This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
Jurisdiction
Commonwealth
Act Number
37 of 1928
Collection
act
Plain English Summary
3/10 complexity
What this law does, in plain English
The Act defines who counts as a "transport worker": someone offering or doing work connected with moving people or goods by sea as part of trade or commerce with other countries or between Australian states (section 2).
The Act gives the Governor‑General power to make detailed regulations about the employment of those transport workers. Those regulations, once made, have the force of law (section 3). The list of matters the Governor‑General may regulate includes engagement, service, discharge, licensing of transport workers, prohibiting employment of unlicensed people, and protections for transport workers (section 3).
How it works mechanically
The Act itself is short and mostly delegates detailed rules to subordinate regulation. The primary statutory steps are:
a statutory definition identifying the class of workers covered (section 2);
a delegation of regulatory power to the Governor‑General to make binding regulations on employment and licensing matters for that class (section 3).
The regulations made under the Act are expressly stated to have "the force of law" (section 3). The delegation is framed as effective notwithstanding other Acts, but subject to the cited Acts Interpretation Acts (section 3).
Who is affected and who decides
Who is affected: persons offering for or engaged in work in or in connection with transporting people or goods by sea in relation to interstate or international trade and commerce (section 2).
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Who decides: the Governor‑General (executive) has the power to make regulations that set substantive rules and obligations (section 3). Those regulations will determine licence criteria, employer obligations, and protections.
Main mechanisms, and the practical consequences to expect
Licensing: the Act allows regulations to require licences for transport workers and to prohibit employment of unlicensed persons (section 3). That means workers and employers will face whatever licensing criteria, costs, and paperwork the regulations impose.
Employer obligations and compliance: regulations may set standards for engagement, service, and discharge (section 3). Employers will need to follow the rules in those regulations (which are legally binding) or face penalties provided in the regulations.
Protection measures: the regulations may include measures described as protecting transport workers (section 3). The Act does not specify what protections; those will be in subordinate regulations.
Costs, incentives, trade‑offs and implementation issues (grounded in the Act's mechanics)
Who pays: the Act itself does not set fees, fines, or administrative budgets, but a licensing regime and enforceable rules typically result in direct costs for workers (to obtain licences) and for employers (to verify licences, change hiring practices, and comply with employment rules). Those costs will be determined by the regulations that the Governor‑General makes (section 3).
Incentives and behaviour change: because employment can be limited to licensed persons (section 3), labour‑market behaviour may change — workers may seek licences, employers may alter hiring and rostering, and firms may incur administrative compliance tasks. The legal force of regulations means these are not voluntary changes (section 3).
Trade‑offs and opportunity costs: delegating detail to regulations concentrates rule‑making power in the executive; it reduces parliamentary detail in the primary Act and shifts specification, oversight and resource demands to the regulation‑making and enforcement processes (section 3).
Implementation risk and administrative discretion: broad delegation (section 3) permits wide regulatory scope. That gives administrators discretion to set substantive standards, which can produce variability over time depending on how regulations are made, amended, or enforced.
Risk of concentrated influence: the licensing and prohibition mechanism (section 3) grants the power to restrict who can legally work in the covered activities. That structure creates an incentive for parties with a stake in the rules (workers, employers, unions, service providers) to try to influence the content of regulations; the Act itself does not set procedural constraints on how regulations must be developed beyond the normal statutory framework (section 3).
What the Act does not do (as written)
It does not set the content of licences, fees, enforcement powers, penalties, or detailed employment standards — those are left to regulations (section 3).
It does not define administrative processes for making regulations beyond authorising the Governor‑General to make them (section 3).
Net effect (procedural summary)
The Act creates a legal foundation for a binding regulatory regime for sea transport workers engaged in interstate or international trade by: defining the covered class (section 2) and delegating detailed regulatory power to the Governor‑General to make enforceable rules on engagement, licensing, and protection (section 3).