Record $60,000 Individual Fine at Heidelberg Magistrates Court Signals a New Era of Personal Liability Under Victoria’s Environment Protection Act 2017
Overview
On 21 July 2023, the Heidelberg Magistrates Court handed down what is believed to be the highest fine ever imposed on an individual under the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic). Landowner Joseph Chetcuti was fined $60,000 with a conviction and ordered to pay $12,000 in legal costs following the discovery of an unlicensed waste-dumping and burning operation at his 19,000 square metre property at Black Gully Road, Diamond Creek, in Melbourne’s outer northeast. The court also issued a mandatory clean-up order requiring Chetcuti to remediate the site, a process EPA Victoria expects will cost well over $1 million.
The case came to light following a fire at the property in May 2022. Emergency services attending the blaze alerted EPA Victoria officers, who subsequently discovered a sophisticated and commercially organised illegal waste operation. Stockpiles of construction and demolition waste, mixed industrial waste, and asbestos-contaminated soil were found across the site. EPA investigators used aerial photography and drone surveillance to document the systematic importation of fill material by commercial trucks, building an evidentiary record that proved difficult to contest. Chetcuti ultimately pleaded guilty to two charges.
For environmental professionals, developers, legal counsel, and local government planners operating across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, this prosecution carries implications that reach well beyond Victoria’s borders. It demonstrates how modern enforcement tools, combined with a strengthened legislative framework, are fundamentally shifting the personal liability exposure of landowners, waste generators, and the consultants who advise them. The days of treating environmental non-compliance as a manageable business risk to be absorbed through a corporate structure are, increasingly, over.
Key details of the Chetcuti prosecution and charges
Chetcuti pleaded guilty to two specific charges under the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic). The first charge related to depositing and receiving waste, including reportable priority waste, at a site not licensed to receive it. The second charge was failure to comply with an EPA Environmental Action Notice (EAN) under Section 290(1) of the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic). An EAN is a statutory notice issued by EPA Victoria directing a person to take specific remedial or investigative action. Non-compliance with such a notice is a criminal offence, and this prosecution confirms that EPA Victoria is prepared to pursue that pathway to conviction.
The waste discovered on site included construction and demolition debris, mixed industrial waste streams, and soil contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos-containing material in fill and demolition waste is classified as a priority waste under Victorian regulations and requires specific handling, transport, and disposal pathways. The presence of asbestos on an unlicensed site of this nature significantly elevates the complexity and cost of remediation, which is a key reason EPA Victoria’s estimate for the clean-up exceeds $1 million. A 19,000 square metre site is equivalent to approximately 1.9 hectares, large enough to accommodate substantial buried or stockpiled waste volumes that may require extensive characterisation works before any remediation strategy can be scoped.
EPA Victoria’s investigation methodology is particularly significant from a technical and evidentiary standpoint. The regulator deployed aerial photography and drone surveillance to track commercially operated trucks importing waste onto the property over time. This spatial and temporal mapping allowed investigators to demonstrate a pattern of deliberate, repeated and commercially organised illegal dumping rather than a one-off incident. EPA North Metro Regional Manager Joss Crawford confirmed that the regulator is actively pursuing the commercial waste generators and transport operators who delivered waste to the site. This signals that the prosecution of Chetcuti is not the end of the enforcement action but rather one element of a broader investigation targeting the upstream supply chain of the illegal waste operation.
The $60,000 fine, while representing the highest individual penalty recorded under the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic), sits within a broader penalty framework that allows for substantially higher fines and imprisonment for the most serious offences. The conviction itself carries consequences beyond the financial penalty, including reputational damage and the potential to affect future business activities, licences, and the ability to enter into certain contracts. The court-ordered remediation mandate is legally bound to Chetcuti as an individual, not to the property title alone, meaning the obligation to remediate survives any transfer of ownership of the land.
Australian context: How this prosecution reflects the EP Act 2017 framework and national enforcement trends
The Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic), which came into full effect on 1 July 2021, introduced the General Environmental Duty (GED) as a cornerstone obligation. The GED requires any person conducting an activity that may give rise to risks of harm to human health or the environment to understand those risks and take reasonably practicable steps to minimise them. The Chetcuti prosecution draws on the full enforcement architecture that the GED supports, including the power to issue Environmental Action Notices and pursue criminal convictions for non-compliance. This is a material departure from the pre-2021 framework, where enforcement action against individuals was more limited and penalties were lower.
References and related sources
- Primary source: www.epa.vic.gov.au
- epa.vic.gov.au
- epa.vic.gov.au
- epa.vic.gov.au
- EPA Victoria
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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.
Published: 25 Jul 2026
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