EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by Authority of the delegate of the Secretary of the Department of Transport and Regional Services

Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act 2003

Notice About How Incident Reports Are To Be Made (No. 2)

The Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act 2003 (the Act) establishes a regulatory framework to safeguard against unlawful interference with maritime transport or offshore facilities.  To achieve this purpose, the Act establishes minimum security requirements for maritime transport in Australia by imposing obligations on persons engaged in activities related to maritime transport or offshore oil and gas production.

The obligations include the reporting of maritime transport or offshore facility security incidents to the Secretary by the following:

        Paragraph 177(2)(a) of the Act requires a port operator to report incidents that relate to the port of the port operator.

        Paragraph 178(2)(a) of the Act requires a ship master of a security regulated ship to report incidents that relate to the master’s ship.

        Paragraph 179(2)(a) of the Act requires a ship operator for a security regulated ship to report incidents that relate to the security regulated ship of the ship operator.

        Paragraph 179A(2)(a) of the Act requires a offshore facility operator for a security regulated offshore facility to report incidents that relate to the security regulated offshore facility of the offshore facility operator.

        Paragraph 180(2)(a) of the Act requires a port facility operator for a port facility within a security regulated port to report incidents that relate to the port facility operator’s port facility.

        Subsection 181(2) of the Act requires a person with incident reporting responsibilities to report incidents.  Each of the following is a person with incident reporting responsibilities:

(a)   a maritime security inspector;

(b)   a duly authorised officer;

(c)   a maritime security guard;

(d)   a screening officer;

(e)   a maritime industry participant other than a participant who is a port operator, port facility operator, a ship operator, an offshore facility operator, or an employee of a maritime or offshore industry participant.

Section 182(1) provides that the Secretary may publish a notice setting out information that must be included in a report of an incident and the way in which the report must be made. 

The attached notice has been prepared to:

(a)   Require the person reporting the maritime transport or offshore facility security incident to provide certain minimum information; and

(b)   Require the report to be made to the DOTARS Office of Transport Security (OTS) Operations Centre in writing as soon as possible.

Information contained in reports will allow the Department to capture and efficiently monitor any unlawful interference with maritime transport or offshore facility security that is, or is likely to be, a terrorist act relating to Australia.  The DOTARS OTS Operations Centre will form a central point for receiving incident reports.

Under subsection 182(3) of the Act, if a person reports a maritime transport or offshore facility security incident, but does not comply with the requirements in the attached notice, the report is taken, for the purposes of Part 9 of the Act, not to have been made.

A failure to report a maritime transport or offshore facility security incident in accordance with Divisions 3 and 4 of Part 9 of the Act is an offence of strict liability under subsections 171(1), 172(1), 173(1), 174(1), 174A(1) and 175(1) of the Act.

Consultation with key stakeholders on the reporting requirements for maritime transport security incidents was undertaken in July and August 2005.  DOTARS prepared a draft guidance paper and report form template and sought the views of a wide range of stakeholders including Maritime Industry Security Consultative Forum participants, State and Territory police, relevant Commonwealth government agencies, and security officers of maritime industry participants.  DOTARS adopted a number of changes suggested by participants in the consultation process.

The Notice is a legislative instrument for the purpose of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The Notice takes effect on the day after the notice’s registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments and remains in force until revoked.