EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules No. 294 of 1985
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Transport
Navigation Act 1912
Navigation (Supplementary) Regulations (Amendment)
Sub-section 425(1) of the Navigation Act 1912 (‘the Act’) provides, in part, 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 or for the conduct of any business under the Act. The Navigation (Supplementary) Regulations (‘the Regulations’) were made under that sub-section.
The amendments are necessary as a consequence of amendments to the Act made by the Navigation Amendment Act 1979, reclassification of several positions in the Department and to provide an exemption from payment of fees for certain services.
Details of the amending regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1 is a formal provision.
Regulation 2 omits the definition of ‘Secretary’ from existing regulation 1A as that definition is superfluous following the repeal of existing regulation 2.
Section 101 of the Navigation Amendment Act 1979 omitted from the Act reference to ‘Commonwealth countries’ and inserted instead the term ‘prescribed countries’. The declaration of Singapore as a Commonwealth country for the purposes of the Act in existing regulation 1B, therefore, serves no purpose. Regulation 3 repeals existing regulation 1B.
In consequence of the amendment of sub-section 192A(1) of the Act made by the Navigation Amendment Act 1979 in 1982, requiring the ‘Minister’ rather than a ‘prescribed officer’ to give notification of the detention of a ship, existing regulation 2 which identifies prescribed officers for that purpose has no function and is repealed by regulation 3.
It is appropriate that orders regulating ships associated with off-shore drilling activities, made in pursuance of Part VB of the Act, should extend in application to all external Australian Territories. Sub-section 283C(1) of the Act provides that Part VB extends to every external Territory prescribed for the purposes of section 8 of the Act. Regulation 3 inserts a new regulation 2 which prescribes, for the purposes of section 8, all external Territories.
Under existing regulation 3 Assistant Directors of the Department of Transport are prescribed officers for the purposes of sub-section 389A(3) of the Act, Which relates to recovery of defective certificates. The positions of Assistant Directors have recently been reclassified, in name, as Regional Directors. Regulation 3 inserts a new regulation 3 which reflects this change.
Existing regulation 4 inaccurately refers to ‘the Schedule’. Regulation 4 substitutes ‘Schedule 1’ for ‘the Schedule’.
The definition of ‘length’ in existing sub-regulation 5(1) is no longer appropriate as it does not take account of orders made under regulations made pursuant to sub-section 405PA(1) of the Act giving effect to the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969. Regulation 5 amends existing regulation 5 by encompassing length determined in accordance with those orders.
Existing sub-regulations 5(1) and 5(9) rely on the definition of ‘prescribed officer’ in existing regulation 2. In consequence of the repeal of existing regulation 2, regulation 5 substitutes the term ‘relevant authority’ for ‘prescribed officer’ and inserts a definition of ‘relevant authority’ for the purposes of existing regulation 5.
Paragraph 5(3)(d) of the Regulations requires applications for draught mark certificates to be delivered or forwarded by post to a prescribed officer as defined in existing regulation 2. In consequence of the repeal of existing regulation 2, regulation 5 amends paragraph 5(3)(d) requiring such applications to go to the Chief Naval Architect in the Department.
Existing sub-regulation 5(5) provides, in part, that where an inspection of a ship, for the purpose of obtaining a draught mark certificate, is carried out in conjunction with the measurement of the ship under the Navigation (Tonnage Measurement) Regulations, no fee is payable for that inspection. Regulation 5 amends existing sub-regulation 5(5) extending that dispensation to an inspection carried out in conjunction with the measurement of a ship under orders made pursuant to regulations made by virtue of sub-section 405PA(1) of the Act giving effect to the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969.
Regulations 6 and 7 insert a new regulation 6 and Schedule 3, respectively, for the purpose of prescribing countries for the purposes of the Act, such as:
(a) indentifying certain foreign governments as having salvage rights equal to those of Australian governments where salvage services are rendered on behalf of the Commonwealth or State governments; and
(b) accepting the findings of a Court of Marine Inquiry conducted by a competent court or tribunal in certain foreign countries.