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ARTICLE · 25 APRIL 2018

Political donations under the microscope again in NSW

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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Companies must ensure they have procedures to ensure that any reportable political donations are appropriately recorded.

AustraliaCriminal Law
Christine Covington
Christine Covington
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In the recent NSW Land and Environment Court (LEC) decision of Secretary, Department of Planning and Environment v Shoalhaven Starches Pty Ltd [2018] NSWLEC 23, Justice Moore convicted and fined Shoalhaven Starches Pty Ltd (SSPL) $107,000 for failure to make disclosures of political donations made by a director and indirect shareholder of SSPL that should have been disclosed when submitting five separate Part 3A project modification applications.

The facts

In January 2009, the Minister for Planning granted an approval for a major project application (MP Approval) under the former Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) for SSPL's proposed expansion of its factory in Bomaderry.

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