EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1988 NO 193
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Resources
QUARANTINE ACT 1908
QUARANTINE (ANIMALS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
QUARANTINE (PLANTS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The Quarantine Act 1908 (the Act) provides for the inspection, exclusion, detention, observation, segregation, isolation, protection, treatment, sanitary regulation and disinfection of vessels, installations, persons, goods, things, animals or plants and has as its object the prevention of the introduction or spread of diseases or pests affecting human beings, animals or plants.
Subsection 87(1) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 86E of the Act provides that the Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, determine that fees of amounts set out in the notice are payable in respect of quarantine examinations, approvals and services, including the issue of certificates and the management and maintenance of animals at a quarantine station in the Cocos Islands.
Before their repeal in 1984, paragraphs 87(1)(o) and (oa) of the Act had provided for the making of regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing the fees payable in respect of examinations, services or certificates by quarantine officers and the persons by whom those fees were payable and prescribing fees for the management and maintenance of animals at a quarantine station in the Cocos Islands respectively.
The repeal in 1984 of paragraphs 87(1)(o) and (oa) means that there is no longer any statutory authority for regulations dealing with fees.
The reprint of the Quarantine (Plants) Regulations in late 1987 brought to light the fact that the fees provisions in those Regulations had not been repealed. An examination of the Quarantine (General) Regulations and the Quarantine (Animals) Regulations revealed that the necessary amendment had been made to the Quarantine (General) Regulations but not to the Quarantine (Animals) Regulations.
The proposed Quarantine (Animals) Regulations (Amendment) and Quarantine (Plants) Regulations (Amendment) repeal those regulations which prescribe fees and for which there is no longer any authority in the Act.
In addition, the Quarantine (Animals) Regulations (Amendment) updates outdated geographical references.
The proposed amendments will take effect from the date of their notification in the Gazette.