Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts [(1) deleted]
(2) A person who,
otherwise than in a prescribed capacity, engages in any operation or carries
out any work or process of a kind that is prescribed pursuant to this Act as
being an operation, or work or process, of the nature of gasfitting, to which
the regulations apply commits an offence unless he holds a certificate of
competency, permit or authorisation granted under this Act and relevant to
that operation or such work or process authorising him so to do.
(3) Regulations made
under this Act may make provision —
(a) for
the administration of a scheme to control and supervise the practice of
gasfitting;
(b) for
the grant of certificates of competency, permits, or authorisations by or on
behalf of the Director which, subject to any restriction, limitation,
condition or extension endorsed thereon pursuant to the regulations, shall
authorise the holder to engage in such operations, or carry out such work or
processes, of the nature of gasfitting as are by those regulations specified
as being matters that can be engaged in or carried out by the holder of a
certificate, permit or authorisation of that grade or kind or as are
specifically referred to therein;
(c)
prescribing the kinds of operation, work or processes that shall be taken to
be of the nature of gasfitting, specifying whether and to what extent and in
what circumstances the regulations shall apply to and in relation to any such
operation, work or process, classifying different grades of certificate and
different kinds of permit or authorisation, prescribing that different classes
of operations, work or processes may be engaged in or carried on only by the
holder of an appropriate grade of certificate or kind of permit or
authorisation, and that a permit or authorisation may have effect only in
relation to a specified place, period, employer, or circumstance;
(d) as
to the examinations and qualifications required of a person desiring to obtain
a certificate, permit or authorisation, and for the conduct of examinations
(including the practical testing of applicants) for, and the issue or
surrender of, specified grades of certificates of competency or kinds of
permit or authorisation, and for the duration and renewal of such permits or
authorisations and the grounds upon which renewal may be refused;
(e)
authorising the Director to delegate his or her powers to a person or body of
persons appointed by the Director, and the exercise by that person or body of
persons of such powers as are so delegated or as are prescribed including the
issue of certificates, permits and authorisations, and the conduct of
inquiries, in the name of the Director;
(f) for
the establishment of systems of inspection, inquiry, and supervision,
including the appointment of persons as inspectors and specifying their duties
and powers;
(g)
creating offences, and providing for the payment, enforcement and recovery of
penalties, fees and charges;
(h)
adopting, by reference to the text as from time to time amended and for the
time being in force, unless a particular text is specified at the time of such
adoption, —
(i)
such rules, regulations, codes, instructions or other
subordinate legislation made, determined or issued under any other Act, or
under any Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth or of the Parliament of
the United Kingdom; or
(ii)
such standards, rules, codes or specifications issued by
Standards Australia, the Australian Gas Association, the British Standards
Institution, or other specified body,
either wholly or in
part or with modifications, as are specified;
(i)
that where by reason of unavailability of materials or
other reason that the Director considers valid any requirement imposed by the
Director cannot be conformed to, the Director may dispense with that
requirement and in lieu authorise in writing in any particular case the use of
materials or any other matters which he or she considers to be appropriate;
(j)
that, in a specified case or a specified class of case, whether on specified
conditions or unconditionally, a person or thing or a class of persons or
things, may be exempted from the provisions of those regulations either wholly
or to such extent as is specified or that the regulations, or any of them,
shall, by Order of the Minister published in the Government Gazette , not
apply in or in relation to specified parts of the State or circumstances;
(k)
requiring a matter affected by them to be in accordance with a specified
standard, specification or requirement or to be as approved by, or to the
satisfaction of, a specified person or body or a specified class of person or
body, or so as to confer on a specified person or body or a specified class of
person or body a discretionary authority; and
(l) as
to any other matter that the Governor thinks necessary for safeguarding
persons and the public interest in relation to gasfitting,
and in this
subsection, specified means specified in the regulation in relation to which
the term is used.
