1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955.
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This Act may be cited as the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955.
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.
The date so fixed shall be the date on which the Cocos or Keeling Islands cease to form part of the Colony of Singapore and are placed under the authority of the Commonwealth.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
amended: for when an applied Western Australian law is amended, see subsection 8GA(4).
applied Western Australian law means a Western Australian law as in force in the Territory under section 8A.
authority includes a body corporate, or an unincorporated body, established for a public purpose.
constable means:
a member or special member of the Australian Federal Police; or
an officer or special officer of the police force of the Territory.
court officer of Western Australia means a person holding, or performing the functions or duties of, any of the following offices:
any of the following offices in a court of Western Australia:
Judge;
Magistrate (however described);
Master;
Registrar (however described);
Clerk (however described);
Sheriff (however described);
Bailiff (however described); or
any of the following offices in the Family Court of Western Australia:
Marshal;
Director of Court Counselling;
Collector of Maintenance; or
the office of Chairman, Deputy Chairman or nominee member of the Workers’ Compensation Board of Western Australia; or
any other office in respect of a court of Western Australia, being an office specified in the regulations.
court of Western Australia means any of the following courts or tribunals:
the Supreme Court of Western Australia;
the District Court of Western Australia;
the Family Court of Western Australia;
a Court of Petty Sessions of Western Australia;
a Local Court of Western Australia;
a coroners’ court of Western Australia;
the Children’s Court of Western Australia;
the Workers’ Compensation Board of Western Australia;
any other court or tribunal specified in the regulations.
indictment court means a court established by a law of the Territory (whether before or after the commencement of this definition) in which trials on indictment of offences against laws in force in the Territory may be conducted.
jurisdiction includes powers.
laws of the Territory or laws in force in the Territory means the laws in force in the Territory as mentioned in section 7A.
Ordinance means an Ordinance made under this Act.
power includes a function or duty, and, in that context, exercise means perform.
prison includes a lock‑up or other place of lawful detention.
Registrar, in relation to an indictment court, means the registrar, or a deputy registrar, of that court.
Sheriff means the Sheriff, or a Deputy Sheriff, of the Territory.
State includes a Territory other than the Territory.
Supreme Court of the Territory means the Supreme Court established by the Supreme Court Ordinance 1955 of the Territory.
the Islands means the Cocos or Keeling Islands situated in the Indian Ocean in or about latitude 12°5´ south and longitude 96°53´ east, including the Northern Island otherwise called North Keeling Island.
the police force of the Territory includes any police force empowered to provide police services under a law in force in the Territory.
the proclaimed date means the date fixed by Proclamation under section 2.
the Territory means the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Western Australian law: see subsection 8A(6).
In this Act, a reference to an Act is a reference to the whole or a part of that Act, or to the whole or a part of a law made under that Act.
Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code applies to all offences created by this Act.
Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility.
Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code does not apply in relation to, or in relation to matters arising under, a law in force in the Territory because of section 8A.
The Islands are declared to be accepted by the Commonwealth as a Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth and shall be known as the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Subject to subsection (3), all property, rights and powers in or in connexion with the Islands, being property, rights and powers which, immediately before the proclaimed date, were held or enjoyed by or on behalf of the Queen in right of the United Kingdom or of the Colony of Singapore, or by or on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom or of the Colony of Singapore, shall, from and including that date, be deemed to be held or enjoyed by or on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Subject to subsection (3), all liabilities and obligations incurred before the proclaimed date by or on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom or the Government of the Colony of Singapore, in or in connexion with the Islands and subsisting immediately before that date shall, from and including that date, be deemed to have been incurred by or on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to or in relation to:
property, rights or powers in, or in connexion with, that part of the Islands known as Direction Island, or liabilities or obligations in respect of property in that part of the Islands;
liabilities of the Colony of Singapore in respect of the payment of pensions or retiring allowances; or
liabilities relating to public loans.
In this section, property includes immovable property.
The restrictions under the 1886 Indenture relating to dealings in land in the Islands are extinguished.
All rights and powers reserved to and exercisable by or on behalf of the Queen under the 1886 Indenture are extinguished.
In this section:
the 1886 Indenture means the Indenture dated 7 July 1886 that was made between Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, the Governor of the Straits Settlements and George Clunies Ross in relation to the Islands.
On and after 1 July 1992, the laws in force in the Territory from time to time are:
Acts as in force from time to time in or in relation to the Territory on and after that day; and
Ordinances made on or after that day as in force from time to time; and
laws as in force in the Territory in accordance with section 8; and
applied Western Australian laws.
