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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
TRANSPORT OPERATIONS (MARINE
SAFETY) AMENDMENT BILL 1996
EXPLANATORY NOTES
The Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment Bill 1996 has
been drafted consistent with current legislative practice and in plain english.
As a consequence particular sections, clauses and subclauses require little
or no specific further explanation and in these Explanatory Notes those
sections, clauses and subclauses may be repeated or summarised in general
terms only.
Statement of Policy Objective
The policy objective of the Bill is to make adjustments to the current
legislative framework for marine safety in Queensland to provide clear
direction for the marine industry and boating public, provide flexibility in
the administration of marine safety, reinforce Government's role in this
administration and preserve the legal status of current operators in the
industry.
Achievement of Policy Objectives
The policy objective is to be achieved by amending the Transport
Operations (Marine Safety) Act 1994 as follows:
· the abolition of the current Maritime Industry Consultative
Council and the creation of a Marine Board of Queensland made
up of 5 persons appointed by the Minister;
The Board will be more effective than the current Maritime
Industry Consultative Council in that its reduced membership of 5
(compared with 12 on the current Council) will ensure greater
focus on the major issues and enable decisions on the form of the
advice or recommendations to be made more easily.
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
The areas where the Board should provide advice and where the
Minister or the Chief Executive are likely to seek advice are also
more clearly defined providing the Board with a clear mandate
to provide that advice.
· the creation of a head of power for the Government to approve the
design of a ship and issue a design approval certificate or issue a
design approval certificate for the design of a ship when a
certificate of compliance for design has been issued by an
accredited person, and to make statements on a certificate of
survey for a ship;
This amendment is required to address difficulties encountered by
some Queensland ship designers, builders and ship owners in
having certificates of survey issued under the current system
recognised in other States. Under the current system, the
Queensland Government is seen by other States as having no
direct involvement in the inspection process. This issue has the
potential to undermine the competitiveness of Queensland's boat
builders in both domestic and export markets.
· the creation of a power for the Chief Executive to exempt a
person or ship from the Regulation. The power will be
constrained by guidelines as to where the Chief Executive should
use the power and a caveat will apply that marine safety and the
efficiency of the maritime industry will be preserved;
The current legislation requires all exemptions to be the subject of
a regulation made by the Governor in Council. This has proved
to be impractical given the lead time required for the Governor in
Council to make a regulation and has involved Cabinet in
considering relatively minor marine safety matters.
· the preservation of instructions and authorisations of the former
Marine Board of Queensland affecting the design, construction
and equipping of ships and the extension of the validity of speed
boat drivers' licences;
This provision preserves the legal status of ships designed, built
and equipped under the previous system indefinitely, provided
they are maintained to a safe standard and also preserves the
validity of the current speed boat drivers licence to 30 June 2002
to allow time for the re-issue of these licences to be co-ordinated
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
with the renewal of vehicle drivers licences over a five year
period.
· the provision of a mechanism for the Chief Executive to set speed
limits and for a shipping inspector to direct that a ship operates
subject to stated safety conditions.
The current Act and Regulation require that speed limits must be
set by regulation made by Governor in Council and the Chief
Executive may only vary such limits by speed sign. This has
proved administratively impractical.
Estimated costs for Government Implementation
The costs of implementing the policy are minimal. The Marine Board of
Queensland will be smaller than the current Maritime Industry Consultative
Council and funding allocated for administrative support to the Council and
the expenses of the Council will be transferred to the Board.
The costs of providing the Government design and approval service will
be offset with fees for services provided to the maximum extent.
The administrative costs for Government will be significantly reduced if
discretional powers for minor safety matters are given to the Chief
Executive, Queensland Transport.
NOTES ON PROVISIONS
Section 1 states the short title of the Act.
Section 2 provides for the commencement of the Act. It provides for
sections 12 and 13 to commence on a date to be fixed by proclamation.
This is to allow for supporting regulation and resources to be put in place. It
also provides for sections 19 and 20 to have commenced on 3 June 1994
which was the date of commencement of the Transport Operations
(Marine Safety) Act 1994.
Section 3 states that this Act amends the Transport Operations (Marine
Safety) Act 1994.
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
Sections 4,6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 17 substitute the new Marine Board for the
Maritime Industry Consultative Council in a number of administrative
provisions.
Section 5 provides for the Chief Executive to exempt a person or ship
from the a regulatory provision.
The chief executive when granting the exemption, may consider there is
substantial compliance or in the particular circumstances compliance is
unnecessary. The chief executive may also take into account that the
proposed action under the exemption application is more effective from a
safety or efficiency perspective than required under the Regulation e.g. a
new safety product not catered for in the Regulation.
An important caveat on the chief executive in granting the exemption is
that the exemption can only be given if it will not adversely effect a safety
outcome or the effectiveness and efficiency of the Marine Industry.
Conditions can be applied to an exemption. Accountability is ensured in that
the Chief Executive, in granting an exemption, must give notice of the full
details of the exemption in the Gazette.
Operations in the marine environment are often very complex and unique
to a particular situation, voyage or location. In recognition of this, other
marine safety jurisdictions at both the State and Federal level have
available a means of granting exemptions from the legislation. The Current
legislation requires all exemptions to be the subject of a regulation made by
the Governor in Council. This has proved impractical given the lead time
required for Governor in Council to make a regulation and has involved
Executive Government in considering relatively minor marine safety
matters. This amendment will enable the Chief Executive to grant
exemptions from technical regulatory provisions while preserving the
present requirement that exemptions from the Act may only be granted by
regulation. Such an exemption power was available to the former Marine
Board under previous legislation. Examples of where exemption powers
have been used in the past and are still required include:
· Safety equipment relaxation for specific cases where assistance is
nearby e.g. an organised raft race or trick skiing event.
