National Security (Medical Benefits for Seamen) Regulations (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES.

1943. No. 177.

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 thirteenth day of July, 1943.

(SGD.) GOWRIE

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command.

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

———

National Security (Medical Benefits for Seamen) Regulations.

Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the National Security (Medical Benefits for Seamen) Regulations.

Administration.

2. These Regulations shall be administered by the Minister of State for Supply and Shipping.

Commencement.

3. The provisions of these Regulations, in so far as they confer benefits on, or in respect of, Australian mariners, shall be deemed to have come into operation on the seventh day of December, 1941.

National Security (Wages of Seamen Detained by the Enemy) Regulations not affected.

4. The provisions of these Regulations shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the National Security (Wages of Seamen Detained by the Enemy) Regulations but an Australian mariner or his wife or any other dependant shall not be entitled to receive or be paid wages or any amount in respect of wages both under these Regulations and independently thereof.

Definitions.

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

“Australian mariner” means—

(a) any master, officer or seaman employed under agreement, or any apprentice employed under indenture, in sea-going service on any ship registered in Australia which is engaged in trading between a port of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth and any other port whatsoever;

(b)any master, officer, seaman or apprentice employed in a lighthouse tender or pilot ship of the Commonwealth or of a State;

* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on , 1943

6648.—Price 5d. 30/17.6.1943.

(c) any pilot employed or licensed by the Commonwealth or a State or by an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State;

(d)any master, officer, seaman or apprentice employed in sea-going service on any ship, owned in Australia and operating from an Australian port, which is a hospital ship, troop transport, tug, cable ship, salvage ship, dredge, fishing vessel or fisheries investigation vessel;

(e) any member or employee of the Commonwealth Salvage Board engaged in sea-going service under the direction of that Board; and

(f) any master, officer, seaman or apprentice employed in sea-going service on any ship registered in the Dominion of New Zealand, who the Minister is satisfied was engaged in Australia and is not entitled, under any law of any part of the King’s dominions, other than Australia, to pension or other compensation in respect of war injury sustained in the course of his employment,

and, except insofar as the expression is used in relation to the happening of any event in respect of which a benefit under these Regulations may be granted, includes a person who has been an Australian mariner within the meaning of the foregoing provisions of this definition;

“home port” means the port at which the seaman is entitled to be discharged in accordance with the terms of his agreement;

“Medical Inspector of Seamen” means a Medical Inspector of Seamen appointed under the Navigation Act 1912-1942;

“pilot duty” includes the proceeding by sea to a ship for the purpose of performing pilotage duty and the returning by sea after having performed that duty;

“recovery” means complete recovery as certified by a Medical Inspector of Seamen or a condition of incapacity, as certified by a Medical Inspector of Seamen, in which the Australian mariner—

(a)is no longer in need of active medical treatment and is capable of working; or

(b) whether in need of active medical treatment or not, is unlikely within a reasonable period to improve sufficiently for employment in the general labour market;

“Superintendent” means, in respect of the Commonwealth or other British possession, any shipping master or other officer discharging in the Commonwealth or in that possession, the duties of a Superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office and, in respect of any place out of His Majesty’s dominions, a British Consular Officer;

“wages”—

(a)in relation to an Australian mariner (other than a pilot not employed at a monthly or annual rate), means wages at the rate he was receiving or was

entitled to receive in respect of his employment as an Australian mariner on the date on which he sustained the war injury, not including war risk bonus or any other extra allowance or emolument whatever, but subject to any variation made, during the period during which he receives wages under these Regulations, by any award or other determination of a competent court, commission, tribunal or authority applying to masters or seamen of the rank or rating of the injured Australian mariner; or

(b)in relation to a pilot not employed at a monthly or annual rate, means wages equal to the wages at the monthly rate prescribed by an award of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration on the date on which he sustained the war injury, not including war risk bonus or any other extra allowance or emolument whatever, in respect of the master of a sea-going passenger vessel of over six thousand tons but not over eight thousand tons gross registered tonnage, but subject to any variation made, during the period during which the pilot receives wages under these Regulations, by any award or other determination of a competent court, commission, tribunal, or authority applying to masters of such vessels;