(4) The Director shall
cause to be maintained a register of the persons who are for the time being
the holder of a certificate, permit or authorisation under regulations made
pursuant to this section, and the register shall contain such particulars as
are prescribed.
(5) A certificate
signed by the Director that any person is or is not, or on any particular date
was or was not, the holder of a certificate, permit or authorisation pursuant
to regulations made under this section for the class of operation, work or
process therein specified shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein
contained.
(6) A person desiring
to obtain a certificate of competency, permit or authorisation under
regulations made pursuant to this section may make application therefor to the
Director in the prescribed manner and shall pay the prescribed application
fee.
(7) The Director has
power, where the doing of any act would otherwise constitute a contravention
of the regulations made under this section, to issue a permit or licence,
which may be made subject to such limitations, restrictions or conditions as
the Director endorses upon it, authorising the doing of that act in any case
where for reasons of training, practice, unavoidable circumstances or public
interest it appears to the Director to be necessary or desirable
notwithstanding that a certificate of competency might otherwise have been
required.
(8) Where any person
being the holder of a certificate of competency granted within the
Commonwealth, or of such other qualification as is in the opinion of the
Director satisfactory evidence of competence, makes application to the
Director for a certificate in respect of the same or a similar subject matter
the Director may issue to him a temporary permit.
(9) A permit issued
under subsection (8) —
(a)
shall be returned to the Director at any time the Director, by notice in
writing, so requires;
(b)
authorises that person to do any act specified therein that would otherwise
constitute a contravention of the regulations made under this section, for the
period therein specified or until its return is sooner required under this
subsection; and
(c) is
subject to the limitations, restrictions or conditions endorsed thereon.
(10) A person who,
whether for himself or on behalf of another person, —
(a)
makes, or causes to be made, any falsification in any matter relating to an
application for, or the variation, grant or use of a certificate of
competency, permit or authorisation or as to the renewal of a permit or
authorisation;
(b)
knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, to the Director any forged,
false or fraudulent document, representation or other purported evidence as to
his qualifications or experience;
(c)
personates, or wrongfully represents himself as being, the person referred to
in any document presented to the Director, or in any certificate, permit or
other document granted under this Act;
(d)
makes any false statement upon any inquiry or examination held or conducted
under this Act;
(e)
makes a false statement in any declaration required under this Act; or
(f)
gives a false testimonial to any person for the purposes of, or in relation
to, any application made or to be made under this Act,
commits an offence.
(11) Where it appears
to the Director that a person who is the holder of a certificate of
competency, permit or authorisation under this Act —
(a)
obtained that status by fraud or misrepresentation;
(b) as
the result of a finding of any other authority exercising outside the State
powers similar to those conferred on the Director by this Act, has been at any
time, and in the opinion of the Director should continue to be, disqualified
from engaging in the operations, or carrying out the work or processes,
authorised by a document of that kind;
(c) is
guilty of an offence against this Act;
(ca) is
guilty of an offence committed in the course of carrying out the practice of
gasfitting;
(cb)
engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with the practice of gasfitting;
(d) is
guilty of misconduct in relation to the requirements of safety as regards
gasfitting, by reason of negligence, incompetence or otherwise;
(e) is
addicted to alcohol or any deleterious drug or suffers from any mental or
physical disorder to a degree that renders him unfit to be trusted to perform
his duties as such holder efficiently,
the Director may
allege to the State Administrative Tribunal that there is proper cause for
disciplinary action and, pending the holding of any proceedings commenced by
the allegation, the Director may by order suspend any person, either generally
or to a specified extent, for a period not exceeding 3 months, from acting
under any authorisation or exercising any privilege conferred by any such
document, but if the Director considers that the matter does not require that
any disqualification or suspension be imposed on a person against whom an
allegation could be made to the State Administrative Tribunal, the Director,
after affording to that person an opportunity of giving an explanation either
in person or in writing, may, if that person gives his consent in writing,
deal with the matter summarily, without making an allegation to the State
Administrative Tribunal under the provisions of this subsection.
