New national maritime safety laws came into effect yesterday
July 2, 2013
New national laws regulating ship and seafarer safety in a bid to protect Australia’s marine environment came into effect yesterday.
A statement from Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced the establishment of the Navigation Bill 2012 and the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Bill 2012.