EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 58
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice
Subject - Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Act 1970
Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 1)
Subsection 4(1) of the Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Act 1970 (COPAL Act) provides that the laws of a State that are in force will apply in relation to each place in that State that is a Commonwealth place. Under the COPAL Act, a Commonwealth place is a place for which the Parliament of Australia has the exclusive right to make laws by virtue of section 52 of the Constitution.
Subsection 4(6) of the COPAL Act permits the Governor-General to make regulations that modify or exclude the provisions of a State law in its application to Commonwealth places that are located in a State.
Section 22 of the COPAL Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the COPAL Act, prescribing all matters that are required or permitted to be prescribed, or are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the COPAL Act.
The Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Regulations 1998 (the Principal Regulations) set out various matters which give effect to the COPAL Act.
The Amendment Regulations amend the Principal Regulations to support changes made to the COPAL Act by the Aviation Crimes and Policing Legislation Amendment Act 2011 (the Amendment Act) which commenced on 30 March 2011.
The amendments made by the Amendment Act relate to the policing powers of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in relation to policing at certain airports. Under the current Unified Policing Model, policing at airports is coordinated between federal, state and territory police. Under the proposed All-In policing and security model that will apply at Australia’s eleven major airports, the AFP will be responsible for security and policing at these airports. The move to an All-In model was a recommendation of the 2009 Federal Audit of Police Capabilities and was formally accepted by the Government on 18 December 2009.
In order for these new provisions to be fully effective, the Principal Regulations were amended to prescribe the airports to which the relevant provisions of the COPAL Act apply.
The Amendment Act inserted a definition of ‘designated State airport’ into section 3 of the COPAL Act. For the purposes of the legislation, a designated State airport is a Commonwealth place airport that is situated in a State or States and has been prescribed by the Principal Regulations.
Regulation 4 of the Amendment Regulations prescribes the airports that are designated State airports for the purposes of this definition and corresponding sections. They are: Adelaide Airport, Brisbane Airport, Coolangatta (Gold Coast) Airport, Hobart Airport, Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport, Perth Airport, and Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport.
Each of these airports has a Counter-Terrorist First Response function under Regulation 3.27 of the Aviation Transport Security Regulations 2005 and they are also formally ‘designated’ airports under those regulations.
The list of airports does not include Canberra Airport, Darwin Airport, Alice Springs Airport or Cairns Airport as they do not fall under the definition of a ‘designated State airport’ under the COPAL Act, as amended. Canberra, Darwin and Alice Springs airports are Territory airports and Cairns Airport is not a Commonwealth place.
Consultation was undertaken by the Attorney-General’s Department with the AFP and the Department of Finance and Deregulation (Office of Best Practice Regulation). Extensive consultation was also undertaken by the Attorney-General’s Department on the amendments to the COPAL Act in 2010 prior to the Bill being introduced into Parliament.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation advised that no regulatory impact statement was required.
Details of the regulations are set out below.
The regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Regulation 1 - provides that the title of the Amendment Regulations is the Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 1).
Regulation 2 - provides that the commencement of the Amendment Regulations is the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Regulation 3 - provides for Schedule 1 to amend the Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Regulations 1998 (the Principal Regulations).
Schedule 1– Amendments
Item [1] - replaces current regulation 3 in the Principal Regulations with new regulations 2A, 3 and 4.
The new regulation 2A defines ‘Act’ and clarifies the definition of three airports that are prescribed under new regulation 4.
The term ‘Act’ is defined as the Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Act 1970. The new regulation 2A inserts a definition for Coolangatta Airport, Melbourne Airport and Sydney Airport. For the purpose of the Principal Regulations, Coolangatta Airport means the Gold Coast Airport, Melbourne Airport means Tullamarine Airport and Sydney Airport means the Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport.
Regulation 3 is reinserted by this item and updated to reflect recent drafting practice. It also corrects a reference to the Liquor Act 1982 (NSW) which has been repealed and replaced with the Liquor Act 2007 (NSW).
The new regulation 4 prescribes the designated airports to which section 3 of the COPAL Act applies. These are Adelaide Airport, Brisbane Airport, Coolangatta Airport, Hobart Airport, Melbourne Airport, Perth Airport and Sydney Airport. Each of these airports have a counter terrorism first response function under regulation 3.27 of the Aviation Transport Security Regulations 2005 and are formally designated under those regulations. New regulation 2A (above) clarifies the definition of Coolangatta, Melbourne and Sydney Airports.
The airports that are prescribed by the new regulation 4 do not include Canberra Airport, Darwin Airport, Alice Springs Airport or Cairns Airport. While each of these four airports is also designated under the Aviation Transport Security Regulations 2005, they are not included in these amendments. This is because Canberra, Darwin and Alice Springs are Territory airports, rather than State airports, and Cairns airport is privately owned and not a Commonwealth place, so it does not fall within the definitions.