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This Act may be cited as the Currency Act 1965.
Part I and section 24 shall come into operation on the date on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.
The remaining provisions of this Act shall come into operation on 14 February 1966.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
Australia includes all the Territories to which this Act extends by virtue of section 5.
the repealed Acts means the Acts repealed by this Act.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, a reference to coins made and issued under this Act shall be read as a reference to coins made and issued under the Currency Act 1965 or under that Act as amended and in force at any time.
This Act extends to all the external Territories.
This Act binds the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, of each of the States, of the Australian Capital Territory and of the Northern Territory.
The following Acts are repealed:
Coinage Act 1909;
Coinage Act 1936;
Coinage Act 1947.
The monetary unit, or unit of currency, of Australia is the dollar.
The denominations of money in the currency of Australia are the dollar and the cent.
A cent is one‑hundredth part of a dollar.
The equivalent in the currency provided for by this Act of One sovereign or pound in the currency provided for by the repealed Acts is Two dollars, the like equivalent of One shilling is Ten cents and the like equivalent of One penny is five‑sixths of a cent.
Subject to this section, every sale, every bill of exchange or promissory note, every security for money, and every other contract, agreement, deed, instrument, transaction, dealing, matter or thing relating to money, or involving the payment of, or a liability to pay, money, that is made, executed, entered into or done, shall, unless it is made, executed, entered into or done according to the currency of some country other than Australia, be made, executed, entered into or done according to the currency of Australia provided for by this Act.
Nothing in this section operates so as to invalidate a will or other testamentary instrument.
Subject to this section:
a reference in a law of the Commonwealth;
a reference in a bill of exchange, promissory note, security for money, contract or agreement (whether the contract or agreement is in writing or not), deed or other instrument; and
a reference in any other manner (not being a reference in a law other than a law of the Commonwealth);
to an amount of money in the currency provided for by the repealed Acts shall, unless the context is such that it would be inappropriate or the contrary intention appears, be construed as a reference to a corresponding amount of money in the currency provided for by this Act, calculated on the basis of the equivalents specified in subsection (4) of section 8.
Where such a reference as is mentioned in subsection (1) is to a percentage or other proportion expressed in terms of money, the reference shall be construed as a reference to an equivalent percentage or proportion expressed in terms of money in the currency provided for by this Act.
Where such a reference as is mentioned in subsection (1) (not being a reference in a law of the Commonwealth) is to the amount of a payment payable periodically (not being a payment for the remuneration of an employee, whether the remuneration is by way of salary, wages, commission or otherwise) and that amount is an amount of pounds, shillings and pence, pounds and pence, shillings and pence or pence, the corresponding amount in the currency provided for by this Act shall be calculated on the basis that an amount of pence specified in the first column of the table in subsection (3) of section 11 corresponds to the amount of cents specified in the second column of that table opposite to that amount of pence.
For the purposes of this section:
law of the Commonwealth means:
an Act;
an instrument (including regulations or rules or an industrial award, order, determination or agreement or similar instrument) having effect by virtue of an Act;
an Ordinance of a Territory and any other law in force in a Territory;
an instrument (including regulations or rules or an industrial award, order, determination or agreement or similar instrument) having effect by virtue of such an Ordinance or law; and
an instrument having effect by virtue of any such regulations or rules as are mentioned in paragraph (b) or (d).
Territory means a Territory in which this Act applies or to which this Act extends.
Every payment that is made shall, unless it is made according to the currency of some country other than Australia, be made according to the currency of Australia provided for by this Act.
For the purpose of making a payment that was payable before 14 February 1966, but is not made until on or after that date, the amount of money in the currency provided for by this Act that corresponds to an amount of money in the currency provided for by the repealed Acts is, subject to subsection (3), an amount calculated on the basis of the equivalents specified in subsection (4) of section 8.
For the purposes of subsection (2), where the amount of money in the currency provided for by the repealed Acts is an amount of pounds, shillings and pence, pounds and pence, shillings and pence or pence, the corresponding amount in the currency provided for by this Act shall be calculated on the basis that an amount of pence specified in the first column of the following table corresponds to the amount of cents specified in the second column of that table opposite to that amount of pence:
TABLE
First Column | Second Column |
Amount of pence | Amount of cents |
1 | 1 |
2 | 2 |
3 | 2 |
4 | 3 |
5 | 4 |
6 | 5 |
7 | 6 |
8 | 7 |
9 | 8 |
10 | 8 |
11 | 9 |
Where a law of the Commonwealth as defined by subsection (4) of section 10, being a law passed or made before 14 February 1966, contains a form that refers to an amount of money in the currency provided for by the repealed Acts, or provides for an amount of money to be specified in that currency, a person using the form may fill it in in such a manner as to set forth the equivalent of that amount in the currency provided for by this Act.
Subject to paragraph (2)(a), the standard composition of the coins of the denominations specified in the Schedule is as specified in the Schedule.
The Treasurer may, by legislative instrument, determine that this Act is to have effect, on and after a day specified in the determination, as if:
a reference in the Schedule, opposite to the denomination of a coin, to the standard composition of coins of that denomination were a reference to such other standard composition as is specified in the determination; or
there were included in the Schedule a reference to a denomination of money specified in the determination and there were specified in the Schedule opposite to that denomination, as the standard composition of coins of that denomination, the standard composition that is specified in the determination.
Where a determination is made for the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), then, on and after the day specified in the determination and while the determination remains in force, there is taken to be specified in the Schedule, opposite to the denomination mentioned in the determination, such other standard composition as is mentioned in the determination instead of, or in addition to, the standard composition that is, or is taken to be, specified in the Schedule immediately before that day.
Where a determination is made for the purposes of paragraph (2)(b), then, on and after the day specified in the determination and while the determination remains in force:
the denomination of money specified in the determination is taken to be specified in the Schedule; and
the standard composition specified in the determination is taken to be specified in the Schedule opposite to that denomination.
The Treasurer may specify in a determination more than one standard composition in relation to a coin of a particular denomination.