(12) For the purposes
of investigating or dealing with a person referred to in subsection (11) (the
holder ), the Director —
[(a), (b) deleted]
(c) may
by a summons in the prescribed form require the attendance before the Director
of the holder, and may also require the attendance of any other person that
the Director considers is likely to be able to give evidence or produce
documents touching the matter in question, or who the holder desires to call
as a witness;
(d) may
administer an oath or affirmation to a person attending to give evidence
before him, whether the witness has been summoned or is voluntarily attending,
and the witness may be examined accordingly (but a statement or disclosure
made by a witness is not, except in proceedings before the State
Administrative Tribunal commenced by an allegation under this Act or in
proceedings for giving false testimony, admissible in evidence against him in
any civil or criminal proceedings); and
(e) may
inspect documents or other exhibits produced, may retain them for such
reasonable period as appears to be necessary, and may make copies of so much
of them as is relevant to the matter.
(13) A summons issued
under subsection (12) —
(a) may
require the production of any document or other thing in the custody or
control of the person summoned;
(b) may
be enforced by the Supreme Court or a judge, on application by the Director,
in the same manner as a subpoena to the effect issued by the Supreme Court in
a civil action.
(14) A witness in
proceedings before the Director held pursuant to this section has the same
protection as a witness in a matter before the Supreme Court, and a person who
attends for the purpose of giving evidence is entitled to receive such fees
and allowances as may be allowed in accordance with the prescribed scale.
(15) The Director may
determine that it is in the public interest that proceedings before the
Director under this section, or any part of them, should be heard in camera
and the proceedings shall thereupon be conducted accordingly but any question
as to whether any proceedings should or should not be heard in camera may be
referred to the State Administrative Tribunal, and the State Administrative
Tribunal may reverse the decision of the Director or may confirm it absolutely
or upon conditions which may include conditions intended to protect the
business or interest of any person, and may make such further or other order
as the State Administrative Tribunal thinks fit.
(16) The State
Administrative Tribunal dealing with an allegation against a person made under
subsection (11) may by order —
(a)
disqualify that person and order that the certificate of competency, permit or
authorisation be returned to the Director for cancellation;
(b)
suspend the operation of a certificate of competency, permit or authorisation
in relation to that person, either generally or to a specified extent, for a
period not exceeding 12 months;
(c)
censure him; or
(d)
impose or vary any limitation, restriction or condition,
and the Director
dealing with a matter under that subsection may do anything referred to in
paragraph (c) or (d) and the Director is required to endorse the relevant
document accordingly.
(17) The Director may,
in dealing with a matter under subsection (11) instead of making an allegation
to the State Administrative Tribunal, in addition to or in lieu of imposing
any one or more of the penalties specified in subsection (16), order any
person against whom an order is made to pay such costs and expenses of or
incidental to the proceedings as the Director thinks fit, and where any costs
or expenses are ordered to be paid by any person under this subsection the
amount ordered to be paid shall be recoverable from him in any court of
competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the Director.
(18) Where the
operation of a certificate of competency, permit or authorisation is suspended
generally during the period for which the suspension subsists the holder is
not authorised to do any act that, if done by a person who was not such a
holder, would constitute a contravention of the regulations made under this
section, but if the operation of such a document is suspended only to a
specified extent during the period for which the partial suspension subsists
the holder is authorised to do any other act authorised by that document and
in respect of which the document is not so suspended.
(19) The Director may,
by notice in writing, revoke an order for suspension made by the Director,
either generally or to a specified extent, and may direct in the notice that
the revocation have effect from a date specified in the notice.
(20) A reference in
this section to the Director may be construed as a reference to a person or
body lawfully acting pursuant to a power delegated by the Director under the
regulations.
[Section 13A inserted: No. 87 of 1979 s. 9;
amended: No. 89 of 1994 s. 90 and 93; No. 74 of 2003 s. 60; No. 55 of 2004 s.
410; No. 7 of 2022 s. 30.]