EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULE NO. 61
ISSUED BY THE
AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
Section 93 of the Radiocommunications Act 1983 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The Regulations amend sub-regulation 9(5) of the Radiocommunications (Licensing and General) Regulations (‘the Regulations’) to provide that an inspector when requesting a licensee to produce a licence for inspection must produce either the identity card issued to departmental inspectors under sub-section 68(1) of the Act or evidence of his or her authority as a police officer. Formerly sub-regulation 9(5) provided only that in such circumstances an inspector must produce evidence of his or her authority.
The Regulations also repeals regulation 20 of the Regulations. Regulation 20 prescribed the offices of clerk and deputy clerk of a court of summary jurisdiction that exercises criminal jurisdiction for the purposes of sub-section 71(9) of the Act. The effect of that prescription was to enable a justice of the peace who holds such an office to issue a search warrant over the telephone.
Both amendments have been requested by the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances. The Committee has requested the repeal of Regulation 20 because it considers that the power to issue a search warrant over the telephone should ideally be vested only in judges of superior courts.