1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Marine and Harbours Act 1981.
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Bill homepageThis Act may be cited as the Marine and Harbours Act 1981.
This Act shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
chief executive officer means the chief executive officer of the Department;
Department means the department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister in the administration of this Act;
departmental area means an area comprising one or more of the following —
departmental land;
waters;
shores;
seabed,
within a port for the administration and operation of which the Department is responsible;
departmental land means land vested in the Minister by a proclamation under section 9 or land otherwise acquired by the Minister for the purposes of this Act;
harbour includes a boat harbour declared under the Shipping and Pilotage Act 1967 section 10(2);
infringement notice means an infringement notice served under section 18A(2);
inspector means an inspector designated under the Western Australian Marine Act 1982 section 117;
port includes —
a port declared under the Shipping and Pilotage Act 1967 section 10(1); and
a port as defined in the Port Authorities Act 1999 section 3(1);
Port Authority means a port authority established under the Port Authorities Act 1999.
[Section 3 inserted: No. 47 of 1993 s. 19; amended: No. 78 of 1994 s. 4; No. 2 of 2019 s. 24.]
[(1)-(3) deleted]
There shall be appointed under and subject to Part 3 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994 such officers as may be necessary to provide administrative, professional, scientific, technical, and other services to the Department.
The Minister may engage persons as employees and, subject to any industrial award or agreement that is applicable in relation to a particular case or class of cases, persons so engaged shall be employed on such terms and conditions as the Minister determines.
[Section 4 amended: No. 113 of 1987 s. 32; No. 47 of 1993 s. 20; No. 32 of 1994 s. 19.]
Subject to this Act, the functions of the Department are —
to administer, exercise and perform the powers and duties necessary or convenient for the control and regulation in the State of marine and port affairs and navigation; and
to administer, exercise and perform the powers and duties necessary or convenient for the provision and regulation in the State of pilotage services, except in relation to ports where pilotage services are lawfully provided by a Port Authority; and
to advise the Minister on marine and port affairs; and
to provide assistance and advice, when requested by a Port Authority, on matters concerned with the promotion and development of the port for which that Port Authority is responsible and on proposals for, or policy in respect of, capital expenditure by the Port Authority; and
to regulate, control, and promote measures desirable to ensure the safety of life in connection with shipping and boating and to construct, maintain, and manage facilities and equipment necessary for that purpose; and
to construct, control, manage, operate, and maintain ports within the State, other than those for which a Port Authority is responsible, and to provide such plant, equipment, and facilities as are necessary for the administration and operation of such ports; and
to provide for the commercial development and promotion of the ports referred to in paragraph (f); and
to construct, control, manage, operate, and maintain harbours within the State and to provide, control, manage, operate and maintain such plant, equipment, and facilities as are necessary for the administration and operation of such harbours; and
to provide for the commercial development and promotion of the harbours referred to in paragraph (h); and
subject to subsection (1A), to construct, provide, control, manage, operate, and maintain facilities and services, both on land and water, that are desirable to meet the needs of effective and efficient shipping and boating, both recreational and commercial, including —
port works;
jetties, landing places, slips, platforms, grids, breakwaters, depots, and sheds;
moorings;
boating facilities;
launching ramps;
navigation aids;
marine craft;
and
to provide for the commercial development and promotion of the facilities and services referred to in paragraph (i); and
to preserve, protect, control, manage, operate and maintain any property vested in or acquired by the Minister for the purposes of this Act; and
to perform such other duties relating to marine and port affairs within the State, not being inconsistent with this Act, as the Minister may from time to time require.
Despite subsection (1), the Department cannot construct, provide, control, manage, operate or maintain port works in relation to a port (as defined in the Port Authorities Act 1999 section 3(1)) without the agreement of the Port Authority that controls and manages that port.
In this section port works in relation to a port, includes any pier, quay, wharf, jetty, bridge, viaduct, breakwater, embankment or dam, or any reclamation of land from the sea or a river, or excavation, deepening, dredging or widening of any channel, basin or other part of a harbour.