To avoid doubt, subsection (1) does not prevent any other law, including a law of a State, from applying in the Territory of its own force.
A law in force in the Territory immediately before 1 July 1992 is repealed unless it is specified in the Schedule.
Subject to subsection (3), a law that is specified in the Schedule (including any instruments made under that law) as in force in the Territory immediately before 1 July 1992 continues to be in force in the Territory on and after that day.
A law specified in the Schedule may be amended or repealed by an Ordinance.
In this section:
instruments includes regulations, rules and by‑laws.
law:
includes a principle or rule of common law or equity; and
does not include an Act.
Subject to this section, section 8G and Part IVAA, Western Australian laws are in force in the Territory.
A Western Australian law as in force in the Territory under this section is an applied Western Australian law (see the definition in subsection 4(1)).
To the extent that a law is in force in the Territory under subsection (1), it may be incorporated, amended or repealed by an Ordinance or a law made under an Ordinance.
An Ordinance may suspend the operation in the Territory of a law in force in the Territory under subsection (1) for such period as is specified in the Ordinance.
To the extent that a law is in force in the Territory under subsection (1), it has no effect so far as it is inconsistent with the Constitution or an Act or Ordinance.
For the purpose of subsection (4), a law is consistent with the Constitution or an Act or Ordinance if the law is capable of operating concurrently with it.
A Western Australian law:
is a law in force in Western Australia from time to time; and
includes a principle or rule of common law or equity that is part of the law of Western Australia; and
does not include:
a Commonwealth Act or a provision of a Commonwealth Act; or
an instrument (however described) made under a Commonwealth Act, or a provision of such an instrument.
The Minister must cause a list of Acts of the Western Australian Parliament (WA Acts) to be prepared and tabled in each House of the Parliament for the following periods:
the period of 3 months beginning on 1 July 1992; and
each subsequent period of 6 months.
The list must specify the names of all WA Acts that are wholly or partly in force in the Territory under section 8A on the day specified in the list, and have not been specified in a previous list under this section. The specified day must be not more than 14 days before the day on which the list is to be tabled.
The list must include WA Acts whose operation has been suspended in accordance with subsection 8A(3).
The list must be tabled in each House of the Parliament before the end of the period to which the list relates. However, if the House concerned does not sit during any day in the last month of the period, the list may be tabled in that House within the next 15 sitting days of that House.
In this section:
terminate means terminate the operation of a WA Act in the Territory.
WA Act means an Act of the Western Australian Parliament that is specified in a list tabled under section 8B, or part of such an Act.
WA Acts list means a list prepared and tabled in a House of the Parliament under section 8B.
If:
a notice of a motion to terminate a WA Act has been given in a House of the Parliament:
within 15 sitting days after the tabling in that House of the WA Acts list specifying that WA Act; or
if section 8D applies to that WA Act—within 3 months after that list was tabled; and
that House passes a resolution to terminate the WA Act;
then the WA Act is terminated from the time when the resolution was passed.
If:
a notice of a motion to terminate a WA Act has been given in a House of the Parliament:
within 15 sitting days after the tabling in that House of the WA Acts list specifying that WA Act; or
if section 8D applies to that WA Act—within 3 months after that list was tabled; and
at the expiration of 15 sitting days after the notice was given:
the notice has not been withdrawn and the motion has not been called on; or
the motion has been called on, moved and seconded and has not been withdrawn or otherwise disposed of;
then the WA Act is terminated from the expiration of that period of 15 sitting days.
If, before the expiration of 15 sitting days after notice of a motion to terminate a WA Act specified in a WA Acts list has been given in a House of the Parliament (the notice House):
the House of Representatives is dissolved or expires, or the Parliament is prorogued; and
at the time of the dissolution, expiry or prorogation:
the notice has not been withdrawn and the motion has not been called on; or
the motion has been called on, moved and seconded and has not been withdrawn or otherwise disposed of;
subsections (2) and (3) apply as if the WA Acts list had been tabled in the notice House on the first sitting day of that House after the dissolution, expiry or prorogation.
The termination of a WA Act under subsection (2) or (3) has the same effect as the repeal of that WA Act, as a law of the Territory, by an Ordinance.
If:
a WA Act (the terminated Act) is terminated under subsection (2) or (3); and
the terminated Act repealed, in whole or in part, another WA Act or any other law that was in force in the Territory immediately before the terminated Act came into force in the Territory under section 8A;
the termination of the terminated Act has the effect of reviving that other WA Act or law from and including the date of the termination, as if the terminated Act had not come into force in the Territory.
A notice of a motion, or a resolution, for the purposes of this section may relate to the termination of more than one WA Act.
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