{"id":"F2008B00380","name":"Mutual Recognition Act 1992 - Section 32 - Ministerial Declaration (05/12/2000)","slug":"mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":73314,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2008B00380-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Mutual Recognition Act 1992 - Section 32 - Ministerial Declaration (05/12/2000)","content":"MUTUAL RECOGNITION ACT 1992 – S.32\n\nMinisterial Declaration\n\nWhereas no underground coal mines exist in South Australia, we jointly declare that:\n\nI\n\n(a) the occupations which may be carried on only by a person granted a South Australian Certificate Item B in Schedule 1\n\nand\n\n(b) the occupations which may be carried on only by a person granted both Queensland Certificates Items D and F in Schedule 1\n\nare equivalent; and\n\nII\n\n(c) the occupation which may be carried on only by a person granted a South Australian Certificate Item C in Schedule 1\n\nand\n\n(d) the occupation which may be carried on only by a person granted a Queensland \nCertificate Item E in Schedule 1\n\nare equivalent.\n\nDated this 5th day of December 2000\n\nThe Honourable Wayne Matthew MP\n\nSouth Australian Minister for Minerals and Energy and\n\nMinister Assisting the Deputy Premier\n\nDated this 8th day of November 2000\n\nThe Honourable Tony McGrady MP\n\nQueensland Minister for Mines and Energy and\n\nMinister Assisting the Deputy Premier on Regional Development\n\n \nSchedule 1\n\nDOMAINS OF MINING BEING LEGALLY APPLICABLE TO THE STATUTORY CERTIFCATES OF MINE MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY HEREUNDER, \nFOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND QUEENSLAND\n\nThe shaded domain indicates there are no underground coal mines in South Australia.\n\nThe table only depicts those certificates referenced in Ministerial Declarations.\n\n| DOMAIN | METALLIFEROUS | COAL |\n| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- |\n| Open-cut | South Australia: Item BQueensland: Item D | South Australia: Items A, BQueensland: Item F |\n| Underground | South Australia: Item B, CQueensland: Items D, E | South Australia: Items A, B, C |\n\n```html\n

Item

State

Certificate

Statute

A*

South Aust

First class mine manager’s certificate of competency restricted to coal mines

Mines and Works Inspection Act 1920 as amended, and the Mines and Works Inspection Regulations 1966 as amended

B

First class mine manager’s certificate of competency

Mines and Works Inspection Act 1920 as amended, and the Mines and Works Inspection Regulations 1966 as amended

C

First-class underground mine-manager’s certificate of competency

Mines and Works Inspection Act 1920 as amended, and the Mines and Works Inspection Regulations 1998 as amended

D

Q’ld

First-class mine manager’s certificate of competency (metalliferous mines)

S.9(3)(b)(i) Mines Regulation Act 1964 as amended, and Part 13.9 Metalliferous Mining Regulations 1985 as amended

E

First-class mine manager’s certificate of competency (underground metalliferous mines)

S.9(3)(b)(i) and S.9(3)(c) Mines Regulation Act 1964 as amended, and Part 13.9 Metalliferous Mining Regulations 1985 as amended

F

Limited mine manager’s certificate of competency (open-cut coal mines)

S.9(3)(b)(iii) Mines Regulation Act 1964 as amended, S.57(1)(c) Coal Mining Act 1925 as amended and Rule 11 of the Coal Mining Certificate and Winding Licence Rules 1988 as amended

