What it does
The Surveying and Spatial Information Act 2002 (the Act) performs five core functions. First, it establishes a closed profession for land and mining surveyors. Only individuals registered under Part 3 may carry out a “land survey” or “mining survey” for fee or reward or advertise willingness to do so (ss 21 and 22). A land survey is defined in s 3(1) as any survey connected with reservation or dedication of land, creation or transfer of interests in land, preparation of plans for lodgment under Division 3 of Part 23 of the Conveyancing Act 1919, preparation of documents under the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015, or identification or marking of boundaries. A mining survey is a survey carried out for the purposes of the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Act 2013.
Second, the Act creates and maintains the State cadastre and the State control survey. Section 4(1) requires establishment of a State control survey; the Surveyor-General is empowered to carry out surveys, place permanent survey marks and adjust public surveys for consistency (ss 4, 8). The Surveyor-General must keep a register of public surveys (s 7) that is available to the public on payment of prescribed fees. Since 2006 the register must also include compatible details of electoral district boundaries determined under the Electoral Act 2017 (s 9C).
Third, the Act imposes uniform technical standards. Every survey carried out by the Surveyor-General or a public authority must, subject to the regulations, be referenced to the Geocentric Datum of Australia with elevations by reference to the Australian Height Datum and otherwise comply with regulatory requirements (ss 4(3), 5). The regulations may prescribe the form of survey marks, permanent survey marks, survey plans and the practices to be followed (s 36(2)).