Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire Mitigation)
Act 2014
No. 2 of 2014
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
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Purposes
Commencement
Principal Act
Definitions
Regulation of installation
Insertion of headings
Section 84 substituted and new sections 84A to 84D inserted
84
Requirement to keep trees clear of electric lines—
distribution companies
84A
Requirement to maintain line—occupiers of land
with private or low voltage electric lines
84B
Requirement to keep trees clear of private electric
lines—occupiers of contiguous land
84C
Requirement to keep trees clear of electric lines—
Councils
84D
Requirement to keep trees clear of electric lines—
other persons
Amendments to change references to section 84
Municipal fire prevention plans must specify procedures for
the identification of trees that are hazardous to electric lines
Repeal of section 105A
New section 112 inserted
112
Revisions that do not relate to bushfire mitigation
Submission of bushfire mitigation plans for acceptance
Accepted bushfire mitigation plan forms part of accepted
ESMS
Section 113E substituted
113E Revisions that only relate to bushfire mitigation
Repeal of amending Act
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ENDNOTES
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i
Victoria
Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire
Mitigation) Act 2014†
No. 2 of 2014
[Assented to 11 February 2014]
The Parliament of Victoria enacts:
1 Purposes
The main purposes of this Act are to amend the
Electricity Safety Act 1998—
(a) to provide that Councils which are managers
of public land are responsible for keeping
trees clear of electric lines in declared areas;
and
(b) to remove the requirement for the Roads
Corporation to keep trees clear of electric
lines; and
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Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire Mitigation) Act 2014
No. 2 of 2014
s. 2
(c) to modernise the provisions relating to
requirements to keep trees clear of electric
lines; and
(d) to reduce the frequency with which major
electricity companies are required to submit
bushfire mitigation plans.
2 Commencement
(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into
operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.
(2) If a provision of this Act does not come into
operation before 29 June 2015 it comes into
operation on that day.
3 Principal Act
See:
Act No.
25/1998.
Reprint No. 6
as at
3 November
2011
and
amending
Act Nos
59/2011,
43/2012,
22/2013 and
35/2013.
LawToday:
www.
legislation.
vic.gov.au
In this Act, the Electricity Safety Act 1998 is
called the Principal Act.
4 Definitions
In section 3 of the Principal Act—
(a) insert the following definition—
"Council has the same meaning as in the
Local Government Act 1989;";
(b) in the definition of public land, for
"municipal council" substitute "Council";
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Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire Mitigation) Act 2014
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(c) in the definition of responsible person, for
"section 84" substitute "Subdivision 1 of
Division 2 of Part 8";
(d) in the definition of urban area, in
paragraph (a), for "0·4 hectares" substitute
"0·1 hectares".
5 Regulation of installation
In section 46(1)(a)(vi) of the Principal Act, for
"municipal council" substitute "Council".
6 Insertion of headings
(1) Before section 84 of the Principal Act insert—
"Subdivision 1—Persons responsible for
maintaining lines".
(2) Before section 85 of the Principal Act insert—
"Subdivision 2—Other matters".
7 Section 84 substituted and new sections 84A to 84D
inserted
For section 84 of the Principal Act substitute—
"84 Requirement to keep trees clear of electric
lines—distribution companies
A distribution company is responsible for the
keeping of the whole or any part of a tree
clear of an electric line within its distribution
area unless under this Subdivision another
person is responsible for—
(a) the maintenance of the line; or
(b) the keeping of the whole or any part of
a tree clear of the line.
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Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire Mitigation) Act 2014
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Note
Section 3 defines maintenance in relation to an
electric line or a private electric line as including the
keeping of the whole or any part of a tree clear of the
line.
84A Requirement to maintain line—occupiers
of land with private or low voltage electric
lines
(1) An occupier of land above or below the
surface of which there is a private electric
line is responsible for the maintenance of
that line.
Note
Section 3 defines maintenance in relation to a private
electric line as including the keeping of the whole or
any part of a tree clear of the line.
(2) An occupier of land on which there is a low
voltage electric line which solely services
that land is responsible for the keeping of the
whole or any part of a tree situated on the
land clear of that line.
84B Requirement to keep trees clear of private
electric lines—occupiers of contiguous
land
(1) An occupier of land that is contiguous to
land on which there is a private electric line
is responsible for the keeping of the whole or
any part of a tree situated on the occupier's
land clear of the line.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the occupier
may enter onto the land on which there is a
private electric line and perform any acts
necessary to keep a tree clear of the line.
