In 2013, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority will become the national regulator for all domestic commercial vessels and their crew, and a National System will be established.
Given the differences between current State and Northern Territory marine safety laws, the creation of the National System will bring some changes to all states and territories. These changes will both establish national consistency and create a modern, best practice regulatory system that supports safety, productivity and efficiency.
In June 2011, AMSA released its vision for the National System in a document called the ‘Regulatory Plan’. The Regulatory Plan formed the basis for 29 consultation meetings around Australia through which over 1000 stakeholders had an opportunity to provide feedback.
Stakeholders were particularly concerned about the definition of commercial vessel, grandfathering and transitional arrangements, consistency in survey outcomes, and arrangements for specific vessel types such as research, yacht race and heritage vessels.
This week AMSA will release a report on the outcomes of the consultations. The report identifies all of the issues raised at consultation meetings and in submissions as well as outlining the proposed treatment of these issues.
The Regulatory Plan will be amended in line with the recommendations contained in the report, and a final version issued in early 2012.
A Discussion Paper on the proposed new National Law Bill has been released for comment
A discussion paper summarising the essential elements of the still-developing Bill has been released for consideration and comment.
The Bill proposes to establish a new National Law for the safety of domestic commercial vessel operations in Australia and the discussion paper summarises its following key parts:
- Scope, Objectives and Key Definitions
- National Regulator
- General Safety Obligations
- Certificates for Vessels and Seafarers
- Assistance and Reporting Requirements
- Maritime Safety Inspectors
- Infringement Notices
- Other Matters
Please click www.nationalsystem.amsa.gov.au to access the Discussion Paper, which should be read in conjunction with an exposure draft of the Bill that is expected to be released for public consultation in early 2012.
In parallel, work on the Bill has focussed on the detail of the changed definition of 'domestic commercial vessel' agreed in the Inter-governmental Agreement, as well as changes to the marine safety inspector provisions so as to more closely align those provisions with existing laws in the jurisdictions.
Marine Orders and Regulations under the new Bill
The new Bill provides for both Marine Orders and regulations to be made for those matters that need to be prescribed.
Regulations are prepared for the Department and are made by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council Marine Orders are drafted by AMSA’s Office of Legislative Drafting and are made by the CEO of AMSA. AMSA is obliged to make Marine Orders in accordance with the Inter-Government Agreement.
In either case (orders or regulations), the instruments must be tabled in federal parliament and are subject to disallowance. Transitional provisions or matters dealing with the definitions of vessel, commercial vessel and recreational vessel must be prescribed by regulations, not Marine Orders.
There are 50 current Marine Orders under the Navigation Act, numbered from 1 to 97. We propose to have a separate series of Marine Orders under the Bill, numbered from 501 to make it clear that they are distinct from the Navigation Act orders.
Marine Orders will follow the structure of the Bill and provide for 4 kinds of certificates — survey, operations, vessel identification and crew qualifications. The orders will give effect to the National Standards for Commercial Vessels by incorporating them by reference. The Bill also allows for exemptions to be made (e.g. for vessels not required to be in survey), and these will also be prepared by AMSA's drafters.
The regulations will provide transitional provisions so that an existing certificate of survey, registration, operation or other licence will permit continuation of the activities it currently covers until the certificate expires or needs to be renewed, or until the end of the phase-in period.
NSCV Part D Consultation Process Update
NSCV Part D consultations kicked off on the Gold Coast on 21 November 2011 and was followed by a three week consultation period in Queensland. Over 400 stakeholders attended the 10 consultation sessions in different locations along the Queensland coast.
The second week of December saw the consultation move to the state of NSW involving three separate locations.
The most common issues raised during the consultation process were
(i) the proposal for a new General Purpose Hand qualification;
(ii) the introduction of a task book for sea service accrual;
(iii) the limitation of some certificates with regards to the Australian Coastal Middle Waters;
(iv) the proposal for a new Coxswain Sail qualification;
(v) sea service accrual.
After a break for the festive season and taking into account the busiest period for vessel operators, public consultation will start again during the last week of January 2012 and extend to the remaining states and territory. The dates and venues for the forthcoming consultation sessions are available on the NMSC website at www.nmsc.gov.au where you will also find more information on the proposed changes to NSCV Part D.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the NMSC secretariat at secretariat@nmsc.gov.au for further enquiries.
National System Implementation Project Update
The heads of all State and Territory Maritime Agencies met in Canberra this month to discuss the approach for the implementation project and the schedule of key activities for 2012 in preparation for the commencement of the National System.
AMSA, as the National Regulator, will be responsible for developing and implementing the legislative framework, common regulatory and administrative outcomes, structures, protocols and reporting arrangements that make up the National System.
The Intergovernmental Agreement for Commercial Vessel Safety Reform identified a number of elements that would make up the National System. These include:
- development and maintenance of relevant legislation and subordinate legislation;
- maritime standards development and maintenance;
- administrative and regulatory outcomes;
- vessel and seafarer certification activities;
- auditing and assurance mechanisms; and
- national maritime data management.
AMSA team leaders have been conducting extensive planning in their areas of responsibility and detailed plans are being produced. These plans will be shared with the jurisdictions so that the effort to establish the National Regulator and implement the National System can be effectively coordinated.
In the spirit of partnership, and addressing the need to minimise the initial impact of the National System to both regulators and the industry, delivery of the project will be a collegiate process between AMSA and the State and Territory Maritime Agencies. A multi-jurisdictional taskforce has been created to develop and deliver the operational system and the project management team will be assisting with the deployment of the taskforce in each element of the National System.