Using chemicals responsibly

You can make a complaint about how someone uses or misuses chemical products, fertilisers or stock foods which could result in harm to any of the following:

• health and safety of the general public
• health and safety of the user of a chemical product, fertiliser or stock food
• the health of an animal
• the environment
• domestic or export trade in agricultural produce.

This includes spray drift and use of a product not according to label.

How to make a complaint

To report an incident involving chemical use, phone the pollution hotline on 1800 064 567.

Complaints about the use of agricultural chemicals, including those about spray drift, should be made in writing using the complaint report form:

Complaint report form PDF (170.3 KB)
Complaint report form DOCX (62.8 KB)

Send it to the following address:

The Chemical Adviser
Chemical Services - Berrimah Farm Science Precinct
29 Makagon Road
Berrimah NT 0828

PO Box 3000
Darwin NT 0801
Phone: 08 8999 2344
chemicals@nt.gov.au

Information you need to provide

You will need to provide all of the following information:

• your name and contact details
• incident you are complaining about - this includes date, time, place, name of product/chemical, produce or land affected
• how the chemical was being applied - e.g. ground, air
• weather conditions at the time
• name of person or company you believe was applying the chemical
• witness names and contact numbers
• name of any other agency you contact - e.g. Department of Health, NT Worksafe.

Hearing back about your complaint

Your complaint will be investigated and you will get a written report back about the outcome of the investigation.

Penalties for offences

If the investigation verifies your complaint, action can be taken against the offending person or company.

The penalty imposed depends on the seriousness of the incident. Penalties range from a formal warning letter, to an infringement notice or a prosecution.