EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules No. 448
Australian War Memorial Act 1980
Australian War Memorial Regulations (Amendment)
Issued by Authority of the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
Section 42 of the Australian War Memorial Act 1980 (the Act), provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in particular for fixing charges for entry onto any land, or into any building, owned by, or under the control of, the Memorial.
The Regulations give effect to a decision by the Council of the Australian War Memorial to introduce charges for entry into the exhibition areas of the Australian War Memorial from 1 January 1991.
Details for each of the amending Regulations are set out below.
Regulation 1 - Commencement
Regulation 1 provides for the amending Regulations to commence from 1 January 1991 and thus allow for entry charges to the Memorial’s exhibition areas to commence from that date.
Regulation 2 - Amendment
This Regulation provides for the Australian War Memorial Regulations to be amended as set out in the amending regulations.
Regulation 3 - Interpretation
This regulation inserts definitions of “entry charge”, “exhibition areas” and “opening hours”. “Exhibition areas” is defined as those areas of the Memorial that are open to the public and contain exhibitions and displays of historical material from the Memorial collection or historical material that is otherwise in the possession of the Memorial.
The definition is framed in a way which ensures that entry fees will not be charged for admission to the commemorative and certain other areas of the Memorial which do not come within the definition of “exhibition areas”. These include the Introductory Gallery, the Store of Remembrance, the Inauguration Stone, the Hall of Memory, the Cloisters, the Memorial Bookshop, the Research Centre and the Archives.
“Opening hours” is defined as the hours determined by the Council from time to time as the hours during which the exhibition areas are to be open to the public.
Regulation 4 - New regulation 8A - Entry Charge
This regulation inserts a new regulation 8A. New sub-regulation 8A(1) provides for a charge to be fixed for entry into the exhibition areas of the Memorial during opening hours. That charge will apply to any day other than Anzac Day and Remembrance Day each year. This regulation also provides for an entry charge of $3.00 for a person, other than a prescribed person. A concessional entry charge of $2.00 will apply to a person who is a prescribed person for the purposes of the regulations.
Entry to the Memorial for children under the age of 15 years and for full-time students at a school, college or university and who are under the age of 25 will be free of charge.
Sub-regulation 8A (2) provides that the concessional entry charge of $2.00 will apply to Social Security pensioners receiving age, invalid, wives or carer’s pensions, sole parent’s pension, widowed person’s allowance, unemployment or sickness benefit, or rehabilitation allowance. The concession also applies to recipients of disability or service pension under Veterans’ Entitlements legislation and to members of the Defence Force who served overseas on active or operational service or who performed similar service inside Australia during the Second World War.
Sub-regulations 8A(3) & (4) provides for the issue of an annual pass to any member of the public for a fee of $10.00 which will entitle the holder to an unlimited number of visits to the exhibition areas during opening hours for a period of twelve months commencing on the day of issue of the pass.
Sub-regulation 8A(5) provides that where a person is the holder of a ticket issued by the Memorial for the purpose of attending a lecture or educational or cultural presentation on a day in the exhibition areas, an entry charge is not payable by that person for that day.
A person who has been admitted to the exhibition areas during opening hours on a day will, under the terms of sub-regulation 8A(6), be able to obtain a pass issued by
authority of the Council which, on surrender, will entitle the holder to be re-admitted without further payment during opening hours within twenty four hours of that pass being issued.
Sub-regulation 8A(7) provides that persons entering the Memorial on official business, or for other specified purposes connected with the work of the Memorial, will not be required to pay an entry charge. This sub-regulation will ensure that entry charges will not apply to admission to the Memorial’s exhibition areas on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.