National Security (Building Operations) Regulations (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES.

1944. No. 85.

——————

REGULATIONS UNDER THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT 1939-1943.*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the National Security Act 1939-1943.

Dated this thirty-first day of May, 1944.

(SGD.) GOWRIE.

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

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

 

National Security (Building Operations) Regulations.

Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the National Security (Building Operations) Regulations.

Administration.

2. These Regulations shall be administered by the Minister of State for War Organization of Industry.

Repeal.

3.—(1.) Regulation 31a of the National Security (Supplementary) Regulations is repealed.

(2.) Any consent granted under regulation 31a of the National Security (Supplementary) Regulations and in force immediately prior to the commencement of these Regulations shall continue in force as if granted under these Regulations but may be revoked or suspended under these Regulations.

Object.

4. The object of these Regulations is to provide, during the present war, for the regulation and control of building operations, with a view to ensuring that labour and materials will be available for the execution of works required for the defence of the Commonwealth and that building operations which are necessary for the efficient prosecution of the war are carried out in a manner suitable for that purpose, and these Regulations shall be administered accordingly.

Definitions.

5.—(1.) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—

“building operation” includes—

(a) the erection of, any alteration of, any addition to, or the construction, reconstruction, rebuilding, re-erection, demolition, removal, renovation, repair,

* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on  , 1944.

 See Statutory Rules 1942, No. 185, as amended by Statutory Rules 1942, No. 265.

3025.—Price 5d.  9/9.3.1944

 

plastering, panelling, lining, decoration, painting, colouring, whitewashing or papering of, any structure (whether carried on at the site or elsewhere and whether above or below the surface);

(b) the affixing to any structure of any fixtures or fittings; and

(c) any work for the provision of water, gas, electricity, sewerage, drainage, heating, ventilation or air conditioning, or for the installation of a lift or an escalator;

“business building” means a building which is used primarily for the manufacture, treatment, production or supply of goods or the rendering of services or entertainment to the public or any class of the public, whether for reward or otherwise, and includes a hospital;

“cost”, in relation to any building operation, includes wages paid or due to permanent or temporary employees, sums paid or due to contractors or sub-contractors and the fair value of all materials used in connexion with the building operation, including provisional and prime cost items, fixtures and installations incidental to the building operation (whether acquired for the purpose of the building operation in the course of which they are used or otherwise) and the fair value of all services rendered in connexion with the building operation, but does not include the time or labour of the person for whom the building operation is carried out, unless it is within the business of that person to carry out that building operation and the time or labour is expended by him on the building operation within ordinary business hours;

“educational building” means a building used for educational purposes and includes a boarding school and residential college;

“local governing authority” means the authority established for any locality by or under any State Act relating to local government, and includes any body which the Minister, by order published in the Gazette, declares to be a local governing authority for the purposes of these Regulations;

“public utility undertaking” has the same meaning as in the National Security (General) Regulations;

“religious building” means a building used primarily for public worship;

“residential building” means a building which is used primarily for human habitation and includes a dwelling-house, boarding-house, block of flats, guest-house, lodging-house and a residence for clergy or for the members of a religious order, but does not include an hotel or a farm-house;

“structure” means structure of any kind, whether movable or immovable, and includes building, bridge, wall, fence, gate, road, drive, paving, path, terrace or concrete work;

 

“the financial year”, in relation to a building operation, means the period of twelve months ending on the thirtieth day of June within which the building operation is commenced;

“the War Damage Commission” means the War Damage Commission established by the National Security (War Damage to Property) Regulations.

Application to the Crown.

6. These Regulations shall bind the Crown in right of the Commonwealth or of any State.

Non-application of laws to certain building operations.

7. If it appears to the Minister to be necessary so to do in the interests of the defence of the Commonwealth or the efficient prosecution of the war, he may, by order, direct that the carrying out of any building operation specified in the order by the person, on the land and in the manner so specified shall not be prevented by any law, and thereupon any law (including any regulation, rule or by-law of a State, State authority or local governing body) which would, but for this regulation, prevent the building operation being so carried out, shall not prevent the building operation being so carried out.

Restrictions on building operations.

8.—(1.) A person shall not, without the consent in writing of the Minister, commence or continue to carry out any building operation.

