EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2005 No. 175

 

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

 

Radiocommunications Act 1992

 

Radiocommunications Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1)

 

Subsection 314(1) of the Radiocommunications Act 1992 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all 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The accompanying Regulations replace the outdated reference to the Timor Gap Treaty in the Radiocommunications Regulations 1993 (the Principal Regulations) with a reference to the Timor Sea Treaty which superseded the Timor Gap Treaty.

 

Subsection 299(1) of the Act requires a person or body exercising a power under the Act (apart from Part 4.4 or 5.5 of the Act) to have regard to:

 

(a)                any agreement, treaty or convention, between Australia and another country or countries, that makes provision in relation to radio emission; or

(b)               any instrument or writing specified in the regulations.

 

Subsection 299(3) allows any instrument or writing specified in the regulations to be prescribed as in force or existence at the time when the regulations come into effect, or as amended or altered from time to time.

 

Regulation 38 of the Principal Regulations prescribes the Timor Gap Treaty (being the Treaty defined by subsection 5(1) of the Petroleum (Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation) Act 1990) for the purposes of paragraph 299(1)(b) of the Act.  This was a treaty between Australia and Indonesia relating to petroleum operations in the “Zone of Cooperation”, which is a defined area between East Timor and Australia.

 

East Timor separated from Indonesia on 26 October 1999.  Since then, Indonesia has had no jurisdiction over East Timor or the maritime zones generated by East Timorese territory, nor over petroleum operations in the former Zone of Cooperation. Upon East Timor’s separation from Indonesia, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) assumed Indonesia’s rights and obligations under the Timor Gap Treaty.  This allowed Australia and East Timor to benefit from the continuation of exploration and production activities in an area of overlapping territorial claims in the Timor Sea.

 

East Timor became independent on 20 May 2002 and on that date Australia and East Timor signed the Timor Sea Treaty. The Treaty is a provisional arrangement pending permanent delimitation of maritime boundaries between Australia and East Timor. 

 

The Timor Sea Treaty provides a framework for the regulation of petroleum activities in the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) for the benefit of the peoples of Australia and East Timor.  The JPDA is an area of the Timor Sea between Australia and East Timor.  The Timor Sea Treaty does not seek to regulate all activities that take place in the JPDA – its scope is limited and it regulates only those activities relating to the exploration and exploitation of petroleum. 

 

The Timor Sea Treaty does not contain any express provisions in relation to radiocommunications or radio emission.  However, there is the potential for the bodies that administer the Timor Sea Treaty to establish new requirements relating to petroleum activities in the JPDA.  Such new requirements could relate to communications in the JPDA, and could potentially concern the powers that may be exercised by a person or body under the Act. 

 

It is necessary to ensure that Australia is in a position to give effect to any requirements relating to communications that may arise under the Timor Sea Treaty.  Since the Timor Sea Treaty does not make any provision in relation to radio emission, this means it is therefore necessary to specify the Timor Sea Treaty in the Principal Regulations for the purpose of paragraph 299(1) of the Act.

 

The accompanying Regulations replace the reference to the Timor Gap Treaty in regulation 38 of the Principal Regulations with a reference to the Timor Sea Treaty, being the Treaty defined in subsection 5(1) of the Petroleum (Timor Sea Treaty) Act 2003, as amended from time to time.

 

The accompanying Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA) (see paragraph 6(a) of the LIA).  The Australian Communications Authority (being the body that may exercise powers under the Act) was consulted about the proposed Regulations, however, wider consultation was considered unnecessary due to the minor and machinery nature of the accompanying Regulations (see paragraph 18(2)(a) of the LIA).

 

The accompanying Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.