EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
PASSPORTS ACT 1938
PASSPORTS REGULATIONS
Statutory Rules 1986 No. 25 issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Section 12 of the Passports Act 1938 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, empowering the Minister or his delegate to issue certificates of identity or other travel documents and to endorse Australian passports.
2. At meeting 64 of 21 October 1985 approval was given by the Executive Council to Minute No. 51 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs which amended the Passports Regulations. These amendments made decisions under the Passports Regulations reviewable in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal after internal review of decisions by the Minister or the Minister’s delegate.
3. The Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances expressed concern that the power to delegate the Ministers’s review power could be exercised so as to allow the more junior officer who made a decision to review his or her own decision. This power had in fact been delegated to senior officers only and a direction had been given that an
officer who had taken part in the orginal decision should not exercise the review powers. However, as a result of the Committee’s concerns an undertaking was given to amend the Regulations.
4. The proposed amendment will ensure that the review powers contained in regulation 14 can only be delegated to officers who are members of the Senior Executive Service and cannot be exercised by officers who took part in the original decision.