Part I‑Preliminary

An Act to make provision for the Security and Defence of the Commonwealth during a Time of Transition from War Conditions to Conditions of Peace, and for other purposes Preamble WHEREAS a state of war still exists between His Majesty and Germany, Japan and other countries: AND WHEREAS legislative provision is required in order to bring about a gradual and orderly return to conditions of peace: AND WHEREAS it is now necessary, for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth: (a) to make certain provisions to operate during a time of transition from war conditions to conditions of peace; (b) to make provision for the carrying on or completion, during that time of transition, of arrangements, activities, actions and proceedings entered upon or subsisting in pursuance of certain of the regulations made under the National Security Act 1939‑1946 and of the orders, rules and by‑laws made under those regulations; and (c) to provide for matters incidental to the termination of that Act and of the regulations made thereunder and of the orders, rules and by‑laws made under any of those regulations: BE it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows: ## Part I‑Preliminary ##### 1 Short title \[see Note 1\] This Act may be cited as the Defence (Transitional Provisions) Act 1946‑1973. ##### 2 Commencement This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and forty‑seven. ##### 4 Interpretation (1) In this Act, the National Security Act means the National Security Act 1939, and includes that Act as amended from time to time. (2) Any reference in this Act to a Schedule shall be read as a reference to a Schedule to this Act. ##### 5 Application of Act to Territories Where any regulation, order, rule or by‑law in force by virtue of this Act, contains provisions which specifically require its application in any external Territory, that regulation, order, rule or by‑law shall have effect in that Territory accordingly and this Act shall extend to that Territory to the extent necessary to give effect to that regulation, order, rule or by‑law. ## Part II‑Temporary preservation of certain Regulations and Instruments ##### 6 Operation of certain Regulations (1) The Regulations the titles of which are specified in the first column of the First Schedule, being the Regulations having those respective titles as in force under the National Security Act immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, shall, subject to this Act, be in force until midnight on the thirty‑first day of December, One thousand nine hundred and fifty‑two (in this Act and in the Regulations in force by virtue of this section referred to as “the prescribed time”) and no longer, with such amendments (if any) as are respectively specified in the third column of that Schedule. (2) The Governor‑General may, before the prescribed time, make regulations: (a) repealing any Regulations in force by virtue of the last preceding subsection; and (b) amending any of those Regulations, but so that any such amendment shall be in respect of a matter dealt with by those Regulations. (3) Regulations made under the last preceding subsection may include provision for: (a) conferring original jurisdiction on the High Court in any matter arising under the regulations; (b) defining the jurisdiction of any federal court, other than the High Court, with respect to any matter arising under the regulations; and (c) investing any court of a State with federal jurisdiction with respect to any matter arising under the regulations. ##### 7 Temporary preservation of certain orders (1) The orders specified in the first column of the Second Schedule, as in force immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, shall, subject to this Act, be in force until the prescribed time and no longer, with such amendments (if any) as are respectively specified in the fourth column of that Schedule. (2) A Minister may, before the prescribed time, by order, amend or revoke any order in force by virtue of the last preceding subsection, but so that any such amendment shall be in respect of a matter dealt with by that order. ##### 8 Savings (1) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, each order, rule and by‑law in force or subsisting immediately prior to the commencement of this Act and made under any provision of any Regulations under the National Security Act the title of which is specified in the First Schedule, shall, if the Regulations having the same title as in force by virtue of this Act contain substantially the same provision, be in force or subsisting as if made under the last‑mentioned Regulations and those Regulations shall apply to them accordingly. (2) Subject to the next succeeding subsection, each declaration, determination, exemption, delegation, notice, guarantee, authority, approval, consent, permit, requirement, valuation, certificate, licence, report, register, direction and other instrument or document in force or subsisting immediately prior to the commencement of this Act and made, given, issued or established: (a) under any provision of any Regulations under the National Security Act the title of which is specified in the First Schedule, if the Regulations having the same title as in force by virtue of this Act contain substantially the same provision; (b) under any order, rule or by‑law under any such provision; or (c) under any order specified in the Second Schedule, shall be in force or subsisting as if made, given, issued or established under the Regulations, order, rule or by‑law as in force by virtue of this Act