STATUTORY
RULES.
1940. No. 164.
REGULATIONS UNDER THE NATIONAL
SECURITY ACT 1939-1940.*
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 1939-1940,
Dated this Sixteenth day of August, 1940.
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s Command.
for Minister of State
for Defence Co-ordination.
National Security (Local Security
Officers) Regulations.
Short title.
1. These
Regulations may be cited as the National Security (Local Security Officers)
Regulations.
Definitions.
2. In
these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears-—
“Local
Security Officer” includes an Officer-in-Charge of a branch; and
“Officer”
means a Local Security Officer and includes the Controller and Inspectors.
Local Security
Officers Force.
3. There
shall be a force to be known as the Local Security Officers’ Force.
Duties
of Force.
4. The
Force shall be charged with such duties are are directed by the Minister for
the purpose of assisting in the preservation of law and order within the
Commonwealth and in guarding any public utility and preventing subversive
activities by aliens or disaffected persons.
Controller.
5. — (1.)
There shall be a Controller of the Force who shall be appointed by the Governor-General
and who, subject to the control of the Minister, shall be responsible for the
organization and control of the Force.
(2.) The Commonwealth may enter into an agreement with
any State providing for the loan by that State, subject to such conditions as
are specified in the agreement, of a person in the service of that State to
occupy the office of Controller under these Regulations.
* Notified in the Commonwealth
Gazette on ,
1940.
3482.—12/3.7.1940.—Price 3d.
Inspectors.
6. —(1.)
In each State and Territory of the Commonwealth there shall be an Inspector who
shall be appointed by the Governor-General and who shall, subject to the
control of the Controller, be in charge of the Force in that State or
Territory.
(2.) The Inspector of each State and Territory shall,
subject, in the case of a State, to the concurrence of the Government of that
State, be the person occupying for the time being the office of Commissioner or
other Chief Officer of Police in that State or Territory.
Force to be
divided into branches.
7. —(1.)
The Force in each State shall, and in each Territory of the Commonwealth may,
be divided into such branches as the Controller directs.
(2.) Each branch shall, subject to the control of the
Controller and of the Inspector for the State or Territory, be under the
control of an Officer-in-Charge who shall be appointed by the Controller.
Appointment of
officers.
8. —(1.)
The Force shall consist of Officers-in-Charge and such other Local Security Officers
as the Controller, or an Inspector acting for the Controller, appoints.
(2.) Each Local Security Officer appointed under these
Regulations shall occupy in an honorary capacity the office to which he is
appointed.
Officers to be
natural born British subjects.
9. All
officers of the Force shall be natural born British subjects both of whose
parents were also natural born British subjects.
Oath to
be taken by officers.
10. — (1.)
No person appointed to be an officer shall be capable of holding that office or
of acting in any way therein until he has taken and subscribed the following
oath:—
“I, A.B., do swear that I will well and
truly serve Our Sovereign Lord the King in the office of Local Security Officer
(or Controller or Inspector, as the case may be), without favour or affection, malice
or ill-will during the period of the present war between His Majesty the King
and Germany or until I am legally discharged, that I will do all in my power to
preserve law and order in the Commonwealth and that, while I continue to hold the
said office, I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the
duties thereof faithfully according to law.”.
(2.) The oath shall be administered by a Justice, of
the Peace and shall in all cases be subscribed by the person taking the oath,
and when so taken and subscribed shall be forwarded to the Controller by the Justice
of the Peace before whom the oath was taken.
Oath equivalent to
agreement.
11. Every
person taking and subscribing the oath shall be deemed to have thereby entered
into a written agreement and he thereby bound to serve His Majesty as an
officer from the day on which the oath has been taken and subscribed until the
termination of the present war or until the person taking and subscribing the
oath is legally discharged (whichever first happens):
Provided that—
(a)
no such agreement shall be set aside, cancelled or annulled for want of
reciprocity; and
(b)
the agreement may be cancelled at any time by the lawful discharge, dismissal
or other removal from office, of the officer.
No resignation
without permission.
12. No
Local Security Officer shall resign his office or withdraw from the duties
thereof unless expressly authorized so to do by the Controller or an Inspector
acting on behalf of the Controller.
Officers failing
to carry out duties guilty of an offence against the National Security Act.
13. No
officer shall fail to carry out the duties of his office or act in a manner
inconsistent with the terms of his oath or with any order lawfully given to
him.
Personating
officers.
14. —(1.)
A person, not being an officer, shall not personate or pass himself off as such
an officer or in any way act or clothe himself in a manner likely to give the
impression that he is such an officer.
(2.) A person, being an officer, shall not personate
or pass himself off as an officer of a rank other than that to which he has
been appointed, or in any way act or clothe himself in a manner likely to give
the impression that he is an officer of such other rank.
Prohibition of
voluntary organizations.
15. No
person shall organize or become a member or continue to be a member of any
organization not authorized by law having objects similar to any of the objects
of the Local Security Officers’ Force.
By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer,
Canberra.