Coastal Waters (Northern Territory Powers) Act 1980

No. 76 of 1980

An Act to extend the legislative powers of the Northern Territory in and in relation to coastal waters

[Assented to 29 May 1980]

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Coastal Waters (Northern Territory Powers) Act 1980.

Commencement

2. This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.

Interpretation

3. (1) In this Act—

“adjacent area in respect of the Territory” means the area the boundary of which is described under the heading referring to the Territory in Schedule 2 to the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 as in force immediately before the commencement of this Act;

“coastal waters of the Territory” means—

(a) the part or parts of the territorial sea of Australia that is or are within the adjacent area in respect of the Territory, other than any part referred to in sub-section 4 (2); and

(b) any sea that is on the landward side of any part of the territorial sea of Australia and is within the adjacent area in respect of the Territory but is not within the limits of the Territory;

“Territory” means the Northern Territory of Australia.

(2) The Acts Interpretation Act 1901, in the form in which it was in force, as amended, immediately before the day on which this Act received the Royal Assent, applies to the interpretation of this Act.

Extent of territorial sea and coastal waters

4. (1) For the purposes of this Act, the limits of the territorial sea of Australia shall be the limits existing from time to time, ascertained consistently with the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 and instruments under that Act and with any agreement (whether made before or after the commencement of this Act) for the time being in force between Australia and another country with respect to the outer limit of a particular part of that territorial sea.

(2) If at any time the breadth of the territorial sea of Australia is determined or declared to be greater than 3 nautical miles, references in this Act to the coastal waters of the Territory do not include any part of the territorial sea of Australia that would not be within the limits of that territorial sea if the breadth of that territorial sea had continued to be 3 nautical miles.

Legislative powers of Territory

5. The legislative powers of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory conferred by section 6 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 extend to the making of—

(a) all such laws of the Territory as could be made by virtue of those powers if the coastal waters of the Territory, as extending from time to time, were within the limits of the Territory, including laws applying in or in relation to the sea-bed and subsoil beneath, and the airspace above, the coastal waters of the Territory;

(b) laws of the Territory having effect in or in relation to waters within the adjacent area in respect of the Territory but beyond the outer limits of the coastal waters of the Territory, including laws applying in or in relation to the sea-bed and subsoil beneath, and the airspace above, the first-mentioned waters, being laws with respect to—

(i) subterranean mining from land within the limits of the Territory; or

(ii) ports, harbours and other shipping facilities, including installations, and dredging and other works, relating thereto, and other coastal works; and

(c) laws of the Territory with respect to fisheries in Australian waters beyond the outer limits of the coastal waters of the Territory, being laws applying to or in relation to those fisheries only to the extent to which those fisheries are, under an arrangement to which the Commonwealth and the Territory are parties, to be managed in accordance with the laws of the Territory.

International status of territorial sea

6. Nothing in this Act affects the status of the territorial sea of Australia under international law or the rights and duties of the Commonwealth in relation to ensuring the observance of international law, including the provisions of international agreements binding on the Commonwealth and, in particular, the provisions of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone relating to the right of innocent passage of ships.

Savings

7. Nothing in this Act shall be taken to—

(a) extend the limits of the Territory;

(b) derogate from any power existing, apart from this Act, to make laws of the Territory having extra-territorial effect; or

(c) give any force or effect to a provision of a law of the Territory to the extent of any inconsistency with a law of the Commonwealth or with the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia or the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act.