“war injury” means a personal injury—

(a) caused by—

(i) the discharge of any missile, liquid or gas;

(ii) the use of any weapon, explosive or other noxious thing; or

(iii) the doing of any other injurious act, either by the enemy or in combating the enemy or in relation to any expected or suspected attack by the enemy or any expected attack upon the enemy;

(b)caused by the action of any enemy aircraft or any aircraft in the service of His Majesty or of any Ally of His Majesty during the present war or by the impact of, or of any part of, or of anything dropped from, any such aircraft; or

(c) caused by, or in consequence of, the capture or detention of the Australian mariner by the enemy,

and includes an illness due to shock, immersion or exposure resulting from any of those causes.

Medical benefits and funeral expenses.

6. In respect of any Australian mariner who has sustained or sustains a war injury in the course of his employment as an Australian mariner, or, in the case of a pilot, while on pilot duty, the Commonwealth shall, subject to these Regulations, pay—

(a) for a period of six months the cost of the medical, surgical and hospital treatment for the Australian mariner made necessary by the injury; and

(b) if he dies before recovery, the cost of the funeral or a sum of Fifteen pounds, whichever is the less:

Provided that where the Director of Navigation considers that, by reason of the remoteness of the locality where the death took place or of other circumstances rendering burial arranged by a relative or the personal representative of the deceased impracticable, it was necessary for burial to be arranged by some other person, the Director may authorize payment of the total funeral expenses in connexion with burial so arranged.

Maintenance and free passage home.

7.—(1.) Where an Australian mariner has been or is left ashore by reason of a war injury sustained in the course of his employment, he shall, subject to these Regulations, also be entitled at the cost of the Commonwealth to receive—

(a) maintenance for a period not exceeding six months; and

(b)if left ashore at a port other than his home port, a free passage to his home port, with maintenance, after he has been certified to be fit to travel by a Medical Inspector of Seamen or, if he is at a port outside Australia, by a qualified medical practitioner.

(2.) In this regulation, “maintenance” means board and lodging (including treatment as an in-patient at a hospital) or, at the discretion of the Superintendent, a payment on the following scale:—

(a) If the Australian mariner is away from his home port— forty-five shillings for the first week and thirty shillings for each week thereafter;

(b)If the Australian mariner is at his home port—twenty-one shillings per week if he is able to live at home or thirty shillings per week if he is not able to live at home;

(c) If the Australian mariner is travelling and no sustenance is provided—eleven shillings per day.

Medical benefits and maintenance if treated otherwise than in a public hospital.

8. If accommodation can be obtained at a public hospital at or convenient to the port where the Australian mariner is left on shore, but he elects to be treated and maintained elsewhere than in the hospital, the amount to be paid by the Commonwealth under regulations 6 and 7 of these Regulations, for medical, surgical or hospital treatment and maintenance while receiving such treatment, shall be limited to the amount of the expenses that would be payable if he were treated and maintained as an in-patient of the hospital.

Wages.

9. Where an Australian mariner has been or is left ashore by reason of a war injury sustained in the course of his employment, he shall, subject to these Regulations, also be entitled at the cost of the Commonwealth to receive wages during the period commencing on the date when he was left ashore and ending one week after the date of his recovery within the meaning of these Regulations:

Provided that the maximum amount payable under this regulation shall not exceed six months’ wages.

Continuation of wages of deceased seamen.

10.—(1.) If an Australian mariner dies before reaching shore, as the result of a war injury, or if he dies during the period during which he is entitled to receive wages under these Regulations, his widow or other dependant shall be entitled at the cost of the Commonwealth to a continuation of the wages for a period of one month from the date of his death.

(2.) In this regulation, the words “widow” and “dependant” have the same meaning as those words in the Seamen’s War Pensions and Allowances Act 1940.

