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13893 Cat. No. 97 2916 X ISBN 0644 519479
1998
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
AUSTRALIAN RADIATION PROTECTION AND NUCLEAR
SAFETY (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1998
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority
of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Family Services,
the Hon. Trish Worth, MP)
AUSTRALIAN RADIATION PROTECTION AND NUCLEAR SAFETY (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1998
GENERAL OUTLINE
The purpose of this Bill is to make consequential changes to the
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 (the
ANSTO Act) and to provide for transitional arrangements to cover the operation
of controlled facilities and the handling of radiation sources while
applications for licences to cover these facilities and activities are being
made under the proposed Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety
Act 1998.
For this purpose, the Bill:
(a) repeals Parts VI and
VIIA of the ANSTO Act under which, respectively, the Safety Review Committee and
the Nuclear Safety Bureau are established, as the functions of the Committee and
Bureau will be transferred to the CEO under the Australian Radiation
Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998;
(b) makes transitional
arrangements for the transfer of the assets and liabilities of the Nuclear
Safety Bureau to the Commonwealth, and confers on the CEO ARPANSA the powers of
the Director of the Nuclear Safety Bureau in relation to the Australian Nuclear
Science and Technology Organisation during the transitional period before the
offences provisions commence to operate under the Australian Radiation
Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1989.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act
1998 will not have any significant financial impact for the Commonwealth.
There will be notional transfers of monies between Commonwealth
Departments.
AUSTRALIAN RADIATION PROTECTION AND NUCLEAR SAFETY (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1998
NOTES ON CLAUSES
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
Clause 1 - Short
title
This is a formal provision that specifies the short title of
the Act as the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety
(Consequential Amendments) Act 1998.
Clause 2 -
Commencement
Subclause 2(1) provides that, except for Items 5
and 6 in Part 1 of Schedule 1, the Bill will commence on the same day as the
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998
commences.
Subclause 2(2) provides that Items 5 and 6 in Part 1 of
Schedule 1 of the Bill will commence on:
(a) the day the Public Service
Act 1998 commences; or
(b) the day the Australian Radiation Protection
and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 commences;
whichever of the two days
above should first occur.
Clause 3 - Schedule
This clause
provides that, subject to clause 2, every Act specified in the Schedule to this
Act is either amended or repealed as set out in that Schedule, and any other
item included in the Schedule is to have effect according to its
terms.
SCHEDULE 1 - AMENDMENTS AND TRANSITIONALS
PART
1 - AMENDMENTS
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation Act 1987
Items 1 and 3 of this Schedule have the
effect of repealing Parts VI and VIIA of the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation Act 1987 under which, respectively, the Safety
Review Committee and the Nuclear Safety Bureau are established The functions of
the Committee and Bureau will be transferred to the CEO under the Australian
Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998.
Item 2 increases the contract amount applying under section 31 of the
ANSTO Act from $1 million to $5million.
Item 4 omits references to
sections 37D, 37N and 37T in paragraph 42(1)(b) of the ANSTO
Act.
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act
1998
Items 5 and 6 will make consequential changes to the
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 after it
commences to operate, to take into account changes under the Public Service
Act 1998 that will affect paragraphs 15(2)(c) and subclause 16(1) of the
ARPANS Act.
PART 2 - TRANSITIONAL
Item 7 -
Transfer of assets and liabilities of the Nuclear Safety
Bureau
Subitem 7(1) provides that at the time this Act
commences to operate, the assets and liabilities of the Nuclear Safety Bureau
are transferred to the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth becomes the Bureau's
successor in law in relation to an asset or liability so
transferred.
Subitem 7(2) provides that any instrument or document
relating to a transferred asset or liability continues to have effect after this
Act commences as if a reference in that instrument or document to the Nuclear
Safety Bureau were a reference to the Commonwealth.
Subitem 7(3)
sets out the meaning of words used in Subitem 1(1), including
“asset” and “liability”.
Item 8 - Powers of
the CEO during the transition period
Subitem 8(1) provides
that despite the repeal by this Act of Part VIIA of the Australian Nuclear
Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 (the ANSTO Act) , the
CEO of ARPANSA (an office established under the Australian Radiation
Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 - the “ARPANS Act”)
is, for a period beginning on the day this Act commences until the day the
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation is either granted or
refused a licence under sections 20 or 21 of the ARPANS Act, to be treated as
having all the powers and functions conferred under Part VIIA of the ANSTO Act
on the Director of the Nuclear Safety Bureau in relation to the Australian
Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Subitem 8(2) sets
out the meaning of certain words used in subitem 8(1), including
“ANSTO”, and “CEO”. “ANSTO transition
period” refers to the period beginning on the day on which the ARPANS Act
commenced and ending on the day on which ANSTO is granted or refused any licence
under section 20 of the ARPANS Act.
Item 9 - Prohibitions not to apply to certain activities and
persons
Subitem 9(1) provides that if, during the transition
period, a person lodges an application for a licence under the Australian
Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1989 to cover specified
activities to be undertaken by specified persons, then the prohibitions
contained in sections 18 and 19 of that Act do not apply in respect of those
specified activities in relation to the specified persons until the application
is either granted or refused.
Subitem 9(2) provides that the
“transition period” refers to the period of 6 months beginning on
the day on which the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act
1989 commenced.