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Minster Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities v Woodley [2012] FCA 957

Country/Territory
Australia
Type of court
National - higher court
Date
Sep 4, 2012
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
Federal Court of Australia
Seat of court
Sydney
Judge
Foster
Reference number
[2012] FCA 957
Language
English
Subject
Fisheries
Abstract

Desmond Woodley as owner/director/shareholder of Venture Fishing Pty Ltd participated in commercial rock lobster fishing within the Tasman Fracture Commonwealth Marine Reserve in 2011.

Both Woodley and Venture Fishing Pty Ltd admitted to a contravention of s 354 (1)(f) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).

The Minister was seeking pecuniary penalty against Mr Woodley between $10-15,000 and $50-75,000 against Venture Pty Ltd.

Woodley and Venture plead that the penalties were too severe. The fishing vessel involved in the contravention had already been repossessed by NAB and both Venture and Woodley plead that they were ‘not in the position to pay such a large fine.’ Woodley argued that he had participated in the industry for 25 years and had always not only complied with environmental regulations but gone further than necessary (e.g. equipping his boat with a monitoring system). He argued that this proved the contravention in 2011 was unintentional and that ‘he had learnt his lesson.’

It was held that the penalties sought were towards the lower end of the possible damages the Minister could seek and that the respondent knew the protected status of the area. The high importance placed on protecting the environment as outlined in the of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) carried more significance than the other mitigating factors.

The Court ordered a penalty of $13,000 on Mr Woodley and $65,000 on Venture.

 

(Summary provided by Eva Sheppard from the Queensland University of Technology)

Full text
2012FCA0957 Woodley.pdf
2012fca0957