(2.) The provisions of the last preceding sub-regulation shall not apply—

(a) to any building operation the total cost of which is to be met by the Commonwealth or by any body (whether corporate or unincorporate) acting on behalf of the Commonwealth, without any right of recoupment against any other person;

(b) to any building operation the total cost of which is to be met by a State or by any body (whether corporate or unincorporate) acting on behalf of a State, without any right of recoupment by the State or body against any other person;

(c) to any building operation the total cost of which is to be met out of moneys provided by the War Damage Commission or which is carried out by the War Damage Commission and the cost of which does not exceed One hundred pounds;

(d) to any building operation carried out by or on behalf of any local governing authority or public utility undertaking, other than—

(i) the construction of, or any other building operation carried out on, a building; or

(ii) the connexion of a building to a sewerage or drainage system;

(e) to any building operation the cost of which is to be met, in whole or in part, out of an advance by the Commonwealth War Housing Trust under paragraph (f) of regulation 16 of the National Security (Commonwealth War Housing

 

Trust) Regulations, or out of moneys in respect of which a guarantee has been given by the Commonwealth War Housing Trust under paragraph (g) of that regulation;

(f) to any work for the provision of fencing, drainage or irrigation for agricultural purposes or for the supply of water for mining purposes;

(g) to the erection, alteration or demolition upon any factory premises of any structure consisting solely of equipment or machinery for the operations of the factory;

(h) to the painting, colouring, whitewashing or papering of a residential building, if the total cost of all painting, colouring, whitewashing or papering carried out on that building in the financial year does not exceed Twenty-five pounds;

(i) to any building operation which is carried out on or within the area appurtenant to a residential building (other than the painting, colouring, whitewashing or papering of that building) if the total cost of all building operations carried out on that building and within that area (other than the painting, colouring, whitewashing or papering of that building) in the financial year does not exceed Twenty-five pounds;

(j) to any building operation which is carried out on or within the area appurtenant to a business, educational or religious building, if the total cost of all building operations carried out on that building and within that area in the financial year does not exceed One hundred pounds;

(k) to any building operation which is carried out on a structure which is not within the area appurtenant to a residential, business, educational or religious building, if—

(i) the total cost of all building operations carried out on that structure in the financial year does not exceed Twenty-five pounds; and

(ii) the total cost of all building operations carried out in the financial year by or on behalf of the person for whom that building operation is carried out does not exceed One hundred pounds;

(l) to any building operation or any building operation included in a class of building operations, declared by the Minister, by order published in the Gazette to be a building operation or class of building operations to which the provisions of the last preceding sub-regulation shall not apply; or

(m) to any building operation in a part of Australia declared by the Minister, by order published in the Gazette, to be a part of Australia in which the provisions of the last preceding sub-regulation shall not apply.

 

(3.) In calculating any amount specified in paragraphs (i), (j) or (k) of the last preceding sub-regulation, account shall not be taken of the cost of any building operation specified in any of the other paragraphs of that sub-regulation.

Application for consent.

9. An application for consent under the last preceding regulation shall be in such form and contain such information as the Minister directs.

Grant of consent by the Minister.

10. Where application is made for the consent of the Minister under these Regulations, the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, refuse to grant consent, or may grant consent, either unconditionally or without limitation, or subject to such conditions or limitations as he thinks fit, and, in particular, may consent to the execution of—

(a) part only of any building operation, or of so much only of any building operation as does not involve the expenditure of more than a sum specified in the consent;

(b) all building operations, or of any class or classes of building operations, to be carried out by the person making the application during any period specified in the consent; or

(c) so much of any building operations, or of any class or classes of building operations, to be carried out by that person in that period as does not involve the expenditure of more than a sum specified in the consent.

Power to revoke and suspend consent.

11. Where the consent of the Minister has been granted under these Regulations, the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, at any time, by notice in writing, revoke the consent or suspend the consent for such period as is specified in the notice.

Power to give directions.

