Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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PORTS MANAGEMENT (REPEALS AND RELATED AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 2015

Madam Speaker , I move that the bill be now read a second time.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Ports Management (Repeals and Related and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2015 (Serial 113).

As I explained in the November 2014 sittings when introducing the Ports Management Bill, my government is committed to implementing an improved regulatory regime for designated ports in the Northern Territory and to facilitate a commercially efficient Port of Darwin which will expand and grow in line with the Northern Territory economy.

The Ports Management (Repeals and Related and Consequential Amendment) Bill 2015 - hereafter referred to as the consequential bill - has been drafted to deal with a number of minor, related or consequential issues which were not incorporated into the Ports Management Bill due to time constraints. These relate in the main to conversion of offences within the Marine Act to ensure compliance with Part 2AA of the Criminal Code Act, consequential amendments as a result of the impending repeal of the Darwin Port Corporation Act and other minor amendments which have been identified since the introduction of the Ports Management Bill in the November 2014 sittings.

The consequential bill amends a number of acts and regulations to support the operation of the new regulatory regime created by the Ports Management Bill. Under the Litter Act, the Darwin Port Corporation currently has a legislative ability to issue infringement notices for offences. Advice from the corporation is that it has never used this power. Given the expected move to a private operator of the port, the consequential bill removes all references to the corporation from the Litter Act and also removes the power of the corporation to issue infringement notices. However, the minister retains the power under section 5 of the Litter Act to appoint a person to be an officer for the purposes of the act. This will allow the private port operator to seek appointments should litter enforcement become a significant issue at the port.

Section 8 of the Litter Act also has been amended to replace the Darwin Port Authority as a body which can certify ownership of vessels for prosecution purposes with the Boat Registration Authority as defined.

The majority of the amendments to the Marine Act contained in the consequential bill are to ensure that offences are compliant with Part 2AA of the Criminal Code Act. In addition, the consequential bill amends the definition of ‘marine incident’ to make it clear that it covers incidents involving all types of vessels, not just domestic commercial vessels; removes a number of offences relating to obstructing officers or crew members in the course of their duties, and inserts them into a new dedicated obstruction offence section; amends the forfeiture of dangerous goods provisions and offences in relation to navigation aids so they mirror equivalent provisions within the Ports Management Bill; reinstates an obligation on the master of a recreational vessel to report marine incidents in which they are involved; transfers the function of administrative review of decisions made by the Director, from the Local Court to the recently-created NT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal; includes moorings as structures which must be approved by the Director under section 188A; provides a power to the minister to close waters for more than 48 hours; and includes a transitional provision to allow the Local Court to finalise any administrative appeal lodged but not determined at that time of commencement of the consequential bill.

The Port of Darwin is currently exempt from the legislative requirements to register and be licensed as a major hazards facility under the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations. Given the expected move to a private operator of the port, this blanket exemption has been removed by the consequential bill. However, the consequential bill provides that section 15, Chemicals in transit in a designated port, are not to be considered when determining whether a port is a major hazards facility. ‘In transit’ is defined to include goods which are supplied or stored or used at a workplace and which are kept at the workplace for no more than five consecutive days.
The effect of these amendments is that the Port of Darwin will continue to not be categorised as a major hazards facility unless it materially changes its methods of storage and handling of dangerous goods. Should this occur it will be required to comply with the major hazards facility requirements under the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations. The consequential bill makes a minor amendment to the AustralAsia Railway (Special Provisions) Act to remove reference to the Darwin Port Corporation and replace it with reference to the Northern Territory. The consequential bill makes a minor amendment to the Fisheries Regulations by replacing the current definition of the Darwin Port with the definition included in the Ports Management Bill.

To ensure consistency the consequential bill amends regulation 161(b) of the Marine (General) Regulations by referring to pilotage area as defined in the Ports Management Bill. It also removes Regulation 23 which prescribes the Darwin Port Corporation as the operator of the Coast Radio Darwin. This role is now redundant as it is being undertaken by a private third party.

The consequential bill amends regulation 37 of the Marine Pollution Regulations to update who should be notified of reportable incidents. Specifically, reference to the Marine Branch, the Harbourmaster and the Darwin Port Corporation have been removed and replaced with the Regional Harbourmaster and the Port Management Officer for a designated port. This is in line with the new regulatory regime under the Ports Management Bill.

The Northern Territory Environment Protection Agency has requested that it also be included in the list of agencies to be notified given it has taken over administration of the Marine Pollution Act and Regulations. This has been incorporated into the consequential bill. Reference to the Harbourmaster Nabalco Pty Ltd Gove Harbour, has also been replaced with Harbourmaster, Alcan Gove Pty Ltd, Gove Harbour.

The consequential bill repeals a number of marine (pilotage) regulations given the removal of pilotage provisions from the Marine Act into the Ports Management Act.

The consequential bill makes a very minor amendment to the Mining Management Act by replacing the current reference to Darwin Port Corporation with a reference to the port operator as defined in section 3 of the Ports Management Bill. The consequential bill also makes a number of minor amendments to the Ports Management Bill including:

· amending the definitions of ‘buoy’ and ‘Port of Darwin’

· amending reference to the Darwin Port Corporation Act to include ‘(Repealed)’, given the expected move to a private operator of the port

· ensuring that the powers to approve the erection of structures in waters within designated ports are in line with the powers in section 188A of the Marine Act for approval of structures in other waters

· clarifying that section 87(1) record keeping and reporting obligations of a pilotage services provider only extends to incidents involving a licensed pilot employed or engaged by the provider or a vessel that he or she has charge of

· inserting a specific regulation-making power in section 127 to ensure that the regulator has the discretion to determine any matters about which guidelines should be issued among the prescribed matters relating to access policies and related reports

· inserting a specific regulation-making power in section 131 in relation to the provision and publication of price determinations by the Regulator, and the requirement that a price determination must specify its expiry date, and
· inserting a specific regulation-making power in section 154 to ensure that regulations can be made to prescribe fees payable under the act.

In closing, I would like to restate that the consequential bill makes relatively minor and non-controversial amendments to a number of acts and regulations to support the operation of the new regulatory regime created by the Ports Management Bill.

I commend the bill to honourable members, and table a copy of the explanatory statement to accompany the bill.

 

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