MONOGRAPH 40 volume 1

65 Research monograph 40 2. Findings Table 8: Proportion of fines greater than the Local Court jurisdictional limit ordered by the LEC for environmental offences (principal offence only) by jurisdictional limit of Local Court: pre- and post- Harris a 1. post- Harris (between 15 May 2014 and 28 February 2015) (n=15) Fined less than LC jurisdictional limit of $110,000 Fined more than LC jurisdictional limit of $110,000 Total b N % N % N % 13 86.7 2 13.3 15 100.0 2. pre- Harris (between 6 February 2012 and 15 May 2014) (n=57) Fined less than LC jurisdictional limit of $110,000 Fined more than LC jurisdictional limit of $110,000 Total c N % N % N % 49 89.1 6 10.9 55 100.0 3. pre- Harris (between 1 January 2000 and 6 February 2012) Fined less than LC jurisdictional limit of $22,000 Fined more than LC jurisdictional limit of $22,000 Total d N % N % N % 177 54.6 147 45.4 324 100.0 a Changes to the maximum monetary limit of the Local Court became effective on 6 February 2012. The decision date for Harris v Harrison [2014] NSWCCA 84 ( Harris ) is 15 May 2014. b In the post- Harris period, there were no principal offences which resulted in a fine plus an Additional Order of the type that the Local Court is not authorised to make under s 250(1) of the POEO Act (or similar provision). There were also no Tier 1 offences in this period that resulted in a fine. c In this period, there were no principal offences which resulted in a fine plus an Additional Order of the type that the Local Court is not authorised to make. There were two Tier 1 offences in this period which received fines; both resulted in fines of $100,000 — within the Local Court’s jurisdictional limit at that time. However, Tier 1 offences under the POEO Act cannot be dealt with by the Local Court. These offences were not included in the count of 49 or the total of 55. d Does not include 19 principal offences which resulted in a fine plus an Additional Order of the type that the Local Court is not authorised to make. There were two Tier 1 offences in this period, which received fines: one attracting a fine of $30,000 and the other a fine of $240,000 — both fines were above the Local Court’s jurisdictional limit at that time. Tier 1 offences under the POEO Act cannot be dealt with by the Local Court. These offences were not included in the count of 147 or the total of 324. Lastly, in the pre- Harris period, at the time when the Local Court’s jurisdictional limit was legislated at $22,000, the proportion of offences dealt with by the LEC which resulted in a fine amount below the Local Court’s jurisdictional limit was much lower at less than 55%. A total of 128 of the 177 offences (72.3%) in this period, which received fines of less than $22,000 were assessed by the LEC as being of “low” objective seriousness and, thus, potentially suitable for prosecution in the Local Court and the lighter maximum penalties available therein. 390 In total, across the three periods, 239 of the 394 principal environmental offences (60.7%) that resulted in a monetary penalty attracted a fine which was less than the Local Court jurisdictional limit at the time. These data suggest that, historically, as many as six in every 10 offences dealt with by the LEC could have been prosecuted in the Local Court, where lower maximum penalties and reduced cost orders apply. It is even more likely that the subset of 159 offences (40.4%) assessed as being of low objective seriousness were suitable for disposal in the Local Court rather than in the LEC in line with the CCA’s decision in Harris v Harrison . Figure 8 charts the findings presented in Table 8 . 390 The fine amounts ranged from $200 to $22,000. The average fine for these 128 offences was $10,445 (median: $10,000).