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Not black magic: practical tips for statutory interpretation How to avoid being overwhelmed by complexity

Image: Caloundra City Council

Dr Chris McGrath22 June 2019 - EDO Planning Workshop, Brisbane

5‐part lecture series

Lecture Topic

1 A quick roadmap for Queensland’s planning and other environmental laws – how everything fits together

2 Not black magic: practical tips for statutory interpretation – how to avoid being overwhelmed by complexity

3 Navigating planning schemes – a helpful overview of where to look for what you need to know in a planning scheme

4 Development assessment – understanding the various stages of development assessment

5 Practical tips for taking action to protect the environment in court – what to know about your rights to go to court on planning matters

Lecture outline

1. Our problem: can Council stop pre-emptive tree clearing at Pelican Links, Caloundra?

2. Does the proposed development comply with the law and, if not, what steps need to be taken to either: stop it; or make it comply?

• What laws regulate this activity?

How to do I interpret a statute?

• Who can take action to stop the clearing?

• How can the clearing be stopped?

3. Nb. recent decision in Fairmont Group Pty Ltd v Moreton Bay Regional Council [2019] QCA 81 (10 May 2019).

Pelican Links Golf Course

Caloundra

Bribie Island

Pelican Links Golf Course

Area pre-emptively cleared

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Masterplan GoogleEarth image

Area pre-emptively cleared

Chronology

Date Event

1996 Development approval granted for golf course, subject to conditions

1997‐1998 Golf course constructed but western section left largely undeveloped

21 May 2004 Company meets council officers to discuss clearing in undeveloped western section

10 June 2004 Council assured “no clearing would take place without Council approval”

21 July 2004 Clearing of land occurs

What happened:

“On 21 July [2004], Mr Dineen an environment compliance officer with Council received a notification from a member of the public of suspected unlawful tree clearing occurring to the west of Pelican Waters Golf Club. He went to the Golf Club at around 10:30am. When he arrived, he was approached by a Naskam security officer. He told that person who he was and that he was investigating a complaint of tree clearing. The security officer refused him permission to enter the site and he had to leave. ... 

Mr Dineen then ordered a helicopter charter and he and other Council officers overflew the site at about 2:15pm. He took photographs of what he saw. ...”

Source: Caloundra City Council v Pelican Links Pty Ltd & Anor [2004] QPEC 052 http://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2004/QPEC04‐052.pdf

Source: Caloundra City Council

Source: Caloundra City Council Source: Caloundra City Council

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Source: Caloundra City CouncilSee http://www.envlaw.com.au/pelican.htmlPhoto: Chris McGrath

Photo: Chris McGrath Lecture outline

1. Our problem: can Council stop pre-emptive tree clearing at Pelican Links, Caloundra?

2. Does the proposed development comply with the law and, if not, what steps need to be taken to either: stop it; or make it comply?

• What laws regulate this activity?

How to do I interpret a statute?

• Who can take action to stop the clearing?

• How can the clearing be stopped?

3. Nb. recent decision in Fairmont Group Pty Ltd v Moreton Bay Regional Council [2019] QCA 81 (10 May 2019).

Has a development offence been committed?

(Assume the same facts occurred this year)

To answer this question, you need tointerpret the Planning Act 2016 (Qld).

How do I interpret legislation?

2014

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To anyone without legal training the interpretation of statutes can seem like black magic. The answers seem to come from lawyers burning incense and chanting “abracadabra”.

Image source: http://maasulekhadevi.com/blackmagic.html

Lawyers can fuel this feeling of legal inadequacy and mystique, saying dismissively to a non‐lawyer, “that’s a legal matter”, and treating statutory interpretation like some secret business that outsiders cannot participate in. 

Textbooks on statutory interpretation in Australia and elsewhere and introductory law books focus on the many, technical and complex rules and decisions of appellate courts in complex cases.

This can seem like an impenetrable thicket to non‐lawyers understanding and applying the law.

Thinking that statutory interpretation is something mysterious and that only lawyers can do is, however, largely a misunderstanding of the basics of how to do it. 

A key message is this:

A central challenge you face in interpreting the law is to navigate multiple, large, overlapping Acts and related documents at the same time.

You often need to do this while:

• dealing with multiple levels of government and decision-makers; and

• bridging transitions between old and new laws and related documents (such as old and new planning schemes).

There are some basic skills that you need to do this and you will become better (and quicker) at with experience and practice.

“related documents” can include:

Statutory instruments (i.e. made under an Act):

• regulations• regional plans• planning schemes• planning scheme policies• development permits• environmental authorities• environmental protection orders (EPOs)• etc.

Non-statutory documents:

• DES / council prosecution policy• etc.

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The development approval of the Pelican Links Golf Course was subject to the following condition:

Condition A12 of 1996 approval for golf course:

No clearing of native vegetation is to occur on the subject development site without the prior written approval of Council’s Environment Branch. It will be necessary for the applicant and any subsequent owners to make a formal application (including plan) outlining reasons for clearing and identifying the impacts of such clearing.

The vast majority of legal problem solving (which principally involves statutory interpretation) requires little more than the abilities and willingness to:

1. locate and read often large documents;

2. follow cross-references within them; and

3. think logically about what they say & apply this to the facts.

You need to develop the confidence to do these things to

engage with the planning system.

