Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979 (Qld)

89 (Quee1151,11IN ANNO VICESIMO OCTAVO ELIZABETHAE SECUNDAE REGINAE No. 7 of 1979 An Act to amend the Coal MiningAct 1925- 1976 in certain particulars [ASSENTED TO 20TH APRIL, 1979] BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:- 1. Short title and citation . (1) This Act may be cited as the Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979. (2) In this Act the Coal Mining Act1925-1976 is referred to as the Principal Act. (3) The Principal Act as amended by this Act may be cited as the Coal Mining Act1925-1979. 2. Repeal of and new s. 76. The Principal Act is amended by repealing section 76 and substituting the following section:- " 76. Rescue Brigade. (I) The Minister may, by notification published in the Gazette, establish a locality or a number of localities for the purposes of this section and may in like manner dissolve or alter the boundaries of any locality so established.

90 Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979, No. 7 A locality established for the purposes of this section shall be defined as the Minister thinks fit in the notification by which it is established or by which its boundaries are altered. A locality established for the purposes of this section may be wholly within the limits of the State or wholly within an area outside such limits in which the laws of the State may lawfully be made to apply or partly within such limits and partly within such area. Each locality declared by the Minister for the purposes. of section 76 of the Coal Mining Act1925 (as amended from time to time), prior to the commencement of the Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979, shall continue in being until it is dissolved or its boundaries are altered pursuant to this section. (2) In a notification by which he establishes a locality or in a subsequent notification published in the Gazette that refers to that locality, the Minister may direct that there shall be established for that locality a rescue brigade or a number of rescue brigades and may, in the same or a subsequent notification published in the Gazette, constitute a committee of management for the control and upkeep of each rescue brigade established or to be established and may in like manner dissolve a rescue brigade or a committee of management so established or constituted. Each rescue station and committee of management established pursuant to section 76 of the Coal Mining Act1925 (as amended from time to time) prior to the commencement of the Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979 shall continue in being as a rescue brigade and a committee of management of that brigade respectively until it is dissolved or, as the case may be, re-constituted pursuant to this section: (3) A committee of management shall consist of such number of persons as the Minister may determine in a particular case and of those persons appointed to constitute a committee not more than two shall represent each of the following authorities or bodies of persons as expresses a desire to be represented on the committee, namely- (a) the Department of Mines; (b) the Workers' Compensation Board of Queensland; (c) the coal mining companies operating in the locality for which the committee is constituted; and (d) the coal mining managers engaged in the locality for which the committee is constituted; and (e) the members of the rescue brigade engaged in the locality for which the committee is constituted. For the purpose of the constitution of a committee of management such of the said authorities and bodies of persons as desire to be represented on the committee may nominate to the Minister one or two persons (as the Minister may determine to be necessary) for appointment to the committee and shall be entitled to be represented on the committee.

Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979, No. 7 91 If a vacancy occurs in the membership of a committee of management the vacancy shall be filled by the appointment by the Minister of a person nominated by the authority or body of persons represented thereon by the member in whose office the vacancy has occurred. (4) The function of a rescue brigade shall be to afford assistance in the case of emergency in any coal mine situated in the locality in which the brigade is established or situated in any other locality or place whether within or outside the State in such cases as are approved by the committee of management constituted for the brigade. The committee of management constituted for the rescue brigade shall ensure that there is at all times available through the brigade a sufficient number of suitably qualified and trained persons suitably equipped to allow the brigade to properly discharge its function. (5) A committee of management constituted for a rescue brigade- (a) shall be known as "The Committee for the Rescue Brigade at . . (name of place at which the brigade is established). . . " and in that name may sue and be sued; (b) shall, as soon as practicable after its constitution, and from time to time as it may become necessary, elect from its members a chairman, a deputy-chairman and a secretary/treasurer. All apparatus, equipment, plant and other property in the nature of personalty, whether of a like or other description, that is held for the purposes of a rescue brigade shall be taken to vest in the members for the time being of the committee of management constituted for the brigade. The chairman of a committee of management shall have a deliberative vote at meetings of the committee and, in the event of an equality of votes; shall have a casting vote and he shall be the executive member of the committee. In the absence of the chairman of a committee of management or if at any time there is no chairman, the deputy-chairman of the committee shall act in his stead and, while so acting, shall have the powers and authorities of the chairman. (6) The expenses of and in connection with the establishment. equipment, management and operation of a rescue brigade shall be paid in the first instance by the Minister but he shall recover- (a) from the Workers' Compensation Board of Queensland out of moneys standing at credit in the Workers' Compensation Fund kept under the Workers' Compensation Act 1916-1978, one third part thereof; (b) from owners of coal mines situated within the limits of the State or in an area outside such limits in which the laws of the State may lawfully be made to apply, one third part thereof in such proportions among such owners as the Minister thinks fit.

92 Coal Mining Act Amendment Act 1979, No. 7 A sum recoverable by the Minister under this section may be recovered by action in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due and owing to the Minister by the authority or person who is made liable to pay the same by or under this section and in any proceedings for the recovery of such sum a certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Minister as to the amount due and owing to him shall be accepted as conclusive evidence of such amount.".