the Permit or parts of it; on transfer, rights and obligations vest in the transferee and the associated deemed permits transfer by virtue of the Act (s 10A(1)-(2); s 10B(1)-(2)). Statutory provisions in other Acts that would otherwise regulate such transfers do not apply (s 10A(3), 10B(3)).
• Enforcement bodies are required to enforce Permit conditions to the extent of their powers (s 8(1)(d)).

Limitations and procedural constraints

• Acceptance by Parliament is required for the project to be approved (s 7(1)). Each House must accept or reject within five sitting‑days after the Permit is laid (s 7(2)).
• Appeals and judicial review are tightly constrained: the Act excludes appeals, judicial reviews, declaratory relief and other actions in respect of any matter arising out of or relating to the Act’s assessments or approvals, subject only to the criminal conduct exception (s 11(1)-(3)). Such reviews that fall within the criminal exception cannot delay the Permit or any action authorised by it (s 11(4)).

These duties and rights create a single permit as the operative authorisation for the project, place defined procedural duties on the Minister, consultant, relevant persons and enforcement bodies, and vest transfer and enforcement rights and obligations in permit holders and transferees.

The Act does not create a separate schedule of criminal penalties or prescribed fines within its text. It frames enforcement and termination powers and sets procedural obligations that have regulatory consequences.

Enforcement duties and powers

• Enforcement bodies identified by relevant persons under s 6(7)(c) are required to enforce the conditions of the Pulp Mill Permit "to the extent of its powers" (s 8(1)(d)). This links enforcement to the existing statutory powers of the specified enforcing body rather than creating new enforcement powers within this Act.
• Relevant persons must identify the Act and the particular permit, licence or other approval under which each recommended condition would normally be imposed and the body responsible for enforcement (s 6(7)(b)-(c)), which creates a mapping from Pulp Mill Permit conditions to existing enforcement regimes.
• The Minister may, on the recommendation of an enforcing body, cancel, revoke or otherwise terminate a permit, licence or other approval that is taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) (s 10D(1)). The Minister must notify the recommending body within 28 days of taking such action (s 10D(2)). Section 10D(3) preserves the right of enforcement bodies to exercise their own powers to cancel, revoke or otherwise terminate permits independently.

Consequences of enforcement mapping

• Because s 8(1)(c) deems particular permits, licences or approvals to have been issued under other Acts and those Acts "apply as if such a permit, licence or other approval had been issued" on the Permit’s conditions, the practical enforcement regime for any particular condition depends on the existing enforcement provisions in the Act specified by the relevant person (s 8(1)(c); s 6(7)(b)). Enforcement therefore continues to rely on the statutory powers, penalties and processes available under those other Acts.
• The phrase "to the extent of its powers" in s 8(1)(d) is a limiting clause: enforcing bodies must enforce but only within the scope of the powers they already possess under the Acts specified by the relevant persons. The Act therefore does not itself expand enforcement powers; it chains enforcement to existing statutory frameworks.

Absence of express civil or criminal sanctions in this Act

• The Act contains no express new criminal offences or civil penalty provisions; it instead creates obligations and delegates enforcement to bodies under their extant legislation (s 6(7); s 8(1)(d)). Any penalties applicable to breaches of conditions will therefore depend on the underlying Act and the nature of the condition as identified in the Pulp Mill Permit.

Procedural protection for the Permit and limitation of legal challenge

• Section 11 restricts recourse to appeal or judicial review for third parties in relation to any action, decision or matter arising out of or relating to assessment or approval under the Act (s 11(1)). This limitation extends to appeals to any body, orders or reviews under the Judicial Review Act 2000, declaratory judgments and "other action or proceeding" (s 11(1)(a)-(d)). The only exception is matters involving criminal conduct (s 11(3)). Furthermore, any review under that criminal exception does not operate to delay the issue of the Pulp Mill Permit or any action authorised by it (s 11(4)). These provisions reduce the risk that enforcement or approval steps will be stayed or delayed by interlocutory judicial proceedings.