and those Regulations, or that order, rule or by‑law, shall apply to it accordingly. (3) Each award, order and determination in force or subsisting immediately prior to the commencement of this Act and made or given by any industrial authority having power to fix rates of pay or conditions of employment under any regulation under the National Security Act, shall remain in force or subsisting until revoked by competent authority. (4) Each authority constituted or holding office and each person employed, immediately prior to the commencement of this Act: (a) under any provision of any Regulations under the National Security Act the title of which is specified in the First Schedule, if the Regulations having the same title as in force by virtue of this Act contain substantially the same provision; or (b) under any order, rule or by‑law made under any such provision, shall be deemed to be constituted, to hold office or to be employed, as the case may be, under the Regulations, order, rule or by‑law as in force by virtue of this Act. (5) Any contract or agreement: (a) to which the Commonwealth, a Minister or any authority of the Commonwealth is a party; (b) which was subsisting immediately prior to the commencement of this Act; and (c) which was entered into under regulations made under the National Security Act, shall, subject to the next succeeding sub‑section, continue in full force and effect. (6) Where an authority of the Commonwealth is a party to any such contract or agreement and that authority has ceased to exist, the Commonwealth shall be deemed to be substituted for that authority as a party to the contract or agreement. (7) Where, immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, an authority of the Commonwealth constituted under any regulations under the National Security Act was a party to an action or other proceeding and that authority has ceased to exist, the Commonwealth shall be substituted for that authority as a party to that action or proceeding. (8) Where, immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, property or assets were, under any regulations under the National Security Act, vested in an authority of the Commonwealth and that authority has ceased to exist, that property or those assets shall be deemed to be vested in the Commonwealth. ##### 9 Power to amend or revoke orders Any order, rule or by‑law in force by virtue of subsection (1) of the last preceding section may be amended or revoked by the authority having power under any regulations in force by virtue of this Act to make orders, rules or by‑laws with respect to the matter dealt with by that order, rule or by‑law. ## Part III‑Amendment of Certain Acts \[see Note 2\] ##### 10 Amendments of Acts (1) The Acts specified in the first column of the Third Schedule are amended as respectively specified in the second column of that Schedule. (2) Each Act specified in the first column of the Fourth Schedule, as amended by this Act, may be cited in the manner specified in the second column of that Schedule opposite to the reference to that Act in the first column. ##### 11 Amendments of the Seamen’s War Pensions and Allowances Act (1) The Seamen’s War Pensions and Allowances Act 1940 is in this section referred to as the Principal Act. (2) The Principal Act, as amended by this section, may be cited as the Seamen’s War Pensions and Allowances Act 1940‑1946. ## Part IV‑Miscellaneous ##### 13 War‑time compensation preservation (1) In this section, the Regulations means the National Security (Civil Constructional Corps Compensation) Regulations, the National Security (Civil Defence Workers’ Compensation) Regulations and the National Security (War Injuries Compensation) Regulations, as in force immediately prior to the commencement of this Act. (2) Notwithstanding that the Regulations ceased to have effect at midnight on the thirty‑first day of December, One thousand nine hundred and forty‑six (in this subsection referred to as “that time”): (a) any pension granted under the Regulations which is in force at that time, shall, subject to the provisions of the Regulations under which it was granted and the conditions under which it was granted, continue to be payable after that time; (b) any pension, or determination in relation to a pension, granted or made under the Regulations may, in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations under which it was granted or made, be reviewed after that time and any such pension or determination may be varied or cancelled or a new pension or determination may be granted or made; (c) where any right to make a claim for a pension under the Regulations has accrued before that time, the person entitled to make the claim may, within three months after that time, make a claim in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations under which the right accrued; (d) any claim made in accordance with the last preceding paragraph, and any claim, made under the Regulations prior to that time but not dealt with prior to that time, may, after that time, be considered and dealt with in the manner specified in the Regulations; and (e) any person or authority appointed, constituted or specified by or under the Regulations shall, for the purposes of paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this subsection, continue to hold that appointment or to remain constituted or specified after that time, and shall have and may exercise all the powers and functions specified in the Regulations which are necessary to give effect to the provisions of paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this