EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1988 NO 154
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Transport and Communications
Subject - Navigation Act 1912
Navigation (Master and Seamen) Regulations (Amendment)
Subsection 425(1) of the Navigation Act 1912 (the Act) provides 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 Navigation (Master and Seamen) Regulations (the Regulations) are made pursuant to subsection 425(1) of the Act, prescribing matters for the purposes of Part II (Masters and Seamen) of the Act.
Amendments to the Act made by section 6 of the Transport Legislation Amendment Act 1988 (the Amendment Act) are proclaimed to commence on 1 July 1988.
It is necessary to amend the Regulations as a consequence of those amendments.
Details of the amending regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1 cites the Principal Regulations.
Regulation 2 amends existing regulation 8A by omitting reference to ‘sub-section 48A(1)’ of the Act and substituting ‘section 48A’, following the omission of subsection 48A(2) of the Act by the Amendment Act.
Regulation 3 repeals existing regulation 8B and substitutes new regulation 8B prescribing for the purposes of subsection 52(1) of the Act, that subsection being omitted and substituted by the Amendment Act, what constitutes a prescribed person and what details of crew and details of changes in crew of a ship are to be furnished.
Regulation 4 amends existing regulation 19 by omitting reference to ‘apprentice’, all such references being omitted from the Act by the Amendment Act.
Regulation 5 amends existing Schedule 2 as follows:
(a) by omitting and substituting Form 3 which, together with existing regulation 7, precribe a revised form
of agreement (between master and crew) for the purposes of paragraph 46(2)(a) of the Act, that paragraph being omitted and substituted by the Amendment Act;
(b) by omitting and substituting Form 5 which, together with existing regulation 10, prescribe a revised form of certificate of discharge for the purposes of paragraph 61(a) of the Act, that paragraph being amended by the Amendment Act;
(c) by omitting from the heading of Form 10 reference to ‘apprentice’, all such references being omitted from the Act by the Amendment Act;
(d) by omitting from Form 10 reference to ‘apprentice’ all such references being omitted from the Act by the Amendment Act;
(e) by omitting from Form 12, reference to existing regulation 11, that regulation being repealed by amending regulation 6;
(f) by omitting Part II (List of Crew and Report of Character) in Form 12, being prescribed for the purposes of section 67 of the Act, that section being repealed by the Amendment Act;
(g) by omitting Forms 1, 4, 6 and 9, being prescribed forms for the purposes of sections 34, 47, 67 and 80 of the Act, respectively, those sections being repealed by the Amendment Act.
Regulation 6 repeals:
(a) existing regulations 4, 5, 8, 9, 11 and 14, which prescribe matters for sections 12, 34, 47, 60, 67 and 80 of the Act, respectively, those sections being repealed by the Amendment Act;
(b) existing regulations 27 to 33 (inclusive), which specify fees in relation to attendance by departmental officials at the engagement and discharge of seamen, such attendance no longer being provided following the repeal of Division 7A (Approval of Engagement of Seamen) and the amendment of Division 9 (Discharge of Seamen) of Part II of the Act by the Amendment Act.
Regulation 7 is a transitional provision which preserves the existing regulations in respect of an agreement between a master and seaman entered into before the commencement of the amending regulations, until that agreement has expired.
As the amendments to the Act did not commence until 1 July 1988, it was necessary for the amending regulations
to be made pursuant to section 4 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, That Act provides that regulations may be made as if the empowering provision of the Act had come into operation but the regulations shall not come into effect until the empowering provision of the Act comes into operation.