Ministerial cancellation power

• The Minister’s power under s 10D(1) to cancel, revoke or terminate permits taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) on the recommendation of an enforcement body provides a centralised administrative tool to remove an underlying deemed approval. The Minister must notify the recommending enforcement body of any such action (s 10D(2)).

Transfer and enforcement interface

• Because Pulp Mill Permit rights and the associated deemed permits can be transferred in whole or in part (s 10A, 10B), enforcement must account for new holders, and transferees are obliged to notify the Minister (s 10C). The Minister must then inform enforcement bodies of the transfer (s 10C(2)). Enforcement bodies thus remain central actors post‑transfer.

In sum, enforcement under the Act is achieved by deeming specified approvals to exist under other Acts and requiring enforcement bodies to enforce conditions to the extent of their existing powers. The Act does not itself create new penal provisions; remedies and sanctions will generally flow from the existing statutory regimes to which particular conditions are mapped. The Act also centralises termination power in the Minister based on enforcement body recommendation and materially restricts third‑party procedural avenues to judicially challenge assessments or approvals, except where criminal conduct is involved.

The Act is explicitly designed to displace and interoperate with Tasmania’s existing land use planning, environmental and permitting statutes in a project‑specific way. The statutory interactions are achieved through a set of deeming, displacement and amendment mechanisms.

Deeming of other permits and licences

• Section 8(1)(c) provides that on approval the Pulp Mill Permit causes a permit, licence or other approval to be "taken to have been issued under the Act specified in the Pulp Mill Permit in relation to each condition" and that the relevant Act applies as if such a permit or approval had been issued on the conditions set out in the Pulp Mill Permit. This mechanism means that, for all intents and purposes under those specified Acts, the project will hold the permits and approvals that the Pulp Mill Permit lists, and will be subject to the conditions set out in the Pulp Mill Permit rather than the conditions that might have been applied in a usual assessment process.
• The practical consequence is that statutory duties, enforcement powers, and penalties available under the Acts specified in the Pulp Mill Permit attach to the deemed permits as the operative enforcement architecture for those conditions (s 8(1)(c); s 6(7)(b)-(c)).

Displacement of normal approvals and regulatory pathways

• Section 9(1) states that the provisions of any Act, planning scheme, special planning order or interim order that would require approvals, consents, permissions, empower a body to grant/refuse consent, prohibit a use or development, or regulate such use/development do not apply to the project. That displacement removes the normal statutory and planning instruments from governing the project where they would otherwise require or regulate approvals for the project.
• Subsection 9(2) qualifies that displacement, making it conditional on the consultant’s report recommending proceed and on parliamentary acceptance; if the consultant recommends not to proceed or a House rejects the Permit (s 9(2)), subsection 9(1) does not apply. Subsection 9(3) provides that on formal approval under s 7 the subsection ceases to apply, which appears to phase the displacement appropriately on the project's approval lifecycle.

Amendment of planning instruments outside normal process

• If Parliament accepts the Pulp Mill Permit, the Minister must, in consultation with the relevant planning authority, amend any relevant planning scheme, special planning order or interim order to remove inconsistency with the Pulp Mill Permit (s 10(1)). Section 10(2) explicitly states that the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 does not apply to an amendment made under s 10(1). The amendment is taken to have come into operation on the last day on which a House accepted the Pulp Mill Permit and must be notified in the Gazette (s 10(3)(a)-(b)). Thus statutory amendment processes under the planning Act are bypassed for these particular amendments.

Transfers and non‑application of other Acts

• Sections 10A(3) and 10B(3) state that where a permit, licence or approval is taken under s 8(1)(c) to have been issued, the provisions of an Act that would otherwise apply to transfer of that permit do not apply to transfers under s 10A/10B. This removes any transfer constraints imposed by underlying Acts and instead makes transfer governed by the Pulp Mill Permit regime and the notification duties of s 10C.

