Postal and Telecommunications Commissions (Transitional Provisions) Act 1975

Sections 4 and 38 shall come into operation on the day fixed under subsection 2(2) of the Postal Services Act 1975.

The remaining provisions of this Act shall come into operation on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions that are defined for the purposes of the Postal Services Act 1975 or the Telecommunications Act 1975 have, when used in this Act, the same respective meanings as in the Act in which they are defined.

In this Act, a reference to the Service of a Commission is a reference to the Australian Postal Commission Service or the Australian Telecommunications Commission Service, as the case requires.

This section applies to all postal articles that were in the possession of the Postmaster‑General immediately before the commencing day.

The Australian Postal Commission is, by force of this section, entitled to the possession of all postal articles to which this section applies.

The Postal Services Act 1975 applies, subject to subsection (4), to and in relation to a postal article to which this section applies as if the article had been posted on the commencing day and, for the purpose of the application of that Act, any action taken under the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 in relation to the article shall be deemed to have been taken by the Australian Postal Commission under the Postal Services Act 1975.

Notwithstanding subsection (3), postage is payable on a postal article to which this section applies, being a postal article posted in Australia, at the rate applicable to the article on the day on which the article was posted.

Where the postage in respect of a postal article to which this section applies was not fully pre‑paid, the Australian Postal Commission is entitled to be paid, upon the delivery of the article, the amount that would have been payable to Australia upon the delivery of the article if it had been delivered immediately before the commencing day.

An arrangement in force under section 21 of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 immediately before the commencing day has effect according to its tenor on and after that day as if it had been made by the Australian Postal Commission under section 15 of the Postal Services Act 1975.

In the application of an arrangement referred to in subsection (1) on and after the commencing day, references in the arrangement to the Postmaster‑General shall be read as references to the Australian Postal Commission.

Where an arrangement in force under section 21 of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 immediately before the commencing day applied to a postal article to which section 5 of this Act applies, the postage payable in respect of the article in accordance with the arrangement is payable to the Australian Postal Commission.

An arrangement in force under section 6A of the Post and Telegraph Rates Act 1902‑1974 immediately before the commencing day has effect according to its tenor on and after that day as if it had been made by the Australian Postal Commission under the Postal Services Act 1975.

The moneys standing to the credit of a Money Order Account, being the account kept in accordance with section 26 of the Audit Act 1901‑1973, immediately before the commencing day are, by virtue of this section, vested in the Australian Postal Commission.

Notwithstanding the repeal of section 26 of the Audit Act 1901‑1973 by section 38 of, and Schedule 2 to, this Act, a Money Order Account referred to in subsection (1) of this section may, on and after the commencing day, be operated on:

by a cheque signed before the commencing day by a person authorized under section 26 of the Audit Act 1901‑1973; or

by a cheque signed on or after the commencing day by a person authorized by the Australian Postal Commission for that purpose.

Where, immediately before the commencing day, moneys would have been payable by Australia upon due presentation of a money order or postal order issued in Australia or of a money order issued in another country for the payment of moneys in Australia:

the Australian Postal Commission is liable, upon due presentation of the money order or postal order to that Commission on or after that day and upon payment to that Commission of any fee that would have been payable under the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 upon presentation of the money order or postal order under that Act, to make payment in accordance with the order; and

Australia ceases to be liable to make any payment in respect of the order.

The Australian Postal Commission is liable to pay to, or in accordance with the directions of, the Australian Telecommunications Commission amounts aggregating the sum of the moneys in the Money Order Account immediately before the commencing day that were received in connexion with the provision of telecommunications services by Australia.

Where moneys held in the Money Order Account immediately before the commencing day were held on behalf of a State, body or person, the Australian Postal Commission is liable to pay an amount equal to the amount of the moneys so held to that State, body or person.

Where moneys held in the Money Order Account immediately before the commencing day were payable out of that account in accordance with the directions of a Department other than the Postmaster‑General’s Department, the Australian Postal Commission is liable to expend out of moneys of the Commission amounts aggregating the amount of those moneys in accordance with the directions of that Department.

The Australian Postal Commission shall pay to the credit of the Unclaimed Moneys Fund kept in accordance with section 107 of the Postal Services Act 1975 amounts equal to each of the amounts held in the Money Order Account immediately before the commencing day that had been paid into that account more than 1 year before that day for transmission by means of a money order or postal order and that section applies in relation to that amount as if it had been received by the Commission for transmission to a person on the day on which it was received by Australia.

