The requirement for certainty and specificity in building orders and direction notices

A Closure Notice issued by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation was found invalid due to it failing to state, with sufficient specificity, what the recipient of the notice was required to do. For local governments who issue Direction Notices pursuant to s.214 of the Planning and Development Act 2005, or Building Orders pursuant to s.110 of the Building Act 2011, this has potential ramifications.

In Bio-Organics Pty Ltd v The Chief Executive Officer, Department of Water and Environment Regulations [2018] WASC 236, the critical question was whether the Notice issued met the degree of clarity and certainty of expression required for a thing to be 'specified in the closure notice', as required by s.68A(7) and (8) of the Environmental Protection Act 1986.