Interaction with judicial review and appeals regimes

• Section 11 displaces rights of appeal and review "notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act," including the Judicial Review Act 2000; it prohibits appeals, orders, reviews, declaratory judgments and other proceedings in relation to any action, decision, process, matter or thing arising out of or relating to any assessment or approval under this Act, save where criminal conduct is involved (s 11(1)-(3)). This removes routine administrative law avenues of challenge that would otherwise arise under general administrative law and the statutory appeal mechanisms in particular Acts.

Operational interface with enforcing Acts

• The Act does not create its own enforcement penalties; it relies on mapping conditions to powers in the Acts identified by relevant persons under s 6(7). Those Acts’ enforcement and penalty provisions therefore apply to breaches of conditions as the practical enforcement mechanism because the deemed permits are treated as having been issued under them (s 8(1)(c); s 6(7)(b)-(c)).

Temporal and retrospective application

• Section 8 contains amendments indicating non‑lapse and retrospective saving provisions for permits and approvals taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) in respect of lapsing dates (s 8(4)-(9) as amended). These provisions interact with the underlying Acts’ lapse rules by providing that the Pulp Mill Permit cannot be taken to have lapsed during a specified ten‑year period and, in some cases, treat prior lapses as not having occurred (s 8(4)-(9)). The practical effect is to preserve deemed approvals under this Act even where underlying Acts might have provided for lapse.

Administrative arrangement interactions

• Section 12 assigns administration to the Minister for Planning and the Department of Justice until administrative arrangements under the Administrative Arrangements Act 1990 are made. This determines which agency is responsible for the Act’s administration during the transitional period.

Revocation of prior instrument

• Schedule 2 revokes the State Policies and Projects (Project of State Significance) Order 2004 (No. 111 of 2004) (s 13; Schedule 2). The revocation indicates that the special order that previously declared the project of state significance is removed from the statute book by this Act’s Schedule.

In short, the Act overlays and in many respects displaces the ordinary statutory and planning approval architecture for the project by deeming permits to have been issued under other Acts, removing the application of approval provisions, enabling the Minister to amend planning instruments outside normal procedures, and constraining judicial and administrative review. Enforcement is preserved by tying conditions to the enforcement powers available under the Acts identified in the Pulp Mill Permit.

The Act text contains embedded amendment annotations that the statute itself records. The following items appear in the Act as enacted text with amendment notes:

• Section 8 amendments:

  • s 8(3) is omitted by No. 1 of 2014, s 4, applied 11 Feb 2014. The text indicates that subsection (3) was removed by that amendment (s 8(3) omitted).
  • s 8(4) was inserted by No. 65 of 2009, s 4, applied 30 Nov 2009, and substituted by No. 1 of 2014, s 4, applied 11 Feb 2014. The current s 8(4) provides that the Pulp Mill Permit lapses if the project is not substantially commenced before the end of the period of 10 years commencing on the date the Pulp Mill Permit came into force.
  • s 8(5) was inserted by No. 65 of 2009, s 4, applied 30 Nov 2009, and substituted by No. 1 of 2014, s 4, applied 11 Feb 2014. Section 8(5) supplies a saving for relevant earlier lapses, by taking the Permit not to have lapsed where it otherwise would have before the subsection commenced.
  • s 8(6) was inserted by No. 65 of 2009, s 4, applied 30 Nov 2009, and substituted by No. 1 of 2014, s 4, applied 11 Feb 2014, and provides that the Pulp Mill Permit cannot be taken to have lapsed during the period of 10 years commencing on the date the Pulp Mill Permit came into force.
  • s 8(7)-(9) were inserted by No. 1 of 2014, s 4, applied 11 Feb 2014. These subsections address how permits, licences or approvals taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) relate to lapse rules, and define "lapse" for the purposes of the section to exclude voluntary surrender and certain cancellations or revocations (s 8(9)(a)-(b)).

