Commonwealth act

Petroleum (Ashmore and Cartier Islands) Act 1967

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

124 of 1967

Collection

act

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

This law allows petroleum (oil and gas) exploration and mining in the Ashmore and Cartier Islands territory by applying Australia's offshore petroleum laws to these remote islands.

What it does:

Takes the existing rules from the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 (which normally governs offshore oil and gas) and applies them to the Ashmore and Cartier Islands.
Treats the islands as if they were underwater seabed for the purposes of petroleum licensing and regulation.
Specifies that if there's a legal dispute about the petroleum titles register, the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory (not a federal court) handles it.

Why it matters: Ashmore and Cartier Islands are remote Australian territories near Indonesia. This Act ensures that any oil or gas discoveries there can be developed under the same licensing system used for Australia's offshore petroleum industry, avoiding the need for a completely separate set of rules.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Petroleum (Ashmore and Cartier Islands) Act 1967.

Petroleum (Ashmore and Cartier Islands) Act 1967

Petroleum (Ashmore and Cartier Islands)

No. 124 of 1967

An Act relating to the Exploration for, and the Exploitation of, the Petroleum Resources of the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands.

[Assented to 22 November 1967]

BE it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Petroleum (Ashmore and Cartier Islands) Act 1967.

Commencement.

This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.

Application of Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act.

3.—(1.) The Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967, and any Act with which that Act is incorporated, have effect in relation to the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands as though the adjacent area in relation to that Territory included the area, whether land or water, within the territorial limits of that Territory and as though the land within those limits were beneath the sea and were portion of the sea-bed and subsoil of that adjacent area.

(2.) The reference in section 88 of the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 to “the Supreme Court” shall, in relation to an application for the rectification of the Register kept by the Designated Authority who is the Designated Authority in respect of the area specified in the Second Schedule to that Act as being adjacent to the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, be read as a reference to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory of Australia.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Petroleum (Ashmore and Cartier Islands) Act 1967