Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Act 1994

This section applies if—

a ship is lost, abandoned or stranded; and

a harbour master may, or is required to, give a direction under this subdivision to a person about the ship.

For this division, the person who was the recorded owner of the ship immediately before the ship was lost, abandoned or stranded is taken to be the owner of the ship and the person to whom the direction may or must be given, unless the contrary is proved.

Without limiting subsection (2), if a harbour master incurs expense (whether the expense is the harbour master’s expense or the State’s expense) in exercising a power under section 93 in relation to the direction, the person taken to be the owner under subsection (2) is the person who is liable for the amount of the expense that may, under section 94, be recovered from the owner of the ship.

If, under subsection (2), more than 1 person is taken to be the owner of the ship, on the giving of the direction to any of the owners, all of the owners are jointly and severally liable for the amount of the expense mentioned in subsection (3).

In this section—

for a domestic commercial vessel—the holder of the vessel’s certificate of operation under the national law; or

for another ship—the person in whose name the ship is registered under this Act or a law of another jurisdiction, whether inside or outside Australia.