• Section 9 amendment:

  • s 9(3) was inserted by No. 1 of 2014, s 5, applied 11 Feb 2014. It provides that on approval of the project under s 7, s 9(1) ceases to apply.

• Sections 10A-10D insertions:

  • Sections 10A (Sale etc. of Pulp Mill Permit), 10B (Sale etc. of part of Pulp Mill Permit), 10C (Notification of sale etc. of Pulp Mill Permit) and 10D (Cancellation etc. of permit, licence or other approval) were inserted by No. 1 of 2014, s 6, applied 11 Feb 2014. These sections set out transferability of whole or part of the Permit, vesting of rights and obligations on transfer, disapplication of transfer provisions in other Acts, transferee notification duties, Ministerial notification duties, and the Minister’s power to cancel, revoke or otherwise terminate deemed permits on recommendation.

• Section 8 earlier insertion:

  • The version history notes that some subsections were inserted by No. 65 of 2009, s 4, applied 30 Nov 2009, before being later substituted by No. 1 of 2014 s 4 as noted above. The Act text therefore records a two‑stage amendment history for the ten‑year lapse provisions.

Other notable contents with date references

• Section 6(9) obliges the Minister to lay the consultant’s report and the Pulp Mill Permit before each House of Parliament by no later than 31 August 2007. That deadline is recorded in the statutory text as a timetabled obligation.

• Schedule 2 revocation is expressed in the Act as revoking the State Policies and Projects (Project of State Significance) Order 2004 (No. 111 of 2004) (s 13; Schedule 2).

These annotation notes in the Act text indicate the legislature has subsequently modified lapse, non‑lapse and transfer provisions and added ministerial cancellation and transfer‑notification mechanics. The Act as currently printed therefore includes the more recent inserted and substituted subsections noted above, and those are operative as indicated by the applied dates in the annotations.

The statute text itself contains no case citations, judicial determinations or recorded litigation history. The Act records procedural limits on judicial review and appeals: section 11 bars appeals, orders or reviews under the Judicial Review Act 2000 and other proceedings in respect of any action, decision or matter arising out of or relating to assessments or approvals under this Act, save for matters involving criminal conduct (s 11(1)-(3)). Section 11(4) further provides that any review under the criminal exception does not delay the issue of the Pulp Mill Permit or any action authorised by that permit.

Because the Act itself contains these express limitations on statutory and judicial review, the textual record limits the statutory avenues that third parties would have had available for challenging assessments or approvals created by this Act. The Act does not, within its text, provide an account of any judicial engagement with the Act or note any proceedings. Therefore, no litigation is named or cited in the Act’s text.

Practitioners seeking litigation materials should note that this Act narrows review rights in the statute itself (s 11) and maps enforcement and sanctioning to the underlying Acts specified in the Pulp Mill Permit (s 8(1)(c); s 6(7)(b)). Where a matter arises that involves alleged criminal conduct, the Act expressly preserves the availability of review or proceedings (s 11(3)), while denying such review from operating to delay the Permit (s 11(4)). Any recorded litigation history or case law interpreting or applying the Act will therefore be outside the text of the Act and must be sought in external case law databases and official court records.

This Act contains a number of structural and procedural features that have concrete practical implications; these are the commonly overlooked or counterintuitive points that arise from the text.

1. Ministerial opinion determines who counts as a "relevant person" (s 3(1) definition). The Act defines "relevant person" as a person or body that, in the opinion of the Minister, would have been responsible for issuing or regulating a permit, licence or approval for the project if the Act had not been enacted. This places broad discretion with the Minister to nominate which agencies and bodies participate in the recommendations exercise under s 6. Practitioners should treat the composition of the "relevant persons" group as a strategic ministerial decision that will determine which enforcement regimes are mapped into the Permit (s 6(7)(b)-(c)).

