EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1990 NO. 352
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Resources
QUARANTINE ACT 1908
QUARANTINE (GENERAL) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 87 of the Quarantine Act 1908 allows the Governor-General to make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which are required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Before this amendment subregulation 66(1) of the Quarantine (General) Regulations required the master of an oversea aircraft to treat every compartment of the aircraft capable of harbouring insects or disease vectors. Subregulation 66(2) required that this be done in a manner approved by the Director of Quarantine and, where practicable, in flight not less than thirty minutes before the aircraft was due to arrive at the first airport of entry in Australia. Where in-flight treatment was not practicable, treatment was required to be done in an approved manner and at the last oversea airport before entry into Australia.
The Quarantine (General) Regulations (Amendment) amends regulation 66 to require the master or operator of an oversea aircraft to make arrangements for insect and disease vector treatment of the aircraft in a manner approved by the Director of Quarantine.
A definition has been introduced into regulation 5 of the Quarantine (General) Regulations to define “operator” in relation to an aircraft to mean a person, organisation or enterprise engaged in, or offering to engage in, an aircraft operation.
The amendment allows the Director of Quarantine greater flexibility to approve different methods of insect and disease vector treatment for different aircraft and different airline companies.