EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 NO. 8.
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Transport
NAVIGATION (MASTER AND SEAMEN) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
These amendments make changes to the Navigation (Master and Seamen) Regulations to enable section 20 of the Navigation Amendment Act 1979 to be proclaimed. This section amends the provisions of section 67 of the Navigation Act to enable a superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office to give to a seaman, if the seaman so desires, a copy of the report of his conduct, character and qualifications on his discharge. The present provisions which authorise the superintendent to provide an endorsement on the seaman’s certificate of discharge contravene the provisions of an International Labour Organization Convention relating to seamen’s articles of agreement which Australia has ratified.
The proposed amendments also make necessary changes to the Regulations enabling section 220 of the Commonwealth Functions (Statutes Review) Act 19 81 to be proclaimed. The section inserts a new provision in the Navigation Act which provides for a person, who in pursuance of articles of agreement ceases temporarily to be a member of the crew of a ship (by, for example, going on leave), not to be taken to have been discharged from the ship. It is therefore
proposed that the form of articles of agreement prescribed in the Regulations be amended to incorporate provisions that such a person be required to leave and rejoin his ship in the manner and at the time and place stipulated by the master or owner and that refusal or failure without reasonable cause to so rejoin the ship requires the master to report the fact to a superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office. Consequential changes are made to the form of the certificate of discharge and to the details to be entered in the General Register of Seamen.
Amendments of the Regulations are also being made in respect of the following matters:
(a) There is now power in the Act, where property of a deceased seaman or apprentice comes into the hands of the Minister for Transport and the Minister considers that money included in the property cannot for the time being be disposed of, to enable the Minister to invest it to the benefit of the ultimate recipients. A provision is inserted in the Regulations that this temporary investment may be a deposit with the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia or in securities issued by the Commonwealth.
(b) The basis of operation of the Act was changed from a ‘trade’ to a ‘voyage’ concept by the Navigation Amendment Act 1980. The prescribed forms in the Regulations are consequently amended.
(c) The Navigation Act has been amended to remove the mandatory requirement that the master of a ship is to impose on a seaman a prescribed fine if the seaman commits a breach of discipline specified in the seaman’s agreement. The prescribed form of articles of agreement in the Regulations is amended to reflect this change.
(d) The Navigation Act provides for a seaman to lodge with a superintendent at a prescribed port an objection in writing against a fine. The ports prescribed for this purpose in the Regulations are expanded to include all ports at which there is a Mercantile Marine Office staffed by officers of the Department of Transport.
(e) The Navigation Act provides that a person who engages or discharges a seaman at an Australian port shall pay to the superintendent at that port a
prescribed fee and may deduct from the seaman’s wages a prescribed proportion of such a fee. However, full payment of these fees by the employer is now provided for in the Maritime Industry Seagoing Award 1979, and the provision relating to this matter is therefore omitted from the Regulations.
(f) The Regulations at present provide for the payment of travelling expenses incurred by an official when his services are made available outside ordinary official hours, otherwise than at a Mercantile Marine Office. To comply with the current Governmental policy that the cost of services be fully recouped, the Regulations are amended to require payment also when an official attends a ship during official hours.
The amendments came into force on 1 February 1982, the day on which section 20 of the Navigation Amendment Act 1979 was brought into operation by Proclamation.