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FACT SHEET
Valuation of Land Amendment Bill 2016
This Bill will clarify and simplify the operation of two aspects of the Valuation of Land Act 2001.
The first amendment will clarify that the Valuer-General has limited authority to exclude land
from a Valuation Roll. This clarification is required because there is an alternate view, that the
current authority in the Act is so broad that it would permit the Valuer-General to exempt
extensive parcels of Crown land.
The original intention of the Act was for the Valuer-General to only have authority to exclude
minor parcels of non-reserved Crown land, where it is not practical or sensible to value the
land.
This amendment is separate to issues associated with the High Court decision regarding the
West Coast Council vs Valuer-General (the marine farm case) – where the issue was that the
Valuer-General’s powers in section 11(1A) appeared broad enough to permit exemption of
large areas of non-reserved Crown land such as Macquarie Harbour.
Issues regarding rating of marine leases and licences over Crown reserves associated with the
marine farm case are outside the scope of this amendment. The amendments contained in this
Bill simply better define the Valuer-General’s authority to exempt minor areas of non-reserved
Crown Land where it is not practical or sensible to value the land.
The second important component of this Bill clarifies a formal review process for property
owners who are not satisfied with their property valuations by excluding Part 5 of the Act
being subject to the provisions of the Judicial Review Act 2000.
Under Part 5 of the Act a property owner may within 60 days of receiving a Notice of Valuation
may lodge an objection with the Valuer-General for a formal review. If the property owner is
then not satisfied with the outcome of the review of their objection, they may refer the matter
to the Land Valuation Court (part of the Magistrates Court - Administrative Appeals Division).
This review process has been in place for at least 20 years and is clear and straight forward.
However the Judicial Review Act 2000 also provides an alternative mechanism to seek a review
of a decision maker through the Magistrates Courts. Part 5 of the Act has not been specifically
excluded from the provisions of the Judicial Review Act, which was recently used as a
mechanism to seek redress through the Courts against a valuation objection.
The amendment in this Bill reflects the original intent that Part 5 of the Act is used as the sole
mechanism for objections and reviews of land valuations. Having another legislative pathway for
objections is unnecessary and only duplicates legislation, and in the specific case highlighted
caused delays and confusion in resolving the property owner’s objection.