2. The consultant’s binary recommendation determines whether the project can proceed to parliamentary acceptance (s 4(3); s 7(1)). If the consultant reports "should not proceed," the displacement in s 9(1) does not apply (s 9(2)(a)), and the statutory approval pathway is effectively halted. The consultant’s assessment therefore carries decisive weight under the scheme (s 4(3)-(4)).

3. Short parliamentary window to accept the Permit: each House must accept or reject the Pulp Mill Permit within five sitting‑days after it is laid (s 7(2)). The five‑day rule compresses legislative scrutiny into a limited period and creates a tight timetable for any procedural parliamentary challenge or debate on the Permit.

4. The Permit displaces a broad swathe of statutory, planning and regulatory controls (s 9(1)). The Act states that any Act, planning scheme, special planning order or interim order that would otherwise require approvals, consents or permissions, empower bodies to grant/refuse consent, prohibit development or regulate such use/development "do not apply to the project" (s 9(1)). This displacement is comprehensive in scope for the project as defined (s 3(1)) and will remove most ordinary regulatory constraints on development, subject to the conditions in the Pulp Mill Permit and the enforcement machinery mapped to them.

5. Deemed permits attach to the Permit, but enforcement is limited to existing powers (s 8(1)(c), s 8(1)(d), s 6(7)(b)-(c)). The Pulp Mill Permit causes specific permits, licences or approvals to be taken to have been issued under other Acts; however, enforcement of those conditions is limited to the enforcing body’s existing powers. Practically, if an enforcement body lacks certain coercive powers under its Act, the enforcement of the Pulp Mill Permit condition will be correspondingly constrained.

6. Transferability can bypass statutory transfer constraints in other Acts (s 10A(3), 10B(3)). Transfers of the Permit or part of it are not subject to transfer controls that might apply under other Acts for underlying permits. That removes an additional layer of regulatory approval that might otherwise govern assignment of authorisations for major infrastructure.

7. Notification obligations after transfer (s 10C). Transferees must notify the Minister within 28 days of the transfer (s 10C(1)); the Minister must notify enforcement bodies within 28 days of receiving that notice (s 10C(2)). Practitioners should treat these timelines as binding administrative actions that must be observed after any transaction.

8. Ministerial cancellation power overlaps with enforcement agencies (s 10D). The Minister may cancel, revoke or otherwise terminate a permit taken to have been issued under s 8(1)(c) on the recommendation of the enforcing body (s 10D(1)). Section 10D(3) preserves the enforcing body’s ability to exercise its own termination powers. This dual track creates two formal routes to termination: enforcing body action and ministerial action on recommendation.

9. Tight limits on review and challenge (s 11). Section 11 excludes appeals, judicial review under the Judicial Review Act 2000, declaratory relief and other proceedings relating to assessment or approval under the Act, except where criminal conduct is involved. Moreover, any judicial review in the criminal exception cannot delay issuance of the Permit or any action authorised by it (s 11(4)). This can reduce the available remedies for third parties and remove interlocutory relief that would otherwise operate as a stay.

10. The Schedule 1 guidelines are incorporated as the measuring instrument for assessment but are presented in Schedule as images and tables (Schedule 1; s 3(1)). The consultant must assess compliance with these guidelines while also taking into account development in pulping technology and best available technology (s 4(2)(a)-(b)). Practically, a consultant must reconcile guideline numbers with contemporary technology standards and the documents identified in s 4(2)(c).

11. Lapse and non‑lapse provisions are detailed and amended (s 8(4)-(9)). The Permit cannot be taken to have lapsed during the ten‑year period after the Permit came into force (s 8(6)), and there are saving provisions for prior relevant lapses (s 8(5)). Practitioners must pay attention to the amended text; lapse mechanics for deemed underlying permits are linked to the Pulp Mill Permit’s own lapse and surrender or cancellation events (s 8(7)-(9)).

12. Administrative assignment pending arrangements (s 12). Until administrative arrangements under the Administrative Arrangements Act 1990 are made, the Minister for Planning and the Department of Justice administer the Act (s 12). This matters for procedural contacts and operational responsibility in the transition.

