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CONTENTS
Transport Legislation Amendment (Search and Rescue
Service) Bill 1997
Date Introduced: 25 June 1997
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Transport and Regional
Development
Commencement: The Act commences on the earlier of
a day to be fixed by proclamation or six months after receiving
Royal Assent.
To:
- facilitate the amalgamation of the Commonwealth's civil
maritime and aviation search and rescue coordination functions into
one national centre, and
- increase the number of ordinary members on the Board of the
Australian Maritime Safety Authority from three to four and allow
for the appointment of a Department officer to the Board at the
discretion of the Minister.
Australia has accepted responsibility for search and rescue for
an area of 47,000,000 square kilometres.This represents
approximately 11 per cent (or one ninth) of the earth's surface.The
search and rescue region extends from longitude 75 degrees east to
163 degrees east and from Antarctica (to 90 degrees south) to the
boundaries with Sri Lanka, Indonesia, PNG, the Solomon Islands and
Fiji.(1)
The areas of aviation and maritime search and rescue
responsibility are congruent, except that in respect of aviation
search and rescue, the land masses of Australia and part of
Antarctica are included (whereas they are not included for maritime
rescue for obvious reasons).The area of responsibility is shown
below.
Source: AusSAR
On 15 January 1997, the Minister for Transport and Regional
Development announced the establishment of a national centre for
coordination of Australia's civil search and rescue activities.(2)
The new centre, to be called 'AusSAR, The Australian Search and
Rescue Organisation', will be managed by AMSA and located in
Canberra.
The Minister's decision followed from the recommendations of a
review by an independent consultant, Patrick Crone, into the
effectiveness of the Government's search and rescue
arrangements.That report is not publicly available.
Until 1 July 1997, the coordination of civil maritime search and
rescue services was undertaken by the Australian Maritime Safety
Authority (AMSA) as one of the functions of that authority set out
in the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990.(3)
AMSA was obliged to perform that function in a manner consistent
with Australia's obligations under the Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea 1974 and the International
Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue 1979.(4) AMSA
coordinated maritime rescues from Canberra.
The International Convention on Maritime Search and
Rescue 1979 provides:
Parties shall ensure that necessary arrangements are made for
the provision of adequate search and rescue services for persons in
distress at sea round their coasts.
The Convention then goes on to detail preparatory measures and
operating procedures in respect of emergency search and rescue.
Until 1 July 1997, the coordination of civil aviation search and
rescue services was undertaken by Airservices Australia (AA) as one
of the functions of that body set out in the Air Services
Act 1995.(5) AA was obliged to perform that function in a
manner consistent with Australia's obligations under the Chicago
Convention on International Civil Aviation, as amended.(6) AA
operated aviation rescue coordination centres in Melbourne and
Brisbane.
The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation
provides:(7)
Every contracting State undertakes to provide such measures of
assistance to aircraft in distress in its territory as it may find
practicable, and to permit, subject to control by its own
authorities, the owners of the aircraft or authorities of the State
in which the aircraft is registered to provide such measures of
assistance as may be necessitated by the circumstances.Each
contract State, when undertaking search for missing aircraft will
collaborate in coordinated measures which may be recommended from
time to time pursuant to the Convention.
It was AMSA which coordinated the search for and rescue of the
yachtsmen Raphael Dinelli, Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore.
Concern has recently resurfaced over the handling of a search
and rescue operation undertaken by AA and AMSA involving a yacht,
called Red Baron.(8) That incident serves as an example of
the impetus for the measures contained in this Bill, and it is
worthwhile to outline the incident.
On 1 December 1995, Mark Whelan and Stephen Gill left Macquarie
Harbour, Tasmania on the Red Baron.The Red Baron
was a fishing vessel and Mr Whelan was the skipper.Mr Gill owned
the vessel but whilst on the vessel acted in accordance with the
directions of the skipper. Late that night the vessel began taking
on water and the fishermen abandoned the ship at approximately
11.00pm.
Mr Gill was able to make it to shore.Mr Whelan died.The
Tasmanian Coroner concluded that the time of Mr Whelan's death was
between 4.00am and 5.00am on 2 December 1995.(9)
A reasonable search area was verified by satellites at 1.00am on
2 December 1995.A search plane took off from Cambridge, Tasmania at
2.20am and confirmed the position of the portable beacon at about
3.30am. The Coroner found:
whilst the Tas Air plane was capable of night flying and managed
to pinpoint the general area in the dark, it could not land on
water.Clearly the ideal aircraft for a search of this nature would
be a helicopter but I was told there was neither a helicopter
equipped, nor a helicopter pilot qualified, for night flying
stationed in Tasmania...
Apparently there is an arrangement whereby, should Tasmania
require the services of a night-flying helicopter in an emergency,
a request can be made to Victoria Police for the use of one of
their night-rated aircraft to be flown from either Melbourne or the
Latrobe Valley...However, again because of the distance involved,
it was
unlikely one could have been on station around Strahan until
first light by which stage our local helicopter had been expected
to be in the air.
