ACT Courts Must Use Expert Reports to Judge Executives in Environmental Crimes, and Property Sellers Must Prove They Prevented Offences

Statute Law Amendment Bill 2025

6 Nov 2025: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

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Topics

biosecurity corporate accountability corporate governance court procedures criminal justice cyber security cybercrime environmental protection executive liability fisheries management healthcare heritage protection human rights real estate residential property +10 more

Introduced by: The Hon Tara Cheyne MLA (ALP) — Attorney-General, Minister , Minister for City and Government Services, Minister for Human Rights, Minister for the Night-Time Economy

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

Courts must consider specific compliance actions when deciding if an executive officer took reasonable steps to prevent offences under the Heritage and Environment Protection Acts.
When deciding if a company executive took reasonable steps to prevent a crime, courts must now consider if the executive: - had professional assessments done regularly - followed the recommendations from those assessments - ensured employees, agents, and contractors knew their obligations. This applies to crimes under the Assisted Reproductive Technology, Biosecurity, and Fisheries acts.
Defendants in residential property sale disputes carry the burden of proving they met specific legal requirements.
The law defines impairment of electronic communication as preventing communication or damaging a network; it excludes the mere interception of messages.
Under the Human Rights Commission Act, the law now refers to 'any employee or agent of the occupier' rather than 'his or her employees and agents'.
For crimes under the Environment Protection and Heritage acts, courts must consider what an executive did once they became aware that a crime was happening or might happen. This helps the court decide if the executive took reasonable steps to prevent the crime.
In cases involving the sale of residential property, the person accused of a crime must provide the evidence to show they took reasonable steps to prevent the offence.

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Tara Cheyne ALP

“I move: That this bill be agreed to in principle. TheStatuteLaw Amendment Bill 2025 makes statutelawrevisionamendments toACT legislation under guidelines for the technical amendments program approved by the government. They are minor and uncontroversial amendments.”

Official source →

Jeremy Hanson LIB

“The Canberra Liberals will be supporting this bill. It is an omnibus bill and it contains a number of minor and technical amendments.”

Official source →

Shane Rattenbury GRN

“This might be the largest piece of legislation that we pass this term, even if the content is entirely uncontroversial. The Attorney-General has already described at length in her introductory speech what it does, and I do not need to repeat it all.”

Official source →