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84C Requirement to keep trees clear of electric
lines—Councils
A Council responsible for the management
of public land in an area of land declared
under section 81 is responsible for the
keeping of the whole or any part of a tree
situated on that land clear of an electric line
that is not a private electric line.
84D Requirement to keep trees clear of electric
lines—other persons
A person (other than a distribution company)
who owns or operates an electric line, or
installs or uses an electric line under an Act
of the Commonwealth, is responsible for the
keeping of the whole or any part of a tree
clear of the electric line.".
8 Amendments to change references to section 84
(1) In section 85(c) of the Principal Act, for "section
84(5) or (7)" substitute "section 84 or 84D".
(2) In section 86 of the Principal Act—
(a) in subsection (8), for "section 84(7)"
substitute "section 84";
(b) in subsection (8A), for "section 84(5)"
substitute "section 84D";
(c) in subsection (9)—
(i) for "section 84(4), (5) or (7)" substitute
"section 84, 84C or 84D";
(ii) for "section 84" substitute
"Subdivision 1";
(d) in subsection (9A)—
(i) for "section 84(4), 84(5) or 84(7)"
substitute "section 84, 84C or 84D";
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Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire Mitigation) Act 2014
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(ii) for "section 84" substitute
"Subdivision 1".
(3) Section 90A(2) of the Principal Act is repealed.
(4) In sections 90B(5) and 90C(2) of the Principal
Act, for "section 84(4), (5), (6) or (7)" substitute
"section 84, 84C or 84D".
9 Municipal fire prevention plans must specify
procedures for the identification of trees that are
hazardous to electric lines
In section 86B of the Principal Act, for "municipal
council" substitute "Council".
10 Repeal of section 105A
Section 105A of the Principal Act is repealed.
11 New section 112 inserted
After section 111 of the Principal Act insert—
"112 Revisions that do not relate to bushfire
mitigation
(1) This section applies if—
(a) a major electricity company is required,
or has been requested, to submit a
revised electricity safety management
scheme to Energy Safe Victoria under
section 107 or 109; and
(b) the matter giving rise to that
requirement or forming the basis of the
request does not relate to that part of
the scheme that is an accepted bushfire
mitigation plan.
Note
See also section 113D(1).
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(2) Despite anything to the contrary in this
Division or Division 2A, the company is not
required to submit to Energy Safe Victoria a
revised bushfire mitigation plan as part of the
revised electricity safety management
scheme.".
12 Submission of bushfire mitigation plans for
acceptance
(1) For section 113A(1) of the Principal Act
substitute—
"(1) A major electricity company must prepare
and submit to Energy Safe Victoria, for
acceptance under this Division, a plan for the
company's proposals for mitigation of
bushfire in relation to the company's supply
network at the end of each period of 5 years
commencing on the later of—
(a) the date when the accepted bushfire
mitigation plan is first accepted under
this Division; or
(b) the date of the most recent acceptance
of a revision of the accepted bushfire
mitigation plan submitted under this
Division.
Penalty: In the case of a natural person,
300 penalty units;
In the case of a body corporate,
1500 penalty units.".
(2) In section 113A(3) of the Principal Act, for
"a copy of" substitute "the prescribed information
about".
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13 Accepted bushfire mitigation plan forms part of
accepted ESMS
In section 113D(2) of the Principal Act, for
"sections 106, 107, 109 and 110" substitute
"sections 106 and 108".
14 Section 113E substituted
For section 113E of the Principal Act
substitute—
"113E Revisions that only relate to bushfire
mitigation
(1) This section applies if a major electricity
company is required, or has been requested,
to submit a revised bushfire mitigation plan
to Energy Safe Victoria under section 107
or 109.
Note
See also section 113D(1) and (2).
(2) Despite anything to the contrary in
Division 2 or this Division, the company is
only required to submit that revised plan.".
15 Repeal of amending Act
This Act is repealed on 29 June 2016.
Note
The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of
the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the
Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).
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Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire Mitigation) Act 2014
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Endnotes
ENDNOTES
†
Minister's second reading speech—
Legislative Assembly: 13 November 2013
Legislative Council: 12 December 2013
The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the
Electricity Safety Act 1998 in relation to the mitigation of bushfire risks
arising from electric lines and electricity networks and for other
purposes."
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