1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority Act 1976 1.
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This Act was passed before the online parliamentary record we can search begins (1997). Any explanatory memorandum or second reading speech for its bill is in the printed parliamentary papers and Hansard.
Explanatory material and speeches for the bills of later Acts that amended this Act, newest first. They explain the amendment, not necessarily the provision you are reading.
This Act may be cited as the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority Act 1976 1.
The provisions of this Act shall come into operation on such date or dates as is or are, respectively, fixed by proclamation 1.
[3. Deleted: No. 10 of 1998 s. 76.]
[4. Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(f).]
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
abattoir means any premises or place used for or in connection with the slaughtering of animals for sale for human consumption and includes holding yards and the like places used in or in connection with the slaughtering of those animals;
Account means Western Australian Meat Industry Authority Account established under section 15B;
animal means cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats and also includes any other animal declared under section 6 to be a kind of animal to which this Act applies;
Authority means the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority established by this Act;
brand includes any mark or stamp;
carcase means the body of a slaughtered animal and includes a reference to the meat, or any other part of the animal, obtained from the body;
Chairman means the Chairman of the Authority;
declared animal means a kind of animal which is declared for the purposes of Part IVA under section 24B;
Deputy Chairman means the Deputy Chairman of the Authority;
Director General means the person holding or acting in the office of Director General of the Department of Agriculture 3;
inspector means a person appointed under section 24G to be an inspector for the purposes of this Act;
meat means the carcase, or any portion of the carcase, of an animal which has been slaughtered, and is intended to be used, for human consumption, whether fresh or subjected to chilling, freezing, preserving, salting or any other process of manufacture or preservation, and includes any brine or other liquid in which it is preserved;
member means a member of the Authority;
Midland Saleyard means the saleyards formerly maintained and managed by the Western Australian Meat Commission and formerly an adjunct to the Midland Junction Abattoir;
officer means a public service officer employed in a Department under the Public Sector Management Act 1994 4;
owner includes, with respect to an abattoir, any person who is the manager thereof or who is the employer of persons working at the abattoir;
package includes sack, bag, barrel, carton, box, parcel or other container;
premises includes land and buildings and any vehicle or conveyance of any kind;
prescribed abattoir means an abattoir which is prescribed for the purposes of Part IVA under section 24A;
prescribed animal means a kind of animal which is prescribed for the purposes of Part IVA under section 24B;
processing works includes any boning room, smallgoods manufacturing facility, or other place where carcases are processed, in so far as it operates otherwise than by way of retail trading;
sale, without limiting the scope of the primary meaning, includes —
offering, exposing, receiving, supplying or possessing for the purposes of sale;
placing on the market for sale;
bargaining, barter, exchange, loaning or giving;
agreeing to sell;
sending or delivering for sale or on sale; and
authorising, directing, causing, permitting or suffering any act referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) of this interpretation;
saleyard means a place, whether or not a reserve, where animals are held pending or for the purpose of sale.
[Section 5 amended: No. 32 of 1982 s. 5 (as amended: No. 7 of 1984 s. 6); No. 32 of 1993 s. 13; No. 32 of 1994 s. 19; No. 77 of 2006 Sch. 1 cl. 183(1).]
This Act binds the Crown.
[Section 5A inserted: No. 32 of 1982 s. 6.]
The Minister may from time to time by notice published in the Government Gazette —
declare any kind of livestock, being a kind to which this Act would not otherwise apply but which is to be used for human consumption, to be an animal to which this Act applies; and
vary or revoke any declaration made under paragraph (a).
[Section 6 amended: No. 32 of 1993 s. 14.]
For the purposes of this Act there shall be established an authority to be known as the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority.
The Authority is a body corporate with perpetual succession.
Proceedings may be taken by or against the Authority in its corporate name.
The Authority shall, in the exercise and discharge of its powers, authorities, duties and functions, be subject in all respects to the control of the Minister.
