Road Safety Act 1986

Subject to subsections (8) and (9), the Governor in Council may make regulations for or with respect to any matter or thing required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or necessary to be prescribed to give effect to this Act including, but not limited to, the matters and things specified in Schedule 2.

A power conferred by this Act to make regulations may be exercised—

either in relation to all cases to which the power extends, or in relation to all those cases subject to specified exceptions, or in relation to any specified case or class of case; and

so as to make, as respects the cases in relation to which it is exercised—

the same provision for all cases in relation to which the power is exercised, or different provisions for different cases or classes of case, or different provisions for the same case or class of case for different purposes; or

any such provision either unconditionally or subject to any specified condition.

Regulations made under this Act may be made—

so as to apply—

at all times or at a specified time; or

throughout the whole of the State or in a specified part of the State; or

as specified in both subparagraphs (i) and (ii); and

so as to require a matter affected by the regulations to be—

in accordance with a specified standard or specified requirement; or

approved by or to the satisfaction of a specified person or body or a specified class of persons or bodies; or

as specified in both subparagraphs (i) and (ii); and

so as to apply, adopt or incorporate any matter contained in any document, code, standard, rule, specification or method formulated, issued, prescribed or published by any authority or body whether—

wholly or partially or as amended by the regulations; or

as formulated, issued, prescribed or published at the time the regulations are made or at any time before then; or

as formulated, issued, prescribed or published from time to time; and

so as to provide for the recognition by the Secretary of things done or omitted to be done under a law of the Commonwealth or another State or a Territory under which authority is given to drive motor vehicles on roads or road related areas; and

so as to confer a discretionary authority or impose a duty on a specified person or body or a specified class of persons or bodies; and

so as to provide in a specified case or class of case for the exemption of persons or things or a class of persons or things from any of the provisions of the regulations, whether unconditionally or on specified conditions and either wholly or to such an extent as is specified; and

so as to impose a penalty not exceeding 20 penalty units for individuals or 120 penalty units for bodies corporate for a contravention of the regulations.

The regulations may provide that this Act does not, or specified provisions of this Act do not, apply to a vehicle, or vehicles of a class, identified in the regulations.

The regulations may—

provide that a traffic infringement applies, or does not apply, at times, on days, in circumstances or at places identified in the regulations; and

provide that a traffic infringement applies, or does not apply, to a person or a class of person, or a vehicle or a class of vehicle, specified in the regulations; or

allow for a different amount of penalty for a traffic infringement according to the circumstances in which the offence is committed or the extent of the contravention constituting the offence.

The regulations may allow the Secretary—

to exempt a vehicle or class of vehicles from the requirement to be registered; or

to exempt a vehicle or class of vehicles from a requirement of the regulations relating to the construction, efficiency, performance, safety, roadworthiness or design of vehicles or the equipment to be carried on vehicles; or

to exempt a motor vehicle or trailer or class of motor vehicles or trailers from a requirement of the regulations relating to the carrying of loads; or

to exempt a vehicle or a group of vehicles, or the driver or registered operator of a vehicle or a group of vehicles, from a requirement of the regulations relating to mass and dimension limits; or

to exempt a person or class of persons from a requirement of the regulations to be complied with before a driver licence or learner permit may be granted, varied or renewed; or

to exempt a person or class of persons from a requirement of the regulations relating to the hours of driving of motor vehicles or the keeping of records relating to those hours of driving or the carrying of log books on motor vehicles—

The regulations may provide for a Commonwealth interpretation enactment to apply to the interpretation of any of the provisions of the regulations—

either wholly or to the extent specified by the regulations; and

to so apply without modifications or with the modifications specified by the regulations.

In subsection (3C) Commonwealth interpretation enactment means—

the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 of the Commonwealth; or

the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 of the Commonwealth; or

the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 of the Commonwealth as applied by the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 of the Commonwealth to legislative instruments within the meaning of that Act.

This section does not prevent the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 from applying to the regulations to the extent that it can do so consistently with the application to those regulations of any Commonwealth interpretation enactment within the meaning of subsection (3C).

The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing fees for any service provided by the Secretary including the following—

appointments related to the registration of vehicles;

appointments related to the licensing of drivers;

services related to the registration of vehicles and the management of the registration of vehicles;

services related to the licensing of drivers and the management of the licensing of drivers;

searches conducted on licensing records including those conducted on the demerit points register;

searches conducted on registration records including those conducted on the register of written-off vehicles;

provision of registration and licence data;

services related to the issue and management of registration permits;

clearance of defect notices;

issuing of photo identity documents;

services related to the issuing and management of number plates;

services related to the transfer of registration number rights.

A power conferred by this Act to make regulations providing for the imposition of fees may be exercised by providing for all or any of the following matters—

specific fees;

maximum or minimum fees;

maximum and minimum fees;

ad valorem fees;

the payment of fees either generally or under specified conditions or in specified circumstances;

the reduction, waiver or refund, in whole or in part, of the fees.

If under subsection (4)(f) regulations provide for a reduction, waiver or refund, in whole or in part, of a fee, the reduction, waiver or refund may be expressed to apply either generally or specifically—

in respect of certain matters or transactions or classes of matters or transactions;

in respect of certain documents or classes of documents;

when an event happens;

in respect of certain persons or classes of persons; or

in respect of any combination of such matters, transactions, documents, events or persons—

A fee that may be imposed by regulation in relation to driver licences or learner permits under Part 3 or the registration of motor vehicles or trailers or ADS permits under Part 3A is not limited to an amount that is related to the cost of providing a service.

If under subsection (3)(c)(iii) a regulation has applied, adopted or incorporated any matter contained in any document, code, standard, rule, specification or method as formulated, issued, prescribed or published from time to time and that document, code, standard, rule, specification or method is at any time amended, until the Secretary causes notice to be published in the Government Gazette of that amendment the document, code, standard, rule, specification or method is to be taken to have not been so amended.

Regulations made under this Act must not—

prohibit the fitting of bull-bars to motor vehicles; or

require annual tests of roadworthiness of registered motor vehicles or trailers.

Any regulations made under this Act for or with respect to the issuing of film permits must not be inconsistent with the film friendly principles.

Without limiting the generality of subsection (2)(b)(i), in relation to driver licensing, the regulations may make different provision for people of or over 75 years of age.

Regulations made under this Act may provide for matters of a transitional or savings nature relating to the making, amendment or repeal of such regulations.