The SRL Act also makes amendments:
- To more clearly enable powers dealing with Crown land reserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 to also deal with land deemed to be reserved under that Act by the operation of other Acts, including the MTPF Act.
- To clarify that the project authority obtains possession of acquired land using the process in Division 5 of Part 6 of the MTPF Act. At the moment, LAC Act possession provisions also nominally apply to land acquired under the MTPF Act. The amendment removes that duplication. Amendments are also made to make clearer that the project authority can take immediate possession of underground land that has been acquired.
- To enable the project authority to transfer an easement in gross that has been obtained for project purposes to be transferred to a transport body (provided that body has the capacity to own an easement in gross) as well as a utility under section 171A. Some additional technical amendments have been made to that provision.
- To clarify and broaden the powers given to the Project Minister to deal with land no longer required for the development of the approved project (the 'surplus land' powers). The amendments clarify the intended meaning of 'surplus land'; project land may be declared surplus land if the Project Minister considers it is no longer necessary that the land be used or managed as project land under that Act. For example, once a railway is constructed on Crown land as part of a project, the surplus land powers can be used to re-reserve that land for railway purposes. The amendments also address a number of technical matters to make the Project Minister's powers with respect to surplus Crown land more effective. (ss 181-185)
- To provide that Council permissions are not required for the project, even outside the project area, but that planning permits are still required (even if the responsible authority is the Council) (s 258A).
- To provide a new set of options for effecting service of the various notices that may be required to be provided under the MTPF Act (s 264).
Updated