Understanding these features is essential because the Act changes who grants rights and who enforces them, shortens legislative windows, restricts judicial recourse, and allows transfer of the Permit outside ordinary statutory transfer regimes. Each of these features has practical consequences for transactional structuring, enforcement expectations and strategic litigation planning.

For practitioners advising a person proposing the project, a potential permit purchaser, or a relevant person/enforcement body, compliance under the Act is driven by the procedural steps and substantive conditions the Act requires. The following is a task‑oriented practical checklist, all rooted in the statutory text.

Steps before approval

1. Prepare for consultant assessment

   • Anticipate that the Minister will appoint a consultant to assess the project against the Schedule 1 guidelines (s 4(1), s 3(1)). Ensure project documentation is prepared to demonstrate compliance with those guidelines.
   • The consultant must consider developments in pulping technology since August 2004 and best available technology for processing both pine and eucalypt (s 4(2)(a)-(b)). Prepare technology capability statements, engineering assessments and up‑to‑date emissions modelling to show alignment with best available technology.

2. Ensure historical material is available

   • The consultant will take into account documents received or prepared for the RPC’s earlier assessment (s 4(2)(c)). Ensure all documents previously provided to the Resource Planning and Development Commission are collated and readily available. The Resource Planning and Development Commission must make these documents available on the request of the consultant or Minister (s 5).

3. Engage with relevant persons

   • Recognise that the Minister will determine, in his or her opinion, which bodies are "relevant persons" (s 3(1)). Proactively engage with statutory regulators, State Service Agencies and other bodies that are likely to be named to influence the conditions they may recommend under s 6.
   • Relevant persons will be required to specify the Act and the permit/licence/approval under which each condition would normally be imposed and the person or body responsible for enforcement (s 6(7)(b)-(c)). Provide clear documentation to enable relevant persons to map conditions to enforcement regimes.

4. Prepare to meet guideline compliance and justify deviations

   • If there are areas where the project departs from Schedule 1 limits or standards, prepare technical justification and evidence that the project nonetheless meets the consultant’s requirement to take into account best available technology and emissions expectations (s 4(2)(a)-(b); s 4(4)(a)-(c)).

Parliamentary timetable and procedural compliance

5. Anticipate lay‑up and five‑day consideration
   • The Minister must table the consultant’s report and the Pulp Mill Permit before each House by the date specified in s 6(9). After the documents are tabled, each House must accept or reject the Permit within five sitting‑days (s 7(2)). Plan stakeholder engagement and parliamentary advocacy for that compressed window.

If the Permit is accepted and comes into force

6. Implement Pulp Mill Permit conditions

   • Once the Pulp Mill Permit comes into effect, the project may proceed notwithstanding other Acts on the conditions specified (s 8(1)(a)-(b)). Carefully map each Permit condition to the underlying Act and enforcement body specified (s 6(7)(b)-(c); s 8(1)(c)) and implement compliance systems to meet the conditions.
   • Note that enforcement bodies are to enforce conditions "to the extent of its powers" (s 8(1)(d)), so identify enforcement mechanisms, reporting, monitoring and inspection obligations that will be applied by each enforcement body.

7. Apply for any required permits if the Permit mandates it

   • If the Pulp Mill Permit requires the person proposing the project to apply for other permits, the proponent must comply and make those applications (s 8(2)). Track these application obligations and integrate them into the project compliance schedule.

8. Monitor lapse and commencement timelines

   • The Pulp Mill Permit lapses if the project is not substantially commenced before the end of the 10‑year period commencing on the date the Permit came into force (s 8(4)). Ensure substantial commencement occurs within that period or plan for contingencies permitted by s 8(5)-(6) and s 8(7)-(9) as applicable.

Transfer and corporate transactions

9. If selling/transferring the Permit or part of it
   • The Pulp Mill Permit and parts of it are transferable by the