CTHRepealedAct
Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967
11Application of laws in areas adjacent to Territories
Start here
Get a plain-English read of 11
Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967.
#### 11 Application of laws in areas adjacent to Territories
(1) Subject to this Act, the laws, whether written or unwritten, in force in a Territory for the time being (other than laws of the Commonwealth), and any instrument having effect under any of those laws, apply, as provided by this section, in the adjacent area and so apply as if that area were part of that Territory.
(1A) Subject to section 73, if the gas pipelines access legislation of the Northern Territory is not in force, whether with or without modifications, in the area referred to in subsection (1B), then, in spite of any law that is in force as a law of the Commonwealth in the adjacent area in respect of the Territory because of subsection (1), the Gas Pipelines Access (Commonwealth) Act 1998 applies as a law of the Commonwealth in that adjacent area.
(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A), the area referred to in this subsection in relation to the Northern Territory is the part of the area described in Schedule 2 under the heading that refers to that Territory that is on the landward side of the adjacent area in respect of that Territory.
(2) The laws referred to in subsection (1) do not include laws that are substantive criminal laws, or laws of criminal investigation, procedure and evidence, within the meaning of Schedule 1 to the Crimes at Sea Act 2000, but nothing in this Act derogates from the operation of that Act.
Applied laws do not include Northern Territory OHS laws
(2A) Despite subsection (1), the laws or parts of laws of the Northern Territory, as in force from time to time, that are prescribed in the regulations in relation to that Territory do not apply in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of that Territory.
(2B) Laws or parts of laws prescribed under subsection (2A) must be laws or parts of laws with respect to occupational health and safety.
Northern Territory OHS laws do not apply of their own force in the adjacent area in respect of the Northern Territory
(2C) The laws or parts of laws, as in force from time to time, that are prescribed in regulations made under subsection (2A) in relation to the Northern Territory do not apply by force of the law of that Territory in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of that Territory.
Substantive criminal provisions of Northern Territory OHS laws are not applied by Crimes at Sea Act 2000 in the adjacent area
(2D) Despite subclauses 2(1) and (2) of Schedule 1 to the Crimes at Sea Act 2000, the laws or parts of laws of the Northern Territory that are referred to in those subclauses and that are prescribed in the regulations in relation to that Territory do not apply in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of that Territory either:
(a) by force of the law of that Territory; or
(b) by force of subclause 2(2) of that Schedule.
(2E) Laws or parts of laws prescribed under subsection (2D) must be laws or parts of laws relating to occupational health and safety.
(2F) Laws or parts of laws of the Northern Territory that are prescribed for the purposes of subsection (2A) or (2D) may be laws or parts of laws that relate to occupational health and safety and to other matters.
(2G) A reference in subsections (2A) to (2F) to a law or a part of a law of the Northern Territory includes a reference to an instrument or a part of an instrument made under a law of the Northern Territory.
Substantive criminal provisions of the Northern Territory section 140H OHS laws are not applied by Crimes at Sea Act 2000 in adjacent area.
(2H) Despite subclauses 2(1) and (2) of Schedule 1 to the Crimes at Sea Act 2000, the laws to which subsection (2I) applies do not apply in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of the Northern Territory, either:
(a) by force of the law of that Territory; or
(b) by force of subclause 2(2) of that Schedule.
(2I) This subsection applies to provisions of the Territory PSLA, or of regulations under that PSLA, that substantially correspond to the terms of the section 140H OHS laws.
Northern Territory OHS laws do not apply in the adjacent area of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
(2J) The laws or parts of laws that are prescribed in the regulations made under subsection (2A) in relation to the Northern Territory do not apply in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands either:
(a) by force of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933; or
(b) by force of subsection (1) of this section.
> Note 1: Laws in force in the Northern Territory (except Commonwealth Acts) are applied in the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands by the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933.
> Note 2: The adjacent area of Ashmore and Cartier Islands includes land areas and the coastal sea area.
