EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 NO. 345
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH
QUARANTINE ACT 1908
QUARANTINE (GENERAL) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Sub-section 87(1) of the Quarantine Act 1908 (‘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. Paragraph 87(1)(k) further provides for the making of regulations for regulating the discharge from vessels of any water, ballast, or refuse.
Sub-regulation 33C(1) of the Quarantine (General) Regulations (‘the Regulations’) requires the master or owner of a vessel to which regulation 33C applies to make all animal waste, organic refuse, galley scraps or waste from that vessel available for collection by a person authorized by a Chief Quarantine Officer. Sub-regulation 33C(2) restricts the application of this regulation, subject to sub-regulations 33C(3) and (4) to vessels remaining in or near a declared port for at least 24 hours. A ‘declared port’ for the purposes of regulation 33C and item 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 is by virtue of sub-regulation 33C(5) one declared by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette.
The Quarantine Amendment Act 1984 amended the Act to enable the Minister, by virtue of section 86E to determine fees for, among other things, services carried out or provided by or under the Act. This Act also repealed paragraphs 87(1)(o) and (oa) of the Act which provided for the prescribing of quarantine fees. Sub-section 26(2) of the Quarantine Amendment Act 1984 provided that fees prescribed in the regulations shall be deemed to be fees determined by the Minister under section 86E of the Act.
The Government has decided that there should be a full cost recovery system for quarantine services and related charges. Charges for services relating to general quarantine, including those for the disposal of quarantinable waste remained unchanged since 1980 until the Minister determined on 31 July 1985, under section 86E, new levels of general quarantine fees. The new fees came into effect on the date of their gazettal, 20 August 1985.
The Statutory Rules make changes to the levying of charges for the disposal of refuse from vessels under regulation 33C by removing the 24 hour exemption from sub-regulation 33C(2) and making a similar amendment to sub-regulation 33C(1). The amendment makes regulation 33C applicable to all vessels which remain in or near a declared port.
Regulations 3 and 4 of the Statutory Rules make consequential amendments to the Regulations following the Ministerial Determination under section 86E by repealing regulation 80 and Schedule 2. A further consequential amendment to sub-regulation 33C(5) is made to remove the reference to item 9 of Schedule 2 which is repealed by proposed regulation 4 of these Statutory Rules.
The Statutory Rules came into operation on the date of their notification in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.