Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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AIRPORTS (BUILDING CONTROL) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1997 NO. 200

STATUTORY RULES 1997 No. 200

Authority of the Minister for Transport and Regional Development

Airports Act 1996

Airports (Building Control) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 252 of the Airports Act 1996 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters:

(a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or

(b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Paragraph 100(1)(d) provides that the regulations may make provision for and in relation to fees in respect of applications for approvals authorising building activities to be carried out on airport sites.

Paragraph 107(1)(d) provides that the regulations may make provision for and in relation to fees in respect of applications for the issue of certificates of compliance.

The amendments to the Airports (Building Control) Regulations (the Regulations) set the level of the fees the Airport Building Controller appointed under the Regulations can charge for the provision of building control services as specified under the regulations.

The fees cover approvals (including variations or amendment) of proposed building and works and demolition works. Apart from demolition works, which attracts a flat fee of $400, the fees payable vary according to the value of the proposed building or works. A fee is also payable for the issue of a certificate of compliance when the building or engineering works have not been the subject of a prior approval under the regulations, for example, if a change of use is sought for a building.

The amendments introduce a fee structure based on an estimate of the cost of the building or engineering works. This measure is accepted in the Australian building industry as the best available measure of the complexity of a project and thus the associated time and effort an airport building controller would have to devote to assessing an application to ensure compliance with the statutory requirements.

The amendments also insert a right of appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal from decisions of the Airport Building Controller on the estimated amount of time to investigate a building or structure for the issue of a certificate of compliance. A number of minor amendments are also made to ensure the correct term "certificate of compliance" is used in the table in regulation 5.02.

The amendments to the Regulations commenced upon notification in the Gazette.