subsection. (3) For the purposes of the last preceding subsection, “pension” includes compensation of a periodical nature. ##### 14 Provisions in respect of orders (1) Sections forty‑eight and forty‑nine of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901‑1941 shall apply to orders, rules and by‑laws made under this Act or made under any regulation in force by virtue of this Act which are of a legislative and not of an executive character, in like manner as they apply to regulations. (2) Orders, rules and by‑laws so made shall not be deemed to be Statutory Rules within the meaning of the Rules Publication Act 1903‑1939. (3) The Acts Interpretation Act 1901‑1941 shall apply to the interpretation of all orders, rules or by‑laws so made in like manner as it applies to the interpretation of regulations, and, for the purpose of section forty‑six of that Act, as so applied, all such orders, rules and by‑laws shall be deemed to be regulations. ##### 15 Trial of offences (1) Any person who contravenes, or fails to comply with, any provision of any regulation in force by virtue of this Act, or of any order, rule or by‑law in force by virtue of this Act, or made under any such regulation, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act. (2) An offence against this Act may be prosecuted either summarily or upon indictment, but an offender shall not be liable to be punished more than once in respect of the same offence. (3) The punishment for an offence against this Act shall be: (a) if the offence is prosecuted summarily‑a fine not exceeding Two hundred dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months; or (b) if the offence is prosecuted upon indictment‑a fine not exceeding One thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. (4) An offence against this Act shall not be prosecuted summarily without the written consent of the Attorney‑General, or a person thereto authorized in writing by the Attorney‑General or of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and an offence against this Act shall not be prosecuted on indictment except in the name of the Attorney‑General or the Director of Public Prosecutions. (5) For the purpose of the trial of a person summarily or upon indictment for an offence against this Act, the offence shall be deemed to have been committed either at the place in which it was actually committed or at any place in which the person may be. (6) In addition to any other punishment, a court may, if it thinks fit, order the forfeiture of any money or goods in respect of which an offence against this Act has been committed. ##### 16 Offences by corporations Where a person convicted of an offence against this Act is a body corporate, every person who, at the time of the commission of the offence, was a director or officer of the body corporate shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence, unless he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge, or that he used all due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence. ##### 17 Power to order recognizances (1) When any person is convicted of an offence against this Act, the court before which he is convicted may, either in addition to or in lieu of any punishment provided for the offence, require him to enter into recognizances with or without sureties to comply with the provisions of the regulations, orders, rules or by‑laws in relation to which the offence was committed. (2) If any person fails to comply with an order of the court requiring him to enter into recognizances, the court may order him to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six months. ##### 18 Delegation of powers under regulations (1) A Minister may, in relation to any matters or class of matters, or in relation to any particular State or part of Australia, by writing under his hand, delegate all or any of his powers and functions under any regulation in force by virtue of this Act (except this power of delegation) so that the delegated powers or functions may be exercised by the delegate with respect to the matters or class of matters, or the State or part of Australia, specified in the instrument of delegation. (2) Every delegation under this section shall be revocable at will, and no delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power or function by the Minister. (3) Where in any regulation in force by virtue of this Act the exercise of any power or function by a Minister, or the operation of any provision of that regulation, is dependent upon the opinion, belief or state of mind of a Minister in relation to any matter, that power or function may be exercised by the person to whom that power or function has been delegated by the Minister or that provision may operate, as the case may be, upon the opinion, belief or state of mind of that person in relation to that matter. (4) Any delegation made by a Minister under the National Security Act which is in force immediately prior to the commencement of this Act and relates to the exercise of any power or function under any regulation in force by virtue of this Act shall continue in force as if made under this Act. ##### 19 General preservation of rights, obligations etc. The provisions of section eight of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901‑1941 shall apply in relation to the termination of the National Security Act 1939‑1946, and of any regulations made thereunder and of any orders, rules and by‑laws made under any such regulation, as if that termination were a repeal and any such regulation, order, rule or by‑law were an Act.