\n```\n\n\\*: Item A was the subject of the Ministerial Declaration on 25 August 2000","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Ministerial Declaration is a technical, targeted use of the Mutual Recognition Act’s power to declare specific occupational certificate equivalences between two States. It does not expand the Act’s mandate or add new regulatory requirements; it simply maps particular State certificates to one another for mutual recognition purposes. Therefore it does not represent a change in scope beyond the Act’s original purpose of facilitating interstate recognition of occupational qualifications."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single‑instrument ministerial declaration (one page)","Two explicit equivalence mappings (I and II) — low branching logic","Schedule 1 lists 6 certificate items (A–F) cross‑referenced to multiple State statutes","Cross‑references to multiple State Acts and Regulations in Schedule 1 (adds interpretive work)","Contextual caveat in Schedule 1 that South Australia has no underground coal mines (affects applicability)","Reference to a prior related declaration for Item A (25 Aug 2000) — requires checking for cumulative effects","Table formatting and labelling (Items, States, statutes) may require cross‑checking to interpret exact scope"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this instrument does (mechanically)**\n\n- This is a Ministerial Declaration made under section 32 of the Mutual Recognition Act 1992. It formally declares that particular mine‑management certificates issued in South Australia and Queensland are \"equivalent\" for the purposes of mutual recognition.\n\n- The declaration makes two concrete equivalence mappings (see Schedule 1):\n - South Australian Certificate Item B (first‑class mine manager’s certificate of competency) is declared equivalent to the combination of Queensland Certificates Items D and F (first‑class mine manager’s certificate for metalliferous mines, and a limited mine manager’s certificate for open‑cut coal mines) (I(a)–(b)).\n - South Australian Certificate Item C (first‑class underground mine‑manager’s certificate) is declared equivalent to Queensland Certificate Item E (first‑class mine manager’s certificate for underground metalliferous mines) (II(c)–(d)).\n\n- The Schedule attached lists the certificate items (A–F) and the statutes/regulations in each State that create those certificates. The Schedule also notes that South Australia has no underground coal mines (so some coal‑specific certificates do not apply in SA).\n\n**Who this affects**\n\n- Individual mine managers and prospective mine managers who hold (or seek) the listed South Australian or Queensland certificates. Under the Mutual Recognition Act, a declared equivalence means a holder of one State’s certificate can rely on that equivalence when seeking to be recognised in the other State.\n\n- State regulators and employers in the mining sector, because they must treat declared equivalent certificates as meeting the other State’s entry/registration requirements (subject to the Mutual Recognition Act’s procedural rules and any public interest exceptions in that Act).\n\n**Why it matters (claimed purpose, and practical implications)**\n\n- The stated purpose of such declarations under the Mutual Recognition Act is to facilitate movement of workers and mutual acceptance of professional/occupational qualifications between States. This declaration aims to remove the need for duplicate certification when a mine manager moves between South Australia and Queensland for the occupations covered.\n\n- Practical implications: a person who holds one of the declared certificates should be able to seek recognition or registration in the other State without repeating all licensing examinations or re‑training that would otherwise be required, reducing friction in labour mobility for the covered mining roles. Employers hiring interstate are less likely to face administrative barriers when employing mine managers with the declared certificates.\n\n**Costs, incentives and trade‑offs**\n\n- Who pays: administrative costs of implementing recognition (record‑keeping, processing applications) fall on State regulators; benefits (reduced duplication) accrue to certificate holders and employers in mining. Any incremental enforcement or compliance cost (for example, checking equivalence) is borne by regulators.\n\n- Safety and competence trade‑off: the declaration treats the listed certificates as equivalent even where the underlying State statutes and regulatory regimes differ (Schedule 1 lists different Acts and Regulations that create each certificate). If those regimes set different training, experience, or operational conditions, regulators must rely on the declared equivalence rather than re‑testing. That creates a small implementation risk that differences in on‑the‑ground competencies or scope (for example, coal vs metalliferous operations, open‑cut vs underground) are not fully aligned in practice.\n\n- Scope limits and substitution effects: the Schedule expressly notes that South Australia has no underground coal mines. That makes some coal‑specific certificates irrelevant in practice within SA, limiting the practical effect of equivalences that involve coal certificates for SA operations.\n\n- Concentration of benefit and diffuse cost: the benefits are concentrated on holders of the specific certificates and their employers; any potential costs (such as minor regulatory adjustment or oversight differences) are dispersed across regulators and the public. The instrument itself does not create new regulatory fees or broad obligations beyond mutual recognition.\n\n**Implementation, discretion and compliance burden**\n\n- Implementation is largely administrative: State regulators must accept declared equivalences under the Mutual Recognition Act’s rules and update registers and application processes accordingly. The declaration does not itself change the substantive content of the State statutes that issue the certificates — it only records equivalence for mutual recognition purposes.\n\n- Discretion: the choice of which certificates to declare equivalent is ministerial. The instrument demonstrates that Ministers can select particular certificate items for equivalence (the table shows multiple items and there was a prior declaration for Item A). That creates a predictable mechanism but also means scope is driven by ministerial decisions rather than automatic harmonisation of underlying qualification standards.\n\n**Net effect (mechanical)**\n\n- The declaration reduces administrative barriers to interstate practice for the named mine‑management certificates between South Australia and Queensland (subject to the Mutual Recognition Act’s procedures and any exceptions in that Act). It is a targeted, technical mapping of specific certificates rather than a change to the underlying State statutes that create those certificates.\n\n(References: Ministerial Declaration under s.32, dated 5 December 2000; Schedule 1 listing Items A–F and the creating statutes.)"},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a discrete ministerial declaration made under section 32 of the Mutual Recognition Act 1992. It performs exactly the function intended by that section: declaring equivalent occupational registrations between states for the purpose of mutual recognition. The scope remains tightly confined to the specific mining certificates listed."},"complexity_factors":["Requires cross-referencing between the declaration text, Schedule 1 table, and detailed certificate table to understand the full mapping","Multiple nested conditions: domain (metalliferous vs coal) × method (open-cut vs underground) × state × certificate letter","Implicit logic requiring reader to infer that 'Items D and F' means holding both certificates simultaneously, not either/or","References to external state legislation (South Australian Mines and Works Inspection Act 1920, Queensland Mines Regulation Act 1964, etc.) without providing their content","Footnote reference to prior declaration (Item A, 25 August 2000) that is not included in this document"],"plain_english_summary":"This 2000 agreement uses the Mutual Recognition Act to let certain mine managers licensed in South Australia or Queensland work in the other state without requalifying, by recognising equivalent first‑class and underground mine manager certificates. It removes duplicative licensing barriers for managers moving between states and speeds worker mobility in the mining sector.\n\nCaveat: South Australia has no underground coal mines, so that category is not applicable there."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000","history":"/api/acts/mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000/history","analysis":"/api/acts/mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/mutual-recognition-act-1992-section-32-ministerial-declaration-05-12-2000/documents"}}