301General evidentiary provisions

301 General evidentiary provisions

S. 301(1) amended by No. 23/2019 s. 95(1).

(1) If in any proceeding under this Act or the regulations or by-laws made under this Act the amount of water taken to, supplied to, delivered to, or used on, a property during any period is relevant, evidence of the amount of water recorded by a water meter as having passed through the meter to the property during that period is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that that amount of water was delivered to that property during that period.

S. 301(2) substituted by No. 23/2019 s. 95(2).

(2) Subsection (3) applies if, in any proceeding under this Act or the regulations or by-laws under this Act in which the amount of water taken to, supplied to, delivered to, or used on, a property is relevant and—

(a) as a result of a water meter having malfunctioned or having been destroyed, damaged, altered or in any way interfered with, the Authority considers that the water meter did not accurately record the amount of water taken to, supplied to, delivered to, or used on the property; or

(b) there is no accurately working meter on the property.

S. 301(3) substituted by No. 23/2019 s. 95(2).

(3) In any proceeding described in subsection (2), evidence may be given of the amount of water estimated by the Authority in accordance with section 142A and any relevant regulations, to have been taken to, supplied to or delivered to, or used on the property, during the relevant period and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the evidence is proof that that amount of water was taken to, supplied to, delivered to, or used on that property during that period.

(4) A document purporting to contain a copy of any by-law, regulation, order or notice made or issued by an Authority (whether before or after the commencement of this subsection) and purporting to be signed by an authorised person is admissible in evidence in any proceeding under this Act or the regulations or by-laws made under this Act and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof that a by-law, regulation, order or notice in the words written in that document was duly made or issued by the Authority.

(5) In any proceeding under this Act or the regulations or by-laws made under this Act the production of a copy of the Government Gazette purporting to contain a by-law, regulation, order or notice made or issued by an Authority (whether before or after the commencement of this subsection) is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that a by-law, regulation, order or notice in the words appearing in the Government Gazette was duly made or issued by the Authority.

S. 301(6) amended by No. 69/2009 s. 54(Sch. Pt 1 item 62.2).