EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 NO. 7….
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Transport
NAVIGATION (MASTER AND SEAMEN) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
These amendments of the Navigation (Master and Seamen) Regulations make changes to the Regulations consequent upon amendments of the Navigation Act 1912 made by the Commonwealth Functions (Statutes Review) Act 1981.
The Commonwealth Functions (Statutes Review) Act 1981 contains provisions giving effect to the Government’s decision that the supervision by Mercantile Marine Office superintendents of engagements and discharges of seamen be reduced. It inserts a new provision in the Navigation Act which provides that 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) shall not be taken to have been discharged from the ship. In consequence, by section 221, it also substitutes a new section 52 in the Navigation Act 1912 to require all necessary crew details to be furnished to a superintendent before a ship proceeds to sea, thereby ensuring that crew details will be on record in Mercantile Marine Offices regardless of the degree of supervision superintendents exercise over engagements and discharges.
The amendments of the Regulations specify the form in which these details of changes of crew are to be furnished to a superintendent and the times at which this is to occur.
The amendments were made pursuant to section 4 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, and took effect from 1 February 1982, when section 221 of the Commonwealth Functions (Statutes Review) Act 1981 came into operation by proclamation.