[Section 5 amended: No. 2 of 2019 s. 25.]
[5A. Deleted: No. 2 of 2019 s. 34.]
The chief executive officer may cause to be erected, placed or marked, at places within or on the boundaries of a departmental area, such notices and signs as the chief executive officer considers necessary or desirable for the purpose of indicating publicly —
that the area concerned is a departmental area;
the general extent of the departmental area;
any prohibition or restriction that applies under this Act to conduct in the departmental area or in a portion of it;
the liability of any person who fails to comply with a prohibition or restriction referred to in paragraph (c); or
any other matters relating to the departmental area or a portion of it.
It is not a defence to a charge of committing an offence under this Act to prove that a notice or sign is not erected, placed or marked under this section at any place unless an element of the offence is dependent on the existence of the notice or sign.
A person shall not destroy, damage, deface, obliterate, move or otherwise interfere with a notice or sign erected, placed or marked under this section.
Penalty for this subsection: a fine of $5 000.
[Section 5B inserted: No. 78 of 1994 s. 5; amended: No. 2 of 2019 s. 27.]
The Minister may enter into contracts or arrangements with any person, including a Minister, department or instrumentality of the State, for the erection, construction or execution of any work permitted or authorised to be erected or constructed by it, or for furnishing materials or labour, or for the purchase or construction of machinery or appliances of any kind, or for the supply of professional, technical or other services, and any other contracts or arrangements necessary for the purpose of carrying out effectively the functions of the Department.
A contract or arrangement entered into by the Minister under subsection (1) with another Minister, a department or an instrumentality of the State shall be on such conditions and financial terms as may be agreed between the parties.
Notwithstanding the State Trading Concerns Act 1916, the Department, in addition to performing its functions under this Act, may, with the prior approval of the Minister, provide services to any person, including a Minister, department or instrumentality of the State.
For the purposes of subsection (1), the Minister may enter into contracts or arrangements which may provide for payment to the Department for services provided.
In subsection (1), services means services of the kind that the Department provides for the purpose of performing its functions under this Act and includes advice, the performance of work and the use of facilities.
[Section 6A inserted: No. 47 of 1993 s. 21.]
The Minister may enter into written arrangements with any person for the performance by that person as agent of the Department of such of the functions of the Department as may be specified in the arrangement.
An arrangement under subsection (1) shall be on such terms and conditions as may be agreed by the parties, including provision for remuneration of the agent, and shall specify the area or port with respect to which the arrangement is to apply.
For the purposes of this Act, the Minister —
is a body corporate, with perpetual succession, under the name of “The Minister for Transport”;
shall have a common seal;
may acquire, hold, and dispose of real and personal property; and
may sue and be sued in his corporate name.
All courts, judges and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the common seal of the Minister affixed to a document and shall presume that it was duly affixed.
For the purposes of this Act, the Governor may by proclamation —
vest in the Minister any real or personal property of any kind, or interest in any such property; and
withdraw any land or other property of any kind from the Minister and vest or revest it in the Crown.
The Governor may by further proclamation cancel or vary any proclamation made under subsection (1).
Subject to this Act, where any land is required for the purposes of this Act, that land may be entered upon, surveyed and taken under the powers contained in and in accordance with the procedure set out in Part 9 of the Land Administration Act 1997.
[Section 10 amended: No. 31 of 1997 s. 142.]
11. Exemption from rates etc.
Subject to subsection (2), all land vested in the Minister under this Act is exempt from any rate, tax or imposition that might, but for this section, be lawfully levied or imposed by or under any Act.
Nothing in subsection (1) precludes a local government, or other statutory authority from levying and collecting rates and other lawful charges in respect of land, houses and buildings of the Minister that are for the time being let or occupied for private purposes.
[Section 11 amended: No. 14 of 1996 s. 4.]
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