Cootamundra-Gundagai Council and former GM prosecuted over illegal waste facility operations

Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council pleaded guilty to violating the Protection of the Environment Operations Act for operating the Cootamundra Sewage Treatment Plant with waste from Tumblong Landfill without authority. Photo: Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council.

Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council (CGRC) and its former general manager have been prosecuted for operating a waste facility illegally.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) prosecuted the council for violating the Protection of the Environment Operations Act (POEO).

As the occupier of the Cootamundra Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), CGRC was charged with handling leachate (a potentially harmful liquid generated from landfill) waste from the Tumblong Landfill without permission.

While the council’s environment protection licence (EPL) authorised it to carry out sewage treatment processing at the STP in certain ways and under certain conditions, it did not authorise the receipt and depositing of the leachate in the pond at the STP.

In December 2022, CGRC pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined $8500.

The EPA also charged former general manager Phil McMurray with executive liability. However, he applied to the Local Court and argued that he should not be held liable under the POEO as he was not a corporation director or concerned with its management.

In 2023, Young Local Court Magistrate Don McLennan ruled in favour of Mr McMurray, stating that the special executive liability provision did not apply to him.

The EPA appealed the decision to the Land and Environment Court, but it was dismissed in February 2024.

Following the dismissal, the EPA appealed to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal and asked whether the POEO Act applied to Mr McMurray.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that Mr McMurray can be held personally liable for the council’s offences.

The court found two key pathways in which the POEO Act directly applies the special executive liability provisions to council executives, such as the general manager.

The council’s breach of the POEO Act triggers the executive liability, which holds Mr McMurray accountable.

The court said council officials were subjected to the same legal responsibilities as their corporate counterparts.

Mr McMurray resigned from CGRC as the general manager in March 2022.