The FMCU and its partner agencies undertake compliance monitoring Overall, permit monitoring undertaken by GBRMPA has been

ANAO Report No.3 2015–16 Regulation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Permits and Approvals 107

7. Responding to Non-compliance

This chapter examines the arrangements established by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to respond to non-compliance with permit conditions, including the frameworks and systems underpinning enforcement. Introduction

7.1 The conditions attached to GBRMP permits are considered necessary by

GBRMPA to manage the risks to the Marine Park posed by the permitted activities. Therefore, ongoing compliance with these conditions requires effective monitoring, with potential or identified non-compliance by permit holders investigated and appropriate enforcement action taken, where necessary. To assess the arrangements established to respond to identified non-compliance, the ANAO examined GBRMPA’s: • enforcement framework; • recording of non-compliance allegations and incidents; and • conduct and outcomes of non-compliance investigations. Enforcement framework

7.2 In mid-late 2013, GBRMPA began developing a compliance management

policy and strategy to outline its approach to, and the principles that guide, its compliance and enforcement activities. The latest draft of the compliance management policy dated March 2014 119 outlines, among other things, the range of compliance and enforcement measures available to GBRMPA, including: • education, information and awareness measures; • administrative measures including cautions, warnings, orders, and the variationsuspensionrevocation of permits; 119 GBRMPA informed the ANAO in May 2015 that the draft policy is expected to receive GBRMPA Board endorsement in the first quarter on 2015–16. ANAO Report No.3 2015–16 Regulation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Permits and Approvals 108 • civil remedies including fines through infringement notices ranging from one to 12 penalty units 120 ; and • criminal penalties a maximum of three years jail andor a fine of 2000 penalty units—for matters related to permit breaches. 7.3 GBRMPA’s broad strategies to address the range of non‐compliance are illustrated in Figure 7.1. Figure 7.1: Graduated range of enforcement responses Incr easi ng l e ve l o f non -com p liance Source: GBRMPA Compliance Management Strategy draft.

7.4 While

the overall compliance management policy and strategy remain in draft form, the GBRMPA Chair approved a compliance management policy statement for public release in January 2014—Policy Statement for Compliance Management in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The policy statement is designed to provide stakeholders and users of the Marine Park with an understanding of GBRMPA’s approach to the management of compliance in relation to both permitted activities and activities not subject to a permit. However, as at June 2015, this policy statement had yet to be released. 120 Commonwealth legislation generally specifies fines for offences as ‘penalty units’ rather than a dollar amount. This allows the Government to increase fines through amending one piece of legislation the Crimes Act 1914. Since December 2012, one penalty unit has equated to 170.