War Service Land Settlement Act 1950

War Service Land Settlement Act 1950

This Act may be cited as the War Service Land Settlement Act 1950.

The Commonwealth and State War Service Land Settlement Agreement Act 1945, the Commonwealth and State War Service Land Settlement Agreement Act 1947, the Commonwealth and State War Service Land Settlement Agreement Act 1948, and the Commonwealth and State War Service Land Settlement Agreement Act 1949 are repealed.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

Board means the Closer Settlement Board constituted under the Closer Settlement Act 1957;

caring partner, in relation to a person, means the person with whom the person is, or was at the time of his or her death, in a caring relationship, within the meaning of the Relationships Act 2003;

Crown land has the same meaning as in the Crown Lands Act 1976;

eligible person means – a discharged member of the Forces who – has been honourably discharged after not less; or having in the opinion of the Board been materially prejudiced by reason of his war service, has been honourably discharged after less – than six months' war service; or a person who is included in a class of persons (if any) that the Minister determines shall be eligible to participate in war service land settlement under this Act – and has been registered under section thirteen A;

holding means the land allotted to an eligible person for the purposes of this Act;

member of the Forces means – a person who is or was, during the war, a member of the Permanent Forces of the Commonwealth, other than the Australian Imperial Force; a person who is or was, during the war, a member of the Australian Imperial Force; a member of the Citizen Forces of the Commonwealth who is or was enlisted, appointed, or called up for continuous service for the duration of, and directly in connection with, the war; a person who is or was, during the war, engaged on continuous full-time service as a member of any of the following services – The Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service; The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service; The Australian Army Nursing Service; The Australian Women's Army Service; The Australian Army Medical Women's Service; The Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service; The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force; a member of a Voluntary Aid Detachment who is or was, during the war, engaged on continuous full-time paid duty with any part of the Defence Forces of the Commonwealth; a member of the Naval, Military, or Air Forces of any part of the King's Dominions other than Australia who is or was, during the war, engaged on service in a prescribed area and was born in Australia or was, immediately prior to his becoming a member of any of those Forces, domiciled in Australia; and a person who is or was, during the war, engaged on continuous full-time service with any Nursing Service or other Women's Service auxiliary to the Naval, Military, or Air Forces of any part of the King's Dominions other than Australia who was born in Australia or was, immediately prior to her becoming a member of that Service, domiciled in Australia – but does not include any enemy alien who served during the war as a member of the Army Labour Corps but not otherwise;

register the verb, in all its parts, means register under the Land Titles Act 1980, and registration shall be similarly construed;

spouse includes the person with whom a person is, or was at the time of his or her death, in a significant relationship, within the meaning of the Relationships Act 2003;

TDR means Tasmania Development and Resources;

tenancy means a tenancy of a holding created by the Board by allotment under section fifteen or by grant under section seventeen;

tenant means the tenant of a holding, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns as the context requires;

the repealed Acts means the Acts repealed by section two;

the war means the war which commenced on the third day of September 1939, and includes any other war in which His Majesty became engaged after that date and before the second day of September 1945;

war service means– service as a member of the Permanent Forces of the Commonwealth, other than the Australian Imperial Force; service in the Australian Imperial Force; the service of a member of the Citizen Forces of the Commonwealth when called out for war service in pursuance of the Defence Act 1903 of the Commonwealth, or during continuous training under that Act, the Naval Defence Act 1910 of the Commonwealth, or the Air Force Act 1923 of the Commonwealth; the continuous full-time service in the Defence Forces under any Act of the Commonwealth or under any regulations under an Act of the Commonwealth, of any person who volunteers and is accepted for that service during the war; in the case of a person specified in paragraphs (d), (e), (f), or (g) of the definition of member of the Forces, service in any of the bodies specified in those paragraphs; or the continuous full-time service of any person as a member of an organization or part thereof which is declared by proclamation under the Re-establishment and Employment Act 1945 of the Commonwealth to be an organization in relation to which the provisions of that Act apply– during the war.

The Minister may, on the recommendation of the Board, at any time within two months after the commencement of this Act, by notice in the Gazette, declare any area defined in the notice, comprising land suitable for settlement by discharged members of the Forces, to be a reserved area for the purposes of this Act.

A notice under subsection (1) shall, unless sooner revoked, remain in force for a period of twelve months from the date thereof.

While any notice under subsection (1) remains in force in respect of any reserved area, no person shall – sell or purchase any rural land; or give or take any option for the sale or purchase of rural land – in the reserved area except with the consent, in writing, of the Minister. Fine not exceeding 20 penalty units.

Any agreement or option for the sale or purchase of rural land in contravention of subsection (3), and any conveyance or transfer of any land to which any such agreement or option relates, shall be void and of no effect.

In this section rural land means land situated outside the limits of any city or town.

The Board may acquire land for the purposes of this Act.

The Land Acquisition Act 1993 applies in relation to the acquisition of land, and the land acquired, by the Board.

The Governor may, on the recommendation of the Board by proclamation, declare as from any date after the twentieth day of December 1945, any land subject to the Closer Settlement Act 1957 which is not leased or sold or contracted to be leased or sold shall be subject to this Act.

Upon the making of such a proclamation the land thereby affected shall cease to be subject to the Closer Settlement Act 1957 and shall be subject to this Act and shall be deemed to have done so from any earlier date set out in the proclamation for that purpose.