Basics of 

statutory interpretation

[see handout]

Source: McGrath C (2016) “Myth drives Australian Government attack on standing & environmental ‘lawfare’” 33(1) EPLJ 3. DA data from Local Government and Planning Ministers’ Council, First National Report on Development Assessment Performance 2008/09 (Prepared by the South Australian Government, Adelaide, 2010).

Recognise that lawyers & court do not do most statutory interpretation.E.g. Development applications and planning appeals in 2008/09

Hierarchy of State and Federal courts and tribunals for environmental law in Queensland

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Photo: Jessica Shapiro

Source: McGrath C (2016) “Myth drives Australian Government attack on standing & environmental ‘lawfare’” 33(1) EPLJ 3. DA data from Local Government and Planning Ministers’ Council, First National Report on Development Assessment Performance 2008/09 (Prepared by the South Australian Government, Adelaide, 2010).

Development applications and planning appeals in 2008/09

Step 1: Find the law in force at the time relevant to your question and any related document

Qld laws: http://www.legislation.qld.gov.auCth: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Home

Locate relevant planning documents

https://planning.dsdmip.qld.gov.au/

Step 2: Skim read the Act Step 3: Interpret the relevant parts according to their plain meaning

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Has the clearing at Pelican Links Golf Course contravened a development approval? 

Condition A12 of 1996 approval for golf course:

No clearing of native vegetation is to occur on the subject development site without the prior written approval of Council’s Environment Branch. It will be necessary for the applicant and any subsequent owners to make a formal application (including plan) outlining reasons for clearing and identifying the impacts of such clearing.

Step 4 (optional): Search for court decisions applying the statute

http://www.austlii.edu.au

Recognise your limits for problems involving statutory interpretation.

Just as you wouldn’t attempt open heart surgery if you’ve only learnt first aid.

Allow for more difficult cases and, if something is unclear, recognise it in your use of the statute. 

If the problem is important to resolve conclusively (e.g. because your client risks prosecution or major costs and delay if you get it wrong), you 

should seek professional legal advice.

Has a development offence been committed?

(Assume the same facts occurred this year)

What enforcement options are available to a regulator?

(This is a matter of discretion, not strict law)

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Source: DERM Enforcement Guideline, http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/environmental_management/pdf/enforcement-guidelines.pdf ,adapted from Ayres and Braithwaite (1992)

Enforcement pyramid

>Harm >Fault>Remediation

effort

BCC prosecution policy 2016

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/laws‐permits/local‐laws/information‐

about‐local‐laws/

DES enforcement guidelines(2016)

http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/management/pdf/enforcement‐

guidelines.pdf

Responsive regulation is consistent with normal principles of environmental regulatory design

Gunningham & Grabosky (1998) Smart Regulation: Designing Environmental Policy, Oxford Socio‐Legal Studies

Stephen Dovers (2005) Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation and Evaluation, Federation Press

Three court proceedings followed the clearing:

1. A civil proceeding to restrain the clearing in the Planning & Environment Court.

2. An appeal in the Planning & Environment Court against the Council’s refusal of a development application.

3. A criminal prosecution in the Magistrates Court.

See: http://www.envlaw.com.au/pelican.html

Lessons for regulators:

These cases provide an important lesson in the quick reaction and initiative taken by officers of Caloundra City Council in acting to prevent a calculated breach of planning laws for commercial gain. 

In areas under high‐development pressure, such as the Sunshine Coast, it is important that councils are willing to take such strong action to deter development offences. Developers otherwise have an incentive to contravene the law to obtain substantial commercial profits

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Postscipt: Site in 2010(cleared in 2004)

Photo: Chris McGrath (2010)

Recent decision in Fairmont Group Pty Ltd v Moreton Bay Regional Council [2019] QCA 81 (10 May 2019) (Gotterson and McMurdo JJA; Crow J dissenting) held that a local government planning scheme can regulate vegetation clearing even if shown as Category X vegetation on a Regulated Vegetation Management Map and, therefore, exempt development at a State level under the Planning Regulation 2017 (Qld).  

10 kmBrisbane

Dispute concerned proposed clearing of 34 lots of land at Morayfield, 40km north of Brisbane, prior to applying for a Master Planned residential development.

All of the 34 lots were shown as Category X area (exempt clearing work) on Regulated Vegetation Management Maps

36 lots proposed to be cleared in 2016 application.

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Photo 1: Vegetation proposed to be cleared on Clarks Road, Morayfield

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Lecture outline

1. Our problem: can Council stop pre-emptive tree clearing at Pelican Links, Caloundra?

2. Does the proposed development comply with the law and, if not, what steps need to be taken to either: stop it; or make it comply?

• What laws regulate this activity?

How to do I interpret a statute?

• Who can take action to stop the clearing?

• How can the clearing be stopped?

3. Nb. recent decision in Fairmont Group Pty Ltd v Moreton Bay Regional Council [2019] QCA 81 (10 May 2019).

The key message of this lecture is this:

A central challenge you face in your careers as environmental professionals from the law is to navigate multiple, large, overlapping Acts and related documents at the same time.

You often need to do this while:

• dealing with multiple levels of government and decision-makers; and

• bridging transitions between old and new laws and related documents (such as old and new planning schemes).

There are some basic skills that you need to do this and you will become better (and quicker) at with experience and practice.