The Australian Telecommunications Commission is, by virtue of this section, entitled to possession of all telegrams, within the meaning of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974, delivered, before the commencing day, at a telegraph office or post office for transmission by telegraph but not delivered to the addresses before that day.

The Telecommunications Act 1975 applies, subject to subsection (3), to a telegram referred to in subsection (1) as if it had been delivered to the Australian Telecommunications Commission on the commencing day for transmission as a telegram.

The charge for the transmission of a telegram referred to in subsection (1) is the charge that was payable on the day on which it was delivered to a telegraph office or post office.

An authority in force under section 81 of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 immediately before the commencing day continues to have effect, notwithstanding the repeal of that Act, but subject to this section, as if it were an authority granted by the Australian Telecommunications Commission under section 13 of the Telecommunications Act 1975.

Where any of the conditions subject to which an authority referred to in subsection (1) was given would, but for this subsection, be incapable of operating at any time after the commencing day by reason of the abolition of the Postmaster‑General’s Department or of there no longer being any person holding an office specified in the authority, the Australian Telecommunications Commission may, by notice in writing given to the holder of the authority, modify the conditions in such a manner as it deems appropriate for the purpose of enabling them to operate on and after the commencing day.

Where an authority referred to in subsection (1) was granted for a specified period, the authority continues in force in accordance with this section for the remainder of that period.

Where an authority referred to in subsection (1) was not granted for a specified period, the holder of the authority or the Australian Telecommunications Commission may terminate the authority by giving to the other party to the authority not less than 12 months notice of intention to terminate the authority.

The repeal effected by section 4 does not prevent the recovery, after the commencing day, under Part VIA of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974, of compensation, or of an amount equal to the cost of work done by the Postmaster‑General’s Department, in respect of any act or thing done before that day.

Where, immediately before the commencing day, proceedings to which Australia or the Postmaster‑General was a party were pending in any court for the recovery under that Part of compensation, or of an amount equal to the cost of work done by the Postmaster‑General’s Department, the Australian Telecommunications Commission is, by force of this section, substituted for Australia or the Postmaster‑General, as the case may be, as a party to the proceedings and has the same rights in the proceedings as the party for which it is substituted.

The Australian Telecommunications Commission may institute proceedings for the recovery of compensation in respect of any act or thing done before the commencing day, or of an amount equal to the cost of work done by the Postmaster‑General’s Department before the commencing day, as if Part VIA of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 had not been repealed and that Commission and that Department were the same body.

The Australian Telecommunications Commission is entitled to any compensation or amount paid or recovered after the commencing day under Part VIA of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974.

Any security for the payment of moneys to the Postmaster‑General held by Australia immediately before the commencing day under Part VIA of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 shall be transferred to the Australian Telecommunications Commission and held by that Commission as security for the payment of those moneys to that Commission.

Where, immediately before the commencing day, proceedings to which Australia or the Postmaster‑General is a party were pending in any court for the recovery of damages in respect of damage done before the commencing day to property vested in a Commission by this Act, that Commission is, by force of this section, substituted for Australia or the Postmaster‑General, as the case may be, as a party to the proceedings and has the same rights in the proceedings as the party for which it is substituted.

Where property vested in a Commission by this Act was damaged before the commencing day, that Commission may institute proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction for the recovery of any damages that would, but for this section, be recoverable by Australia or the Postmaster‑General in respect of that damage.

Until the Australian Postal Commission makes a determination under section 18 of the Postal Services Act 1975, the rates of postage, rentals, fees and other charges payable under the Post and Telegraph Rates Act 1902‑1974 or the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 immediately before the commencing day in respect of, or in relation to, services within the functions of that Commission apply, on and after the commencing day, as if they had been duly determined under section 18 of the Postal Services Act 1975 on the commencing day.

Until the Australian Telecommunications Commission makes a determination under section 11 of the Telecommunications Act 1975, the rentals, fees and other charges payable under the Post and Telegraph Rates Act 1902‑1974 or the Post and Telegraph Act 1901‑1974 immediately before the commencing day in respect of, or in relation to, services within the functions of that Commission apply, on and after the commencing day, as if they had been duly determined under section 11 of the Telecommunications Act 1975 on the commencing day.