Substantive criminal provisions of Northern Territory OHS laws are not applied by Crimes at Sea Act 2000 in the adjacent area of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
(2K) Despite subclauses 2(1) and (2) of Schedule 1 to the Crimes at Sea Act 2000, the laws or parts of laws of the Northern Territory that are referred to in those subclauses and that are prescribed in the regulations under subsection (2D) in relation to that Territory do not apply in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, either:
(a) by force of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933; or
(b) by force of subclause 2(2) of that Schedule.
> Note: Laws in force in the Northern Territory (except Commonwealth Acts) are applied in the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands by the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933.
Substantive criminal provisions of Northern Territory section 140H OHS laws are not applied by Crimes at Sea Act 2000 in the adjacent area of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
(2L) Despite subclauses 2(1) and (2) of Schedule 1 to the Crimes at Sea Act 2000, the laws to which subsection (2I) applies do not apply in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, either:
(a) by force of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933; or
(b) by force of subclause 2(2) of that Schedule.
(3) A law shall be taken to be a law in force in a Territory notwithstanding that that law applies to part only of that Territory.
(4) The provisions referred to in subsection (1) apply in relation to all acts, omissions, matters, circumstances and things touching, concerning, arising out of or connected with:
(a) the exploration of the sea‑bed or subsoil of the adjacent area for petroleum, or the exploitation of the natural resources (consisting of petroleum) of that sea‑bed or subsoil; or
(b) the conveyance of petroleum (wherever recovered) across the adjacent area.
(5) Without limiting the operation of subsection (4), the laws and instruments referred to in subsection (1) apply:
(a) to and in relation to:
(i) an act or omission that takes place in, on, above, below or in the vicinity of; and
(ii) a matter, circumstance or thing that exists or arises with respect to or in connection with;
a vessel, aircraft, structure or installation, or equipment or other property, that is in the adjacent area for any reason touching, concerning, arising out of or connected with:
(iii) the exploration of the sea‑bed or subsoil of the adjacent area for petroleum, or the exploitation of the natural resources (consisting of petroleum) of that sea‑bed or subsoil; or
(iv) the conveyance of petroleum (wherever recovered) across the adjacent area;
(b) to and in relation to a person who:
(i) is in the adjacent area for a reason of the kind referred to in paragraph (a); or
(ii) is in, on, above, below or in the vicinity of a vessel, aircraft, structure or installation, or equipment or other property, that is in the adjacent area for a reason of the kind referred to in paragraph (a); and
(c) to and in relation to a person in respect of his carrying on any operation or doing any work in the adjacent area for a reason of the kind referred to in paragraph (a).
(6) This section does not:
(a) give to the provisions of a law of the Northern Territory an operation, as law of the Commonwealth, that they would not have, as law of the Territory, if the adjacent area were within the part of the area described in Schedule 2 under the heading that refers to that Territory that is on the landward side of the adjacent area;
(b) extend to the provisions of any law or instrument in so far as those provisions, as applied by this Act, would be inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, including this Act;
(c) apply so as to impose any tax;
(d) apply so as to appropriate any public moneys of a Territory; or
(e) apply so as to confer or purport to confer any part of the judicial power of the Commonwealth on a court, tribunal, authority or officer of a Territory.
(7) This section does not limit the operation that any law or instrument has apart from this section.
(8) The regulations may provide that such of the laws or instruments referred to in subsection (1) as are specified in the regulations do not apply by reason of this section or so apply with such modifications as are specified in the regulations.
(9) For the purposes of subsection (8), modification includes the omission or addition of a provision or the substitution of a provision for another provision.
(10) If this section provides that laws or parts of laws do not apply, in relation to a facility located in the adjacent area of the Northern Territory or of the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, those laws or parts of laws do not apply in relation to:
(a) a facility that is so located; or
(b) persons at or near a facility that is so located; or
(c) activities that take place on a facility that is so located.
(11) In this section:
> facility has the same meaning as in Schedule 7.
> section 140H OHS laws has the same meaning as it has in section 140H.
> Territory PSLA has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of Part IIIC.