It seem clear that AMSA were told by AA that a night rescue
helicopter was not available in Tasmania.It appears that at no
stage did anyone in AMSA ask AA whether there was a night rescue
helicopter available in Victoria. It has been asserted that there
were in fact three night rescue helicopters available in Victoria
on the night of the incident.It is not clear how long it would have
taken such a helicopter to fly to the search area.
AMSA did not assume formal responsibility for coordinating the
rescue until 4.00am.This is because AA was responsible for locating
the beacon and it was not until that time when it was confirmed to
be a maritime incident that formal coordination for the search and
rescue response rested with AMSA.(10)
Mr McGrath, the executive officer of AMSA said:
I think it is quite obvious, in looking at the overall handling
of this particular incident that it was not the best of our
responses.We acknowledge that, and we acknowledged that from the
start.That is one of the reasons why we took the internal review.We
have also been quite open in our dealings with the coroner and
others about that.(11)
The reality is the coordination arrangements were inadequate at
the time.There was no appropriate mechanism for determining which
authority had responsibility. There were problems in the
coordination.
The amendments are set out in four schedules.
Schedule 1 - Amendment of the Australian Maritime Safety
Authority Act 1990
Items 1 to 4 of Schedule 1
amend the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990 to
insert an additional object; namely, to provide for a national
search and rescue service.The provision of that service must be in
a manner consistent with the international conventions referred to
in the background above.
At present AMSA consists of a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson,
Chief Executive Officer, an officer of the Department of Transport
and Regional Development specified by the Minister and 3 other
members.Item 5 provides the Minister with a
discretion to appoint a departmental officer to the
authority.Item 6 increases the number of 'other
members' from 3 to 4.The increase in membership is said to reflect
the increased responsibilities of AMSA and to enable it to appoint
a member with aviation experience.(12)
Schedule 2 - Amendment of the Air Services Act
1995
These amendments remove the obligation cast on AA, in the
Air Services Act 1995, to provide search and rescue
services.Correspondingly the Governor General's power to make
regulations under that Act in relation to search and rescue is
repealed.
Schedule 3 - Amendment of the Civil Aviation Act
1988
As a result of these amendments the Civil Aviation Safety
Authority may make civil aviation safety standards and the Governor
General may make regulations relating to the planning,
construction, establishment, maintenance, operation and use of
search and rescue services to the extent that those services use
aircraft.
Schedule 4 - Transitional
This schedule provides for the transfer of assets from AA to
AMSA.The assets which are transferred are those identified in a
written determination by the Minister or authorised officer of the
Department.Any capital gains tax consequences of the transfer are
excluded and provision is made for a determination of the value of
the transferred assets and a corresponding adjustment to the
capital accounts of AA and AMSA.
The motivation for the transfer of civil aviation rescue to AMSA
and into a national centre lies in the desire for better
coordination of aviation and maritime search and rescue.The
government has said that it does not expect significant immediate
financial benefits because of initial establishment costs.
To put matters in perspective, there is no doubt that the number
of successful rescues effected by the maritime safety division of
AMSA (now AusSAR) dwarf the 'less than best' responses such as
Red Baron.The effect of this legislation is to attempt to
remove an impediment to allow the service to operate even more
effectively.
As from 1 July 1997, total responsibility for both civil
aviation and maritime search and rescue lies with AMSA through
AusSAR.To again quote from Mr McGrath in Senate Estimates:(13)
All I can say is that, as of 1 July when we take the total
responsibility, if we do it again [referring to the Red
Baron incident], you can kick us harder.
Senator Collins in response:
- Minister for Defence (Robert Ray), Senate Hansard, p. 721, 30
August 1995.
- Minister for Transport and Regional Development (John Sharp),
'New national search and rescue centre announced', Press release,
15 January 1997.
- Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990, section
6(1)(b).
- ibid., section 7.
- Air Services Act 1995, section 8(1)(b)(iv).
- ibid., section 9(3).
- Article 25.
- Senate Estimates Committee on Transport and Regional
Development, 10 June 1997, pp166, 195-207
- Inquest into the Death of Mark Nicholas Whelan, 8 November
1996. Coroner: Magistrate I R Matterson.
- Senate Estimates Committee on Transport and Regional
Development, 10 June 1997, p201
- Senate Estimates Committee on Transport and Regional
Development, 12 June 1997, p329
- Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport and
Regional Development (Michael Ronaldson), House of Representatives,
Hansard, p. 5955, 25 June 1997.
- Senate Estimates Committee on Transport and Regional
Development, 12 June 1997, p329
Lee Jones
8 August 1997
Bills Digest Service
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This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other
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ISSN 1328-8091
Commonwealth of Australia 1997
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
1997.
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Last updated: 12 August 1997
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