The Minister may give directions in writing to the Authority with respect to the performance of its functions, either generally or with respect to a particular matter, and the Authority shall, subject to this Act, give effect to any such direction.
Subsection (3) has effect subject to the Statutory Corporations (Liability of Directors) Act 1996.
[Section 7 amended: No. 32 of 1993 s. 15; No. 46 of 1998 s. 4.]
The Authority consists of —
the Director General, or an officer of the Department of Agriculture 3 nominated by the Director General; and
7 other members, appointed by the Minister, of whom —
one shall be appointed as a representative of the Minister;
2 shall be appointed to represent the interests of private abattoirs;
one shall be appointed to represent the interests of the meat industry, wholesale and retail;
2 shall be appointed to represent the interests of producers of meat; and
one shall be appointed to represent the interests of persons directly employed in the processing of meat at abattoirs.
The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Authority shall be appointed by the Minister from amongst the members of the Authority.
The Minister may, in respect of each member, appoint a person representative of the same interests as that member to be his deputy.
[Section 8 amended: No. 32 of 1993 s. 16.]
Subject to section 8(1)(a) and subsections (2) and (3) of this section, a member shall hold office for such period, not exceeding 3 years, as is specified in the instrument under which he is appointed, but is eligible for re‑appointment.
Any member may, at any time, resign his office by a written notice addressed to the Minister.
The Minister may at any time for cause revoke the appointment of a member and thereupon the person shall cease to be a member.
If the office of any member becomes vacant otherwise than by effluxion of time, the vacancy in office shall be filled in the manner in which the appointment to the vacant office was originally made and representative of the same interests, and the person appointed to that office shall be appointed for the residue of the term for which his predecessor was appointed.
The Minister may grant leave of absence to a member upon such terms and conditions as he determines.
[Section 9 amended: No. 32 of 1993 s. 17.]
Subject to this Act, the meetings of the Authority shall be conducted in such manner as the Authority determines.
The first meeting of the Authority shall be convened by the Chairman and thereafter meetings shall be held at the times and places determined by the Authority, but the Chairman, or any 2 members, may, on reasonable notice to all members, call a meeting at any time.
At a meeting of the Authority, 4 members constitute a quorum.
The Chairman shall preside at every meeting of the Authority at which he is present but if the Chairman is not present at a meeting the Deputy Chairman shall preside and in the absence of both the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman the other members present shall select one of their number to act as Chairman.
Questions arising at a meeting of the Authority shall be decided, in open voting, by a majority of the votes of members present thereat.
The deputy of a member has, at any meeting of the Authority at which he but not the member for whom he is the deputy is present, all the powers and functions of that member.
The person presiding at a meeting of the Authority has a deliberative vote only and, if the votes of members present at a meeting and voting on a question are equally divided, the question shall be decided in the negative.
The powers of the Authority are not affected by any vacancy in the membership thereof, and if a quorum is present all acts and proceedings of the Authority are valid and effectual notwithstanding the vacancy.
The Authority shall keep a record of its proceedings.
[Section 12 amended: No. 32 of 1993 s. 18.]
The Minister is entitled —
to have information in the possession of the Authority; and
where the information is in or on a document, to have, and make and retain copies of, that document.
For the purposes of subsection (1) the Minister may —
request the Authority to furnish information to the Minister;
request the Authority to give the Minister access to information;
for the purposes of paragraph (b) make use of the staff and facilities of the Authority to obtain the information and furnish it to the Minister.
The Authority shall comply with a request under subsection (2) and make its staff and facilities available to the Minister for the purposes of paragraph (c) of that subsection.
In this section —
document includes any tape, disc or other device or medium on which information is recorded or stored mechanically, photographically, electronically or otherwise;
information means information specified, or of a description specified, by the Minister that relates to the functions of the Authority.
[Section 12A inserted: No. 32 of 1993 s. 19.]
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