Persons entitled to payments under other laws.

11. If an Australian mariner has received or is entitled to receive from the public funds of the Commonwealth or of a State or of a Territory of the Commonwealth any other payment in respect of the war injury, then—

(a)if that other payment exceeds the amount of wages otherwise payable under these Regulations, wages shall not be payable under these Regulations; or

(b)if that other payment does not exceed the amount of wages otherwise payable under these Regulations, the wages payable under these Regulations shall be reduced by the amount of that other payment.

Extension of time limits.

12.—(1.) The limitation of six months prescribed by regulation 6 of these Regulations may be extended by the Director of Navigation in any case in which a Medical Inspector of Seamen certifies that the Australian mariner is in need of active medical treatment in respect of the war injury or of any recrudescence of that injury.

(2.) The limitation of six months prescribed by regulations 7 and 9 of these Regulations may be extended by the Director of Navigation in respect of either or both of those regulations in any case in which a Medical Inspector of Seamen certifies that the Australian mariner is progressing towards recovery and that it is essential that treatment be continued to maintain such progress:

Provided that, in the case of regulation 9, the extension shall not exceed a further period of six months.

Limitation of benefit where due to negligence or misconduct.

13. The provisions of regulations 6, 7, 8 and 9 of these Regulations shall not apply in any case in which the Director of Navigation certifies that he is satisfied that the war injury of the Australian mariner was attributable in any substantial measure to his own serious negligence or serious misconduct or that the Australian mariner has not, within a reasonable time, and without reasonable excuse, sought to obtain benefit under these Regulations.

Periodical medical examination.

14. A Superintendent may at any time require an Australian mariner receiving medical, surgical or hospital treatment or wages or maintenance under these Regulations, to submit himself for medical examination and the right to benefit under these Regulations of any Australian mariner refusing or failing to submit himself to medical examination as and when so required shall be suspended until the examination has taken place without any obstruction.

Relief of employers from liability.

15.—(1.) The owner or charterer of a ship shall not be liable in respect of a war injury to defray the expenses of medical and surgical advice, attendance, medicine, hospital treatment, maintenance or burial of the Australian mariner who suffers the war injury, or to continue payment of wages after the Australian mariner has been left on shore.

(2.) Where a claim for any benefit under these Regulations has been rejected on the ground that the injury was not a war injury, nothing in these Regulations shall affect any other right of the Australian mariner in relation to that injury.

Payment of benefits to be made by owner in first instance.

16. Notwithstanding anything contained in these or any other Regulations, where an Australian mariner or his wife or any other dependant is entitled to be provided with benefits or to receive payments in accordance with these Regulations the owner of the ship on which he was employed at the time when he sustained a war injury or, where the ship is under charter, the charterer thereof, shall be liable to provide the benefits or make the payments, but the owner or charterer, as the case may be, shall be entitled to be re-imbursed by the Commonwealth for benefits provided or payments made by him.

Superintendent to forward certain reports.

17. The Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office at the place where an Australian mariner who has suffered a war injury is landed, shall, as soon as practicable forward to the Director of Navigation a report in accordance with a form approved by the Director setting out full particulars of the mariner and the circumstances under which the injury was sustained.

Offences.

18.—(1.) A person shall not—

(a)make, either orally or in writing, a false or misleading statement in or in connexion with, or in support of, any claim for a benefit under these Regulations, either for himself or for any other person;

(b) obtain any benefit which is not payable;

(c) obtain any benefit by means of any false or misleading statement;

(d)make or present to any officer doing duty in relation to these Regulations any statement or document which is false or misleading in any particular.

(2.) Any person convicted of an offence arising out of a contravention of this regulation may, in addition to the penalty imposed for the offence, be ordered by the Court by which he is convicted to repay to the Commonwealth any amount received by him in consequence of the act in respect of which he was convicted.

(3.) In any proceedings for any such offence, the burden of proving the truth of the statement in respect of which the proceedings have been instituted, or the genuineness of the document presented, shall rest on the person accused.

 

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