Bills Digest No. 52 2003-04
Aviation Transport Security (Consequential Amendments and Transitional
Provisions) Bill 2003
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Aviation
Transport Security (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions)
Bill 2003
Date Introduced: 27 March 2003
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Transport and Regional Services
Commencement: Sections 1-3 of the Bill commence on Royal Assent. The operational
provisions (schedules 1-3) commence on the day that the Aviation Transport
Security Bill 2003 receives Royal Assent.
To amend various aviation security-related legislation
to take account of the new regime proposed by the Aviation Transport Security
Bill 2003 and make various transitional arrangements.
Background
Background to the proposed new aviation security regime
is contained in the Digest(1)
for the Aviation Transport Security Bill 2003.
Items 1-27 repeal various definitions and concepts in existing subsection 3(1) and
sections 3AA and 3AD-AF that deal with aviation security matters. With
the transference of such matters to the proposed Aviation Transport Security Act (ie the Aviation Transport
Security Bill 2003), these definitions
will be redundant.
Items 28 and 29 expand the grounds on which may Minister to
suspend or cancel an international airline licence to include where an
airline or any of its aircraft fail to comply with the proposed Aviation Transport Security Act or associated regulations.
Items 30 and 31 repeal existing Part
3 and 3A respectively. These will be now redundant due to the transference
of aviation security matters to the proposed Aviation
Transport Security Act.
Items 32 and 33 amend section 23A. Section
23A lists what decisions made under the Air Navigation Act 1920 are reviewable by the Administrative Appeals
Tribunal. Some of the decisions are made under existing Part 3 and 3A.
With their repeal under items 30
and 31, they are to be
deleted from the section 23A list.
Item 34 repeals
existing paragraph 26(2)(a) which currently enables the making of regulations
under the Air Navigation Act
1920 for the purposes of aviation security.
This power will be now redundant
as regulations will be made under the proposed Aviation Transport Security Act.
Item 35 repeals
existing section 28, which provides instruments relating to aviation security
under the Air Navigation Act or
regulations are effectively exempt from the provisions of Legislative Instruments Act 1995. That Act was never enacted (ie it
does not exist) and therefore section 28 plays no role.
Existing subsection 8(1) of the Air Services Act 1995 lists the various functions of Airservices Australia.
Paragraph 8(1)(f) include those conferred on it under the Air Navigation Act 1920. Item 1 amends paragraph 8(1)(f) to include
functions conferred by the proposed Aviation Transport Security Act.
Item 2 inserts
a new subparagraph into existing section 13 into the Australian Protective
Services Act 1987. Section
13 details the powers of an Australian Protective Service
Officers to arrest persons without a warrant for offences under various
listed legislation. Item 2
adds the proposed Aviation Transport
Security Act and regulations made under the Act to the list. The Explanatory Memorandum comments that this ‘is in recognition of the
special role which APS officers will have along with police officers acting
as law enforcement officers under the Aviation Transport Security Act’.(2)
It is notable that currently section 13 of the Australian Protective
Services Act 1987 does not
allow for arrest without warrant for an offence created by regulations
made under any of the listed legislation. Also, by including
the proposed Aviation Transport Security Act and regulations
under section 13, persons suspected of (say) being about to commit an
offence under the Act or regulations potentially become subject to proposed
expanded APS powers regarding requiring
a person’s name and address, stopping and searching them etc. These expanded
powers are proposed in the Australian Protective Service Amendment Bill
2003: see discussion in the relevant Digest.(3)
Existing subsection 23(1) of the Crimes (Aviation)
Act 1991 creates offences
of the carrying or placing ‘dangerous goods’ on some aircraft. Subsection
23(2) provides that the offence does not apply to certain situations,
such as when it is done with authority under listed various legislation.
Item 3 adds the proposed Aviation
Transport Security Act or, regulations made under that Act, to this
list.
The Sea Installations
Act 1987 regulates the construction and operation of mainly tourism-related
structures in Commonwealth (as opposed to State) waters. It also applies certain listed Commonwealth
legislation to, amongst other things, the activities of aircraft that
are operating in connection with such structures. Item 4 adds the Aviation
Transport Security Act to this list.
Item 1 provides
the usual general power to make regulations for the carrying out or giving
effect to the Act. It also states that regulations may to be made to allow,
amongst other things:
-
‘particular provisions’ of the Air Navigation Act 1920 to continue to
have affect even once these provisions have been replaced by the proposed
Air Transport Security Act, and
-
transport security programs approved under the Air Navigation Act 1920 to continue in
force as though these programs were approved under the proposed Aviation Transport Security Act.
Item 2 provides
that new subsection 15(2) of the proposed Aviation
Transport Security Act - which requires in certain cases that an aviation
industry participant must comply with the transport security programs
of other participants - does not apply to programs continuing in force
by virtue of item 1 above. The Explanatory Memorandum comments:
This clause has been included because under the new Aviation
Transport Security Act certain persons will have responsibilities to
comply with programs of other people where they have seen the part of
the program which applies to them. It would be unreasonable if this
were extended to persons who are covered under existing programs where
they have not consulted(4) with on the part of the program
which will apply to them.(5)
As
mentioned earlier in this Digest, item
2 of schedule 2 is an expansion of Australian
Protective Services officer’s powers of arrest without warrant. Item 2 also acts to import other significant
new law enforcement powers proposed under the Australian
Protective Service Amendment Bill 2003.
-
Bills
Digest No. 23,
2003–04 http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2003-04/04bd023.pdf.
-
At: p. 3.
-
Bills Digest No.15, 2003-04 http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2003-04/04bd015.pdf.
-
Presumably this is supposed to read ‘have
not been consulted’.
-
At: p. 4.
Angus Martyn
13 October 2003
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
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