12.—(1.) Where a building operation has been, or is about to be, commenced or continued, whether the provisions of sub-regulation (1.) of regulation 8 of these Regulations apply thereto or not, or whether the consent of the Minister has been granted or refused, or has not been given, the Minister may, at any time and from time to time, by notice in writing, give to the person on whose behalf the building operation has been or is about to be commenced or continued, or to any architect, builder, contractor or engineer employed in any capacity, or to any other person employed in any advisory or supervisory capacity, in connexion with that building operation, or to some or all of those persons, such directions in relation to the building operation or its suspension or discontinuance, or as to the furnishing to him or to any person specified by him of any information in relation to the building operation, as the Minister thinks fit.

(2.) A person to whom a notice is given under the last preceding sub-regulation—

(a) shall comply with any directions applicable to him;

(b) shall furnish any information in his possession specified in the notice; and

(c) shall not commence or continue the building operation, contrary to any directions contained in the notice.

 

Compliance with conditions, directions, &c.

13. A person to whom consent has been granted under these Regulations, and any architect, builder, contractor or engineer employed in any capacity, and any other person employed in an advisory or supervisory capacity, in connexion with the execution of the building operation in respect of which the consent has been granted—

(a) shall, whether or not the consent is revoked, comply with all conditions or limitations applicable to him to which the consent is subject;

(b) shall not, if the consent is revoked, continue the building operation, or, if the consent is suspended, continue the building operation during the period of suspension;

(c) shall make and keep proper and accurate books and accounts and stock and costing records, where applicable, in relation to the building operation, and shall preserve those books and accounts and stock and costing records, including all invoices, vouchers, agreements, correspondence, documents and copies thereof, until their destruction is authorized by the Minister.

False information or entry.

14. A person shall not—

(a) in any application or in answer to any request made in pursuance of these Regulations, make any statement or furnish any information; or

(b) in relation to any matter dealt with under these Regulations, make any entry in any document,

which he knows or has reasonable cause to believe to be false in a material particular.

Requirements of local authorities, &c., subject to consent.

15. Notwithstanding anything contained in any law of any State or Territory of the Commonwealth, where an application has been made by any person for the consent of the Minister under these Regulations to commence or continue any building operation and that application has either been refused or has been granted subject to any condition or limitation, no notice given or order made by or on behalf of any local governing authority or public utility undertaking or any officer thereof or by any Court of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth requiring that person to commence or continue that building operation shall be enforceable to the extent to which it is inconsistent with that refusal, condition or limitation.

Arrangements in the States for services of local authorities.

16.—(1.) The Minister may enter into arrangements with the appropriate Minister of State of any State, for the performance by any Court, local governing authority or public utility undertaking of that State, or by any officer of any such Court, authority or undertaking, as the case may be, of such duties, powers and functions in relation to these Regulations as the Minister thinks fit.

(2.) Any such arrangements may provide that any such Court, authority or undertaking, or any officer, empowered by or under the law of any State to make orders in respect of, or to approve of plans or

 

specifications, or to grant permits in relation to, any building operation shall, with respect to any building operation in respect of which the consent of the Minister is required under these Regulations—

(a) refuse to make an order or to approve plans or specifications or to grant a permit until an application has been made for the consent of the Minister under these Regulations;

(b) make a return to the Minister setting out particulars of any application for approval of plans or specifications or for the granting of any permit; and

(c) make a report to the Minister in any case where there is reason to believe that that building operation is being or has been carried out without the consent of the Minister or contrary to any condition or limitation contained in that consent.

Powers of entry and inspection.

17. Where any building operation is being, or has been, carried out on any land or premises during the period of operation of these Regulations, a person authorized by the Minister to act under this regulation may, at any time, enter on and inspect the land or premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of these Regulations are being, or have been, complied with.

Evidence of certain matters.

18. In any prosecution for a contravention of, or failure to comply with, any provision of these Regulations, the averment of the prosecutor contained in the information or complaint—

(a) that the defendant was an architect, builder, contractor or engineer employed in connexion with any particular building operation, or that the defendant was a person employed in an advisory or supervisory capacity in connexion with a particular building operation;

(b) that any particular condition or limitation to which a consent is subject, or any direction given in relation to a building operation, is applicable to the defendant; or

(c) that the cost of any particular building operation is in excess of a specified sum,

shall be prima facie evidence of the matter or matters averred.

 

By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.