Australasia Railway (Special Provisions) Act 1999

This Act may be cited as the AustralAsia Railway (Special

Provisions) Act 1999.

The provisions of this Act come into operation on the date, or respective dates, fixed by the Administrator by notice in the

Gazette.

Where a regulation declares that section 6, 16 or 19 ceases to operate on and after a specified date, being a date not earlier than the date on which the regulation is notified in the Gazette, the section ceases to operate on and after that date.

This Act binds the Crown in right of the Territory and, so far as the legislative power of the Legislative Assembly permits, the Crown in all its other capacities.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

additional land means land in relation to which section

8 of this Act is declared under section 8(7) to apply.

Concession Deed means the Concession Deed in respect of the construction, operation and maintenance of the railway entered into by South Australia, the Territory, the Corporation and the consortium as amended and in force from time to time.

consortium means the person or group of persons responsible for constructing and operating the railway and includes:

if the consortium is a person – the successors and assignees of the person;

if the consortium is a group of persons – a member of the group and the successors and assignees of the group and of a member of the group; and

a contractor or other person acting for or on behalf of the consortium or a member of the consortium in connection with the construction or operation of the railway or both.

Corporation means The AustralAsia Railway Corporation established by section 4 of the AustralAsia Railway Corporation

Act 1996.

corridor means the land leased by the Territory or another person to the Corporation for the construction, operation and maintenance of the railway from Tarcoola in South Australia to Darwin in the Territory.

corridor general reserved land, see section 15(1).

fixed railway infrastructure, in relation to the railway, means:

railway track; or

buildings, installations or equipment for:

the operation and use of railway track;

the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers; or

the loading and unloading of goods.

mineral interest means one of the following:

a mineral title mentioned in section 11(1) of the Mineral

Titles Act 2010;

a non-compliant existing interest as defined in section 204(1) of the Mineral Titles Act 2010.

mineral interest area means the area of land to which a mineral interest relates.

railway means the railway from Tarcoola to Darwin and associated facilities, plant and equipment, rolling stock and all other assets required for the operation of the railway and includes the rights to use the corridor.

road has the same meaning as in the Control of Roads

Act 1953.

survey plan means a plan of a land boundary survey approved by the Surveyor-General under section 49 of the Licensed

Surveyors Act 1983.

Subject to subsection (1), where a word used in a section of this Act is defined in an Act referred to in the section, the word has the same meaning in that section as it has in the Act so referred to.

A section of this Act (which includes the definitions incorporated into the section under subsection (1)) that refers to another Act is incorporated into and is to be read as one with the other Act.

The implementation of the Concession Deed is authorised.

Despite any Act or other law in force in the Territory to the contrary, an order for specific performance may be made and enforced against the Territory or the Corporation in respect of its obligations under the Concession Deed or any other agreement, contract, deed or other arrangement entered into for a purpose connected with the construction, operation or maintenance of the railway in the same circumstances and on the same conditions as an order for specific performance could be ordered and enforced against a subject of the Crown.

For the purposes of the law of the Territory, the conferral of rights on the consortium by the Concession Deed is not to be taken to be a grant of a monopoly.

Despite any Act or other law in force in the Territory to the contrary, an order for specific performance may be made and enforced against the Territory in respect of its obligations under an agreement, contract, deed or other arrangement entered into for a purpose connected with the construction, operation or maintenance of the railway in the same circumstances and on the same conditions as an order for specific performance could be ordered and enforced against a subject of the Crown.

Subject to sections 13(3), 14, 14A and 17A, a right or interest in or in relation to land forming part of the corridor that existed immediately before the commencement of this section is modified in the manner, and to the extent, necessary to enable the consortium to construct, operate and maintain the railway.

Subject to section 17A, a right or interest under the Mineral

Titles Act 2010 in relation to land forming part of the corridor is modified in the manner, and to the extent, necessary to enable the consortium to construct, operate and maintain the railway.

For subsection (2), a right or interest includes a right to enter land, do work, and have access to a mineral title area, as mentioned in section 83 of the Mineral Titles Act 2010.

This section does not apply to a right or interest granted to the Corporation or consortium.

Each minister, statutory corporation and local government council must ensure that:

in the case of a minister – the minister and officers in the departments administered by the minister; and

in the case of a statutory corporation or local government council – the corporation or council and officers employed by it,

give priority to considering applications by the consortium in connection with the construction or operation of the railway or both.

Despite any other law of the Territory, fixed railway infrastructure does not merge with the land to which it is affixed and may be dealt with and disposed of as personal property.

The Planning Scheme under the Planning Act 1999 is to be taken to include development provisions applying to the corridor and additional land and, subject to this section, the Planning Act 1999 (except Part 6) applies accordingly.

The Planning Minister is the consent authority for the corridor and additional land.

The development provisions under subsection (1) allow the use and development of the corridor and additional land for the purposes of construction, operation and maintenance of the following without the consent of the consent authority:

railway track;

bridges, tunnels, earthworks and other structures to support railway track;

drainage works;

turkeynest dams;

water extraction facilities;

signalling and other communication systems;

power lines;

airstrips;

construction camps but only during the construction of the railway;

temporary office and residential accommodation but only during the construction of the railway.

The development provisions under subsection (1) allow any other use or development of the corridor or additional land only with the consent of the consent authority, including the construction, operation and maintenance of the following:

railway sleeper manufacturing plants;

facilities for the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers;

facilities for the loading and unloading or storage of goods;

facilities for maintaining rolling stock;

facilities for the control of trains;

construction camps to which subsection (3)(g) does not apply;

office and residential accommodation to which subsection (3)(h) does not apply.

Division 2 of Part 5 of the Planning Act 1999 does not apply in relation to a development application in respect of the corridor or additional land unless the Planning Minister determines that, in the circumstances of the particular application, it is appropriate for that Division to apply.

Despite any development provisions in force under the Planning

Act 1999 immediately before the commencement of this section, the use, operation and maintenance of the railway (including fixed railway infrastructure and other buildings or structures in existence, and works being carried out, immediately before the commencement of this section) are to be taken to be existing uses of and works in relation to the corridor under Part 4 of the Planning

Act 1999.

The Planning Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare that this section applies in relation to land additional to the corridor that is specified in the notice.

Neither a declaration under subsection (7) nor anything done in relation to land the subject of a declaration under subsection (7) creates, or has the effect of creating, a subdivision within the meaning of the Planning Act 1999.

The development provisions under subsection (1) prevail over any other development or other provision under the Planning Scheme or a provision of the Planning Act 1999, whether the provision was in force before or after the commencement of this section.

In this section, Planning Minister means the

Minister for the time being administering the Planning Act 1999.

Despite section 5 of the Planning Act 1999, a lease granted by the Darwin Port Corporation to the consortium for the purposes of the railway is not a subdivision for the purposes of that Act.