EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1989 No. 400
Issued by Authority of the Minister for Transport and Communications
Air Navigation Act 1920
Air Navigation Regulations (Amendment)
Subsection 26(1) of the Air Navigation Act 1920 (the Act) provides, in part, that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The Australian Protective Service (APS) is to take over the counter-terrorist policing function at major Australian aerodromes from the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Currently the AFP officers at those aerodromes help to deter unlawful acts involving aircraft and provide an initial response to any such acts. This role will be progressively assumed by the APS from 1 January 1990. As well as taking over the counter-terrorist policing function at the 9 aerodromes where that function is currently performed by the AFP, APS officers will be assigned to a further 14 aerodromes. The presence of uniformed officers at a larger number of aerodromes is part of a general upgrading of aviation security arrangements in Australia in line with worldwide concerns.
The purpose of the amendment to the Air Navigation Regulations is to provide that authorised officers of the Department and APS officers, while on duty, should have access to all parts of designated airports. Aerodromes which are to be designated airports are to be specified by the Secretary by notice in the Gazette.
Details of the amending Regulations, which are expressed to commence on 1 January 1990, are in the Attachment.
ATTACHMENT
Air Navigation Regulations (Amendment)
Regulation 1: | Provides that the amending Regulations are to commence on 1 January 1990, the date on which the transfer of the uniformed policing function at aerodromes to the APS is to begin. |
Regulation 2: | Provides that, in the amending Regulations, the term “Principal Regulations” means the Air Navigation Regulations. |
Regulation 3: | Provides for the insertion of definitions of “designated airport” and “protective service officer” into the Principal Regulations. |
Regulation 4: | Inserts a new heading into Part XVIA of the Principal Regulations so that the existing provisions of that Part will be identified as a separate Division 1 relating to “Aviation Security and International Air Services”. The new provisions relating to entry of authorised persons and APS officers onto airports are a separate Division 2 in Part XVIA. |
Regulation 5: | Inserts new Division 2, called “Aviation Security - General” into Part XVIA of the Principal Regulations. Division 2 is made up of proposed new regulations 309 to 311D. |
| New regulation 309 provides for aerodromes to be specified as designated airports by the Secretary. |
| New regulation 310 provides authority for an APS officer to enter and to remain on a designated airport while exercising powers or performing functions under the Australian Protective Service Act 1987. |
| New regulation 311 provides that the Secretary may appoint an officer of the Department to be an authorised officer for purposes of new Division 2. The Secretary is required to issue each authorised officer with an identity card which shows a recent photograph of the person and which states that the holder is an authorised officer for the purposes of Division 2. |
| New regulation 311A provides that a person who stops being an authorised officer must return his or her identity card to the Secretary. A fine of $100 is provided for breach of this provision. |
| New regulation 311B provides that an authorised officer is not entitled to exercise powers under Division 2 in relation to a person unless the authorised officer has first produced his or her identity card for inspection by that person. |
| New regulation 311C provides authority for an authorised officer to enter and remain on a designated airport for the purpose of ensuring that aviation is safeguarded against unlawful interference. Such an officer may inspect buildings and equipment, observe operating procedures in relation to aircraft operations carried out at the airport and observe measures taken by operators of aircraft or occupiers of the airport. |