An Act relating to the Pocklington Reef Islands.
WHEREAS the Pocklington Reef Islands, being all of the islands lying between the parallels 10 degrees 30 minutes and 11 degrees South Latitude and between the meridians 155 and 156 degrees East Longitude, are territory acquired by Australia:
AND WHEREAS those islands are adjacent to the Territory of Papua:
AND WHEREAS it is desirable to make provision for the government of those islands as part of Papua New Guinea:
BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:–
Short title and citation.
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Papua New Guinea Act 1975.
(2) The Papua New Guinea Act 1949-1974 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.
(3) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Papua New Guinea Act 1949-1975.
Commencement.
2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
3. After Part III of the Principal Act the following Part is inserted:—
“PART IIIa—POCKLINGTON REEF ISLANDS
Pocklington Reef Islands.
“12a. (1) In this section, ‘Pocklington Reef Islands’ means all of the islands lying between the parallels 10 degrees 30 minutes and 11 degrees South latitude and between the meridians 155 degrees and 156 degrees East longitude.
“(2) The Pocklington Reef Islands shall be deemed to be annexed to, and to form part of, the Territory of Papua for all purposes, including the purposes of this Act and of all laws in force in the Territory of Papua immediately before the commencement of this section.
“(3) The laws in force in the Pocklington Reef Islands immediately before the commencement of this section, other than laws that were, at that time, also in force in the Territory of Papua, shall, upon the commencement of this section, cease to be in force in the Pocklington Reef Islands.”.
Laws relating to off-shore mineral resources.
4. Section 52a of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) by omitting from sub-section (1) the definition of “off-shore area”; and
(b) by inserting after sub-section (1) the following sub-section:—
“(1a) A reference in this section to the off-shore area is a reference to the sea-bed and subsoil beneath—
(a) the waters of—
(i) the territorial sea appertaining to the Territory of Papua; and
(ii) the territorial sea appertaining to the Territory of New Guinea; and
(b) the superjacent waters of the continental shelf of each of those Territories,
but, for the purposes of this sub-section, those waters shall not be taken to include waters to which, immediately before the commencement of this sub-section, the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967-1974 applied.”.