Air Force Regulations (Amendment) (Cth)

Statutory Rules

1978

No. 181

REGULATIONS UNDER THE AIR FORCE ACT 1923*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Air Force Act 1923.

Dated this twenty-eighth day of September 1978.

ZELMAN COWEN

Governor-General

By His Excellency’s Command,

J. McLEAY

Minister of State for Construction for and on behalf of the Minister of State for Defence

————

AMENDMENTS OF THE AIR FORCE REGULATIONS 

1. After Part Va of the Air Force Regulations the following Part is inserted:

Part Vb—Judge-Advocate-General and Deputy Judge-Advocates-General

Appointments

“ 152e.(1) Subject to sub-regulations (3) and (4), the Governor-General may, by instrument in writing, appoint a person to be—

(a) the Judge-Advocate-General; or

(b) a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General,

for the Air Force.

“ (2) Subject to sub-regulation (3), the Governor-General may, by instrument in writing, appoint a person to act as Judge-Advocate-General—

(a) during a vacancy in the office of Judge-Advocate-General, whether or not an appointment has previously been made to the office; or

 

* Notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 5 October 1978.

  Statutory Rules 1927 No. 161 as amended to date. For previous amendments see footnote   to Statutory Rules 1978 No. 23 and see also Statutory Rules 1978 Nos. 23, 61, 71, 78, 89 and 162.

 

(b) during any period, or during all periods, when the Judge-Advocate-General is absent from duty or from Australia or is, for any reason, unable to perform the functions of his office,

but a person appointed to act during a vacancy shall not continue so to act for more than 12 months.

“ (3) A person shall not be appointed under sub-regulation (1) or (2) unless—

(a) he is or has been a Judge of a court created by the Parliament or of a court of a State; or

(b) he is enrolled as a legal practitioner of the High Court or of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory.

“ (4) A person appointed under sub-regulation (1) to be a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General shall be an officer.

“ (5) A person appointed under sub-regulation (1) shall, subject to sub-regulations (6), (7) and (8), hold the appointment for a period, not exceeding 3 years, specified in the instrument of his appointment, but shall be eligible for re-appointment.

“ (6) In time of war or time of defence emergency, the Governor-General may, by instrument in writing, direct that a person holding an office referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall continue to hold that office until the end of that time of war or time of defence emergency, and that person shall continue, subject to sub-regulations (7) and (8), to hold that office in accordance with that direction.

“ (7) A person appointed under sub-regulation (1) or (2) may, by writing under his hand delivered to the Governor-General, resign his office, and the resignation shall take effect on the day on which it is received by the Governor-General or on such later day as is specified in the writing.

“ (8) A person appointed to be a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General shall cease to hold office immediately upon ceasing to be an officer.

Functions and powers

“ 152f. (1) The functions of the Judge-Advocate-General are to advise the Chief of the Air Staff on—

(a) matters relating to the proceedings before courts-martial;

(b) matters relating to petitions against findings, convictions or sentences by courts-martial;

(c) questions of air force law; and

(d) matters of law affecting or likely to affect the Air Force.

“ (2) The function of a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General shall be to assist the Judge-Advocate-General in the performance of his functions.

 

“ (3) The Judge-Advocate-General or a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General has power to do all things necessary for the performance of his functions.

“ (4) While a person is acting as Judge-Advocate-General, he has, and may exercise, all the powers, and shall perform all the functions, of the Judge-Advocate-General.

“ (5) Where—

(a) there is a vacancy in the office of Judge-Advocate-General or the Judge-Advocate-General is absent from duty or from Australia or is, for any reason, unable to perform the functions of his office; and

(b) no person has been appointed under sub-regulation 152e (2) to act as Judge-Advocate-General or the person who has been so appointed is absent from duty or from Australia or is, for any reason, unable to perform the functions of his office,

a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General may perform any of the functions of the Judge-Advocate-General.

“ (6) In this regulation, ‘ air force law ’ has the same meaning as in the Courts-Martial Appeals Act 1955.

Delegation

“ 152g. (1) The Judge-Advocate-General or a Deputy Judge-Advocate-General may, either generally or as otherwise provided in the instrument of delegation, by writing signed by him, delegate to an officer of the Permanent Air Force or of the Citizen Air Force who holds a rank not below that of Wing Commander and who is enrolled as a legal practitioner of the High Court or of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory any of his powers under these Regulations, other than this power of delegation.

“ (2) A power so delegated, when exercised by the delegate, shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be deemed to have been exercised by the person delegating the power.

“ (3) A delegation under sub-regulation (1) does not prevent the exercise of a power delegated by the person delegating the power.”.

Exercise of powers of Judge-Advocate-General by legal staff officer

2. Regulation 273 of the Air Force Regulations is amended—

(a) by omitting “ Judge-Advocate-General has been appointed,” and substituting “ Judge-Advocate-General or Deputy Judge-Advocate-General has been appointed and no person has been appointed to act as Judge-Advocate-General,”; and

 

(b) by omitting “, or the Air Force Act