Queensland Consolidated Acts Queensland Consolidated Acts(1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this Act shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
(1A) Every person who attempts, aids, abets, counsels, or procures, or is in any way knowingly concerned in, the commission of an offence against this Act shall be deemed to have committed that offence, and shall be punishable accordingly.
(1B) Where by this Act any authority is given to any person to direct anything to be done or to forbid anything to be done and anything so directed to be done is not done or anything so forbidden to be done is done, then every person who has offended against such direction or, as the case may be, prohibition shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
General penalty
(2) A person guilty of an offence against any provision of this Act is liable, if no specific penalty is provided for the offence, to a penalty of—
(a) for a first offence—100 penalty units; and
(b) for a second or subsequent offence against the same section or that is similar to the first or a previous offence—200 penalty units.
Loss or damage
(2A) Any person guilty of an offence against any provisions of this Act relating to State forests or timber reserves, or any forest products or quarry material the property of the Crown or a plantation licensee or plantation sublicensee, shall, in every case, be liable for all loss and all damage caused by that offence, in addition to the penalty for the offence, and such loss and damage may be awarded by the court in fixing the penalty, and may be recovered in the same way as a pecuniary penalty.
(2B) For the purposes of subsection (2A), the loss and damage caused by the offender shall include the value of the forest products or quarry material in respect of which the offence was committed, and also the value of the damage to the forest including any works or improvements thereon caused by the offence.
(2C) However, all such loss and damage may be recovered by the State or, to the extent the loss or damage related to a licence area or natural resource product and quarry material in which the plantation licensee or a plantation sublicensee has an interest, the plantation licensee or plantation sublicensee by action as for a debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(2D) Furthermore the value of any tree in relation to which the offence was committed, shall be taken to be the sale price ordinarily obtainable on the sale of the tree then and there standing.
(2E) Where a person is convicted of an offence in respect of unauthorised interference with forest products on land reserved or dedicated for public purposes under the control of a local government (including any road save a State controlled road within the meaning of the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994, chapter 6), the court pronouncing the conviction may, if it is satisfied that the local government in which control of the land is vested is willing to undertake the work, in addition to imposing a penalty upon that person, order the person to pay to the chief executive a sum by way of compensation to cover the cost of—
(a) clearing from the land debris caused by the offence;
(b) replacing trees destroyed by that person and tending trees so replaced for a period of 12 months.
(2F) The chief executive shall remit to the local government concerned moneys received by the chief executive by way of compensation pursuant to subsection (2E) and that local government shall use those moneys for the purposes for which they were ordered to be paid.
Penalties to be in addition to fines under licences or permits
(2G) Penalties imposed for offences against this Act shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any penalty or fine (pecuniary or otherwise) imposed by or under any agreement, contract, lease, permit, or licence or other authority under this Act.
(2H) Any penalty or punishment to which the person committed may be liable under this Act upon the person's conviction shall be in addition to any forfeiture under this Act.
Summary proceeding
(3) All offences against this Act may be prosecuted and all amounts of fees, royalties, stumpages, charges, or other moneys payable under this Act and not paid may be recovered in a summary way under the Justices Act 1886 on complaint by—
(a) if the offence happened in, or related to, a licence area—a plantation officer; or
(b) generally—any forest officer or any other person authorised for the purpose either generally, or in the particular case, by the chief executive.
Time for commencement of prosecutions
(4) A prosecution for an offence against this Act may be instituted at any time within 12 months after the commission of the offence or within 6 months after the commission of the offence comes to the knowledge of the complainant, whichever is the later period.