· Speed limit exemptions for contestants in power boat races and
major and minor water ski events throughout the state
(conditions are imposed by the Department to ensure the events
are conducted safely)
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
· Relaxation on crewing requirements in special circumstances e.g
a specific cross river car ferry may be able to be operated quite
safely without the crew requirements of a ship that goes to sea.
Section 7 amends section 42 of the Act to provide for an approval by the
chief executive as to the design of a ship to satisfy the general safety
obligation of a person as to the design of a ship. The current provision only
allows for a person to build a ship if a certificate of compliance has been
issued for the ship by an accredited person.
Section 12 amends section 67 of the Act to enable a person to build a ship
if the chief executive has approved the design of the ship.
Section 13 inserts a new division to provide for the chief executive to
approve the design of a ship without a certificate of compliance being issued
if the ship design meets the requirements of marine safety standards
developed under the Act about the design of a ship and issue a design
approval certificate. The division also allows the chief executive to issue a
design approval certificate for a design which has a certificate of compliance
issued by an accredited designer. In addition it provides that the chief
executive may make a statement about the design or survey of a ship in a
certificate of survey.
· This provision is intended to satisfy the requirements of other
State and Commonwealth marine safety jurisdictions that the
design and survey complies with the national Uniform Shipping
Laws Code, particularly when a ship is exported to another State.
The division also provides for a protection from liability for an officer of
the Department who approves the design of a ship under a delegation from
the chief executive. This protection is necessary because the approval of the
design of a ship granted under this provision will form the basis for the
construction of a ship as an alternative to a certificate of compliance of an
accredited person.
Section 14 replaces part 10 of the Act with a new part 10. The effect of
the section is to abolish the Maritime Industry Consultative Council and
establish a Marine Board in its place. The provisions of the new part 10 are
set out below:
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
PART 10--MARINE BOARD OF QUEENSLAND
Division 1--The Board
Section 108 establishes the Marine Board of Queensland.
Section 109 sets out the functions of the Board which include:
· a general advisory role to both the Minister and the Chief
Executive on marine safety issues;
· advice to the Minister on whether a board of inquiry into a marine
incident should be established;
· advice to the Chief Executive on the making of marine safety
standards that establish how a person should satisfy their general
safety obligation under the Act; and
· advice on applications for exemptions under the Act.
The Board may provide advice on its own initiative or on request and
advise either the Minister or the Chief Executive on the above matters.
Section 110 provides for the Minister to appoint a Board of not more than
5 persons including a chairperson.
Division 2--Meetings of Board
Section 111 provides for the times and places of meetings and the calling
of meetings
Section 112 and 113 sets out who is to preside at meetings in the
absence of the chairperson and what constitutes a quorum.
Section 114 sets out how meetings may be held including by telephone or
closed circuit television.
Section 115 makes it a requirement if a member of the Board has a direct
or indirect financial interest in a matter to be considered by the Board and
the interest could conflict with the proper performance of the members
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
duties, to disclose the interest. The disclosure is to be recorded in the Boards
minutes and in any advice to the Minister or the CEO.
Division 3--Provisions about appointed members
Section 116 provides for a member to be appointed to the Board for a
term not longer than 2 years. A person who has completed a 2 year term of
appointment may be further appointed.
Section 117 provides for the entitlement of Board Members to be paid
allowances that may be decided by the Minister and for the Minister to
decide on the terms of a members appointment.
Section 118 and section 119 provide for how a member may resign from
the Board or have his appointment terminated by the Minister.
Division 4--Miscellaneous
Section 120 requires the chief executive to provide administrative support
to the Board.
Section 121 requires the annual report of the Department to include a
report on the operations of the Board.
Section 15 amends section 127 to lengthen the period over which marine
incident reports are compiled from 6 months to 12 Months and also
provides for a longer time after the end of the reporting period in which to
aggregate the data and prepare the final report.
Section 16 amends section 172 to provide for a shipping inspector to be
able to order a master to operate a ship in a certain way to preserve safety.
This provides for an interim measure to ensure safety without stopping the
ship operating altogether.
Section 18 inserts a new Section 206A to provide for the chief executive
to set speed limits for areas of water by gazette notice and to erect speed
signs. The previous provision required that general speed limits had to be
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Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Amendment
set by regulation made by the Governor in Council. Such general speed
limits could not be easily varied even if there was a genuine safety case.
Section 19 amends section 224 to preserve certain instructions of the
former Marine Board. The relevant instructions are defined so as to include
only those that affect the design, construction or equipping of a ship. This
provision preserves the continued operation of ships designed, built and
equipped under the previous system. The section also preserves the validity
of the current speed boat licence to 30 June 2002 to allow time for
conversion to a new licensing system.
Section 20 inserts a new section 224A to provide for the chief executive to
amend or revoke an instruction or authorisation of the former Board about
the design construction or equipping of a ship. The power to amend the
instruction or authorisation expired on 1 January 1996.
· The purpose of this section is to legitimise certain amendments
made by the Department to instructions and authorisations of the
former Board after the Board ceased to exist. The matters deal
only with technical issues and were made in the interests of
marine safety or to preserve industry efficiency.
Section 21 makes a transitional provision to preserve speed limits
previously fixed by regulation until a gazette notice about the speed limit is
published. The provision expires two years after it commences.
© The State of Queensland 1996