The lands referred to in the third schedule are hereby vested in the Board.

The Governor may by proclamation vest in the Board any land reserved under section 12 of the Crown Lands Act 1976 or surrendered to the King purportedly for the purposes of the repealed Acts or any of them.

All land becoming subject to this Act under section eight shall at the same instant vest in the Board.

Upon land vesting in the Board under this section the Board shall hold the same in fee for the purposes of this Act, and the Recorder of Titles shall register the Board as proprietor thereof upon, in the case of land vesting under subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the Board's so requesting and referring to the place in the Gazette where the relevant proclamation appears, and this the Board shall do within sixty days after gazettal.

Nothing in this section applies to the land comprised in purchase grant, volume 211, folium 72.

The Board may grant land to eligible persons for the purposes of this Act as provided in Part III.

For the purposes of this Act the Board may grant land – to eligible persons to be held for any interest less than freehold; and to other persons to be held at will.

The Board may if it is of opinion that any land vested in it is required for any of the purposes specified in subsection (4) of this section with consent transfer, lease, or surrender such land for that purpose.

Subsection (3) of this section shall apply to any of the following purposes:The erection or carrying on of any church, chapel, or church hall, with or without a hall, schoolroom, parsonage, presbytery, or manse, or any public hall, community centre, or other building for public or recreational purposes; the laying out and construction or carrying on of any recreation ground, park, or public reserve;The provision or carrying on of saleyards, or of any premises for the accommodation or agistment of travelling livestock;The erection or carrying on of any building or premises for use for the storage of agricultural machinery or plant, or any factory, mill, dairy, or other building for use in, or in connection with, the treatment or processing of primary products; the erection of shops and other business premises and of dwellings for the proprietors and their employees;The establishment of experimental farms;The provision of areas for use as timber plantations, and for afforestation purposes generally; or The residence of an agricultural contractor.

The Board may, with consent, before selling or leasing any land under subsection (3) of this section, erect any buildings or structures or do any other works required for the purpose for which the land is to be so disposed of, and make any transfer in pursuance of any such sale subject to a condition of defeasance to ensure that the land is used for the purpose for which it is sold.

Land leased under subsection (3) of this section shall be leased for such term and at such rental and upon and subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister approves.

Land required for the purpose set out in paragraph (h) of subsection (4) of this section may only be leased for life and with a condition of re-entry to ensure that neighbouring tenants have the benefit of the contractor's services.

Where any land is surrendered under subsection (3) of this section the Minister shall by notice in the Gazette declare the purpose for which that land is surrendered and the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1993 shall apply to and in respect of that land and in the same manner and to the same extent in all respects as if it had been lawfully acquired for that purpose under the provisions of that Act.

The Board may, if it is of opinion that to alter the boundaries of any land vested in it would make that land more useful for any purpose of this Act, with consent sell and transfer pieces along the boundaries of the land to adjoining landowners in consideration of the transfer of pieces on the other side of the boundaries or for any other consideration.

Where the Board has established waterworks for the supply of water to a group of holdings, the Governor may, on the request of the Board – by proclamation – define the boundaries of the group of holdings and declare the lands within those boundaries to be a water district; name that water district; and declare the source of supply of that district for the purposes of this section; and by letters patent, create and incorporate a board of trustees for the waterworks and provide for their appointment or election.

Upon the issue of the instruments mentioned in subsection (1) of this section – the Waterworks Clauses Act 1952 shall apply in respect of the waterworks as if – this Act were the special Act for the purposes of that Act; and the board of trustees were the undertakers authorized to construct the waterworks and to take water from the declared source of supply for the supply of the water district; the Board may convey to the board of trustees all its rights in the waterworks; and the board of trustees shall, upon the conveyance of the Board's rights, pay to the Board the value of those rights as determined by the Minister by such instalments, at such times, and with such interest as he directs to be provided in the conveyance.

The Treasurer may, on behalf of the Crown, guarantee repayment of moneys borrowed by boards of trustees for the purposes of this section.

The Board may out of moneys available for the purposes of this Act lend money to boards of trustees for the purposes of this Act.

To secure payment of money given under a guarantee under subsection (3) or lent under subsection (4), a board of trustees may give a charge over its revenue.

The Treasurer shall not act under subsection (3), nor the Board under subsection (4), of this section, except where the moneys to be guaranteed or lent will be spent on works approved for the purposes of this section by Tasmanian Irrigation Pty Ltd (ACN 133 148 384).

If by letters patent under the seal of the State a corporation is created to manage, carry on, and improve the waterworks that were formerly part of Lawrenny Estate in the parish of Lawrenny in the county of Cumberland, the Board may –

transfer those waterworks to that corporation, together with such rights and privileges over or in other lands formerly part of that estate as it thinks proper to the purposes of that corporation; and include in any offer of a holding carved out of that estate a condition precedent to allotment thereof that the offeree will covenant with that corporation to grant or do or refrain from doing certain things, as the Board, in consultation with the corporation may think fit to specify in the offer, for the better carrying out of the purposes of the corporation.

If a corporation is created as provided in section ten A there shall continue and vest in it all the right to take, divert, and use water into and by the waterworks therein mentioned which the owner of the estate therein mentioned had on the eighteenth day of January 1929.