John Watson (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Following the receipt of satisfactory responses, on behalf of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall withdraw 11 notices of disallowance, the full terms of which have been circulated in the chamber and which I now hand to the Clerk.

The list read as follows—

Eight sitting days after today—

Business of the Senate─Notices of Motion Nos.

(1)

Aviation Transport Security Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1), as contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 40 and made under the Aviation Transport Support Act 2004.

(4)

Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) (National Standards) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 2), as contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 9 and made under the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991.

Eleven sitting days after today—

Business of the Senate─Notices of Motion Nos.

(1)

Banking (Prudential Standard) Determination No. 1 of 2006 made under paragraphs 11AF(1)(a) and (b) of the Banking Act 1959.

(3)

Determination of Patient Contribution HIB 07/2006 made under subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

(4)

Determination of Patient Contribution HIB 08/2006 made under subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

(5)

Determination of Patient Contribution HIB 09/2006 made under subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

(6)

Determination of Patient Contribution HIB 10/2006 made under subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

(7)

Determination of Patient Contribution HIB 11/2006 made under subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

(8)

Determination of Patient Contribution HIB 12/2006 made under subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

(9)

Insurance (Prudential Standard) Determination No. 4 of 2006 made under subsection 32(1) of the Insurance Act 1973.

(10)

Life Insurance (Prudential Standard) Determination No. 1 of 2006 made under paragraph 230A(1)(a) of the Life Insurance Act 1995.

I seek leave to incorporate in Hansard the committee’s correspondence concerning these instruments.

Leave granted.

The correspondence read as follows—

Aviation Transport Security Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1), Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 40

30 March 2006

The Hon Warren Truss MP

Minister for Transport and Regional Services

Suite MG.46

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Minister

I refer to the Aviation Transport Security Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1), Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 40. These Regulations amend regulation 9.01 of the principal Regulations, concerning the making of threats regarding aviation security. The Committee raises the following matters with regard to these Regulations.

According to the Explanatory Statement that accompanies this instrument, the purpose of this amendment is to change the culture of persons who travel by air and/or frequent airports. This appears to include changing the behaviour of people regarding the making of jokes about bombs in luggage. Given the significance of this purpose, the Committee would appreciate your advice on whether this strict liability offence should be included in the body of the Act itself instead of in Regulations. The Committee would also appreciate advice about the steps that will be taken to bring this new offence to the attention of persons who travel by air and/or frequent airports.

Secondly, section 17 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 directs a rule-maker to be satisfied that appropriate consultation, as is reasonably practicable, has been undertaken particularly where a proposed instrument is likely to have an effect on business. Section 18 of the Act provides that in some circumstances consultation may be unnecessary or inappropriate. The definition of ‘explanatory statement’ in section 4 of the Act requires an explanatory statement to describe the nature of any consultation that has been carried out or, if there has been no consultation, to explain why none was undertaken. The Explanatory Statement that accompanies this Determination makes no reference to consultation. The Committee therefore seeks your advice on whether consultation was undertaken and, if so, the nature of that consultation.

The Committee also seeks an assurance that future explanatory statements will provide information on consultation as required by the Legislative Instruments Act.

The Committee would appreciate your advice on the above matters as soon as possible, but before 5 May 2006, to enable it to finalise its consideration of these Regulations. Correspondence should be directed to the Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, Room SG49, Parliament House, Canberra.

Yours sincerely

John Watson

Chairman

5 May 2006

Senator John Watson

Chairman

Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances

Room SG49

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Senator Watson

Thank you for your letter of 30 March 2006 regarding the Aviation Transport Security Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. l ). These Regulations amend Regulation 9.01 of the principal Regulations, concerning the making of threats regarding aviation security. The Committee has raised some important matters and I am pleased to be able to address them.

The Committee has sought my advice on whether this offence should be included in the body of the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 (the Act) itself instead of in the Regulations. The Regulation amends an existing offence which was included in the Regulations at the time they were first made, last year. My Department followed the model of the existing offence for this exercise. Also there are other offences established in the principal Regulations so as we were building on an existing model within an existing regime my Department did not see that it is essential that the Act be amended.

The amendment to Regulation 9.01 was brought to the attention of airport operators and the travelling public initially, when the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard MP announced a range of improvements to aviation security in September 2005. A subsequent media statement was also released jointly by Senator the Hon Chris Ellison, Minister for Justice and Customs and myself on the 27 February 2006 announcing the commencement of Regulation 9.01 and the penalties associated with the offence. My Department also wrote to industry leaders outlining the legal impact of the changes to the aviation security framework, as well as highlighting the development and then introduction of the offence in earlier industry meetings.

My Department did not give specific guidance to operators as to how the travelling public should be informed of the new security arrangements but I understand airport operators have a range of publication strategies, including announcements over public address systems and signage, when the existing offence only referred to not making jokes about security. We expect that operators would build on the publication strategies for the existing offence.’

As noted by the Committee the Explanatory Statement that accompanies the amendment makes no reference to consultation. I am aware that consultation is a requirement of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 and that consultation did take place in various aviation industry forums about this amendment. My Department has assured me that in future it will provide information on consultation in explanatory statements as required.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention and I trust this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Warren Truss

Minister for Transport and Regional Services

15 June 2006

The Hon Warren Truss MP

Minister for Transport and Regional Services

Suite MG.46

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Minister

Thank you for your letter of 5 May 2006 responding to the Committee’s concerns with the Aviation Transport Security Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1), Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 40. Your advice has answered most of the Committee’s concerns.

In your response you advise that consultation on the amendment contained in these Regulations did take place in various aviation industry forums. The Committee would appreciate further information on this consultation. In particular which industry forums were involved and what was the outcome of discussions with these bodies.

As a precautionary measure, and in order to allow time for further discussion on this matter, the Committee has agreed to give a notice of motion to disallow these Regulations on Monday 19 June 2006.

The Committee would appreciate your advice on the above matter as soon as possible, but before 14 July 2006, to enable it to finalise its consideration of these Regulations. Correspondence should be directed to the Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, Room SG49, Parliament House, Canberra.

Yours sincerely

John Watson

Chairman

11 July 2006

Senator John Watson

Chairman

Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances

Room SG 49

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Senator Watson

Thank you for your letter of 15 June 2006 regarding my correspondence to you on the Aviation Transport Security Amendment Regulations 2006 (No 1). You asked for further information on which industry forums were involved and what was discussed in consultations leading up to making the regulation.

There are two principal aviation industry forums that my Department deals with, and they are the Aviation Security Advisory Forum (ASAF) and the Regional Industry Consultative Meeting (RICM). ASAF is focussed on major aviation business entities who are now security regulated under the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004. I have attached an attendance list of persons who attended a forum held on 28 June 2006 as an indication of the level of the forum and the level of representation. There are four or five meetings of this forum in any calendar year. RICM focuses on smaller aviation business entities, for example regional airports. The aviation industry is not homogenous so it is best to split consultation roughly on business size; a small regional airport has different security issues to those facing Qantas.

Managing security at airports has changed dramatically following the events of September 11 and it is now widely appreciated that unattended baggage may be a security threat (previously theft was the principal concern). Amongst a range of enhanced security measures that Cabinet agreed last September was the proposal that the Aviation Transport Security Regulations 2004 (the Regulations) be amended to ensure an offence existed which covered leaving baggage unattended in airports. Although this was a submission brought forward by the Attorney-General’s Department my Department was consulted, and agreed in principle with the recommendation. Departmental officers understood that leaving baggage unattended in airports represented a security concern.

When ASAF and RICM were advised that Cabinet had decided that a relevant offence should be written they were already of the view that leaving baggage unattended at airports needed to be better managed. So industry concerns had also contributed to the recommendation that the Regulations be amended to write a relevant offence. Thus while ASAF and RICM were advised this was to note the Cabinet’s decision; in turn that had partly sprung from industry security concerns. Industry’s concerns were that the new arrangements be clear and my Department obtained legal advice on the best way to set out the new offence. This involved building on an existing offence at Regulation 9.01 of the Regulations.

Thank you for raising this matter.

Yours sincerely

Warren Truss

Minister for Transport and Regional Services

Enc

ASAF

Attendees and Apologies for Melbourne 27 & 28 June 06

Updated: 20 June 2006

Name	Surname	Position	Organisation	Dine 27-6	Meet 28-6
Geoff	Askew	Head of Group Security	Qantas	X	X
Chris	Barlow	Chief Executive Officer	Melbourne Airport	X	X
Gary	Bowden	National Security Operations Manager	Virgin Blue	X	X
Warwick	Bull	State Security Manager	OTS, DOTARS	X	X
Matthew	Cocker	Security Manager	Northern Territory Airports Pty Ltd	X	X
Darren	Combie	General Manager, Aviation Security Operations Branch	OTS, DOTARS	X	X
Gabrielle	Crick	A/g Section Head Wheeler Policy Implementation Section	OTS, DOTARS	X	X
Mandy	Davis	Airport Manager, AQIS Victoria	Australian Quarantine Inspection Service	NO	X
John	Diggins	General Manager Development, Operations & Maintenance	Northern Territory Airports Pty Ltd	X	X
Jan	Dorrington	A/g National Director Border Intelligence and Passengers	Australian Customs Service
Richard	Doyle	Manager, Airport Operations	Canberra International Airport	NO	X
Bob	Fraser	A/g National Manager Passengers	Australian Customs Service
Patricia	Georgee	Section Head Legislation Reform Section	OTS, DOTARS	NO	X
Stephen	Goodwin	General Manager of Operations	Brisbane Airport Corporation	NO	NO
Phill	Grabham	Secretariat	OTS, DOTARS	X	X
David	Gray	General Manager, Group Security, Strategy and Support	Qantas	X	X
Rod	Grimshaw	National Security Manager	Toll Priority	NO	X
Scott	Hill	Security Services Manager	Brisbane Airport Corporation	X	X
Michael	Howard	Airservices Manager, Office of Security Risk Management	Airservices Australia	X	X
Cheryl	Johnson	Section Head, Regional Skies	OTS	NO	X
Travis	Jones	Security & Emergency Response Manager	Melbourne Airport	X	NO
John	McArdle	Chief Executive Officer	Adelaide Airport Corporation	X	X
Graham	McCarthy	Operations Auditor / Investigator	Melbourne Airport	X	NO
Jenny	Morris	Section Head Aviation Security Policy	OTS, DOTARS	X	X
John	Nahyna	General Manager Operations	Melbourne Airport	X	X
Rob	OBrien	Terminal Manager	Melbourne Airport	X	NO
John	Rees	Acting Assistant Secretary, Entry Policy & Procedures Branch	Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs	NO	NO
Paul	Retter	Executive Director, OTS	DOTARS	X	X
Phil	Scanlon	National Security Manager	Virgin Blue Airlines	X	X
Vince	Scanlon	Manager Aviation and Infrastructure	Adelaide Airport Corporation	X	X
Andrew	Tongue	Deputy Secretary, OTS	DOTARS	X	X
Derek	Trafford	Compliance & Quality Assurance Manager	Regional Express (Rex Airlines)	X	X
Steve	Whitmore	General Manager Airports Operations	Westralia Airports Corp	X	X
Richard	Windeyer	General Manager	OTS	X	X
		Aviation Security Policy and Legislation Branch
Grant	Woods	General Manager Airport Operations	Sydney Airport Corp	NO	X

Apologies:

Geoff Breust (Rex)	Todd Frew (DIMA)	John Rees (DIMA)
Ron Elliott (SACL)	Stephen Goodwin (Brisbane Airport)	Peter Yuile (AQIS, DAFF)

Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) (National Standards) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 2), Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 9

30 March 2006

The Hon Kevin Andrews MP

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Suite MG.48

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Minister

I refer to the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) (National Standards) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 2), Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 9. These Regulations amend the principal Regulations to give effect to the national standard for the Storage and Handling of Workplace Dangerous Goods. After considering these Regulations, the Committee raises the following matters

First, regulation 8.15 imposes an obligation on an employer to identify hazards that are associated with the storage or handling of dangerous goods at the workplace. Subregulation 8.15(2) supplies a non-inclusive list of matters that are to be taken into account in identifying such hazards. Paragraph 8.15(2)(g) requires an employer to consider ‘the kind and characteristics of incidents associated with the dangerous goods’. The ambit of the word ‘incidents’ is unclear. It is not clear whether it is restricted to incidents at the employer’s workplace, or whether it refers to incidents that have occurred generally at other workplaces. If it has the latter meaning, it is not clear whether an employer is therefore obliged to keep informed regarding such incidents. The Committee would appreciate clarification about this requirement.

Secondly, subregulation 8.27(4) imposes an obligation on an employer to review an emergency plan at certain times. No offence is specified for a failure to comply with this obligation. The Committee would appreciate your advice about whether this is intended to be an offence-creating provision. Further, under subparagraph 8.27(4)(b) the obligation to review an emergency plan arises if there is a change in circumstances at the workplace. The ambit of the phrase ‘change in circumstances’ is unclear and is not defined. The Committee therefore suggests that the subregulation should include some guidance as to what constitutes a ‘change in circumstances’ for this purpose.

The Committee would appreciate your advice on the above matters as soon as possible, but before 5 May 2006, to enable it to finalise its consideration of these Regulations. Correspondence should be directed to the Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, Room SG49, Parliament House, Canberra.

Yours sincerely

John Watson

Chairman

31 May 2006

Mr John Watson

Chairman

Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Mr Watson

Thank you for your letter of 30 March 2006 concerning the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) (National Standards) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No 2) (the Regulations). I provide the following comments in response to the concerns raised in your letter:

1. The ambit of the word ‘incidents’

The term ‘incident’ does not have any special meaning beyond its ordinary use, and as such is not defined in the Regulations. The Macquarie Dictionary defines incident as “an occurrence or event”. The term is used in the Dangerous Goods Regulations at paragraphs 8.04 (4); 8.15(2)(g); 8.16(2)(b); 8.26(b)(ii); 8.27(2)(b)(ii). Each reference lends itself to be interpreted and applied in accordance with the Macquarie Dictionary definition.

2. Identifying hazards—The ambit of ‘the kind and characteristics’

Paragraph 8.15(2)(g) specifies that the employer take into account ‘the kind and characteristics of incidents associated with dangerous goods’. This requires that the employer, in identifying hazards associated with the storage and handling of dangerous goods at the workplace, has regard to the kind and characteristics of any specific occurrence or event at the employers’ workplace associated with dangerous goods, as well as any relevant incidents occurring at other workplaces, of which the employer is aware.

The Regulations do not place an obligation upon the employer to keep informed of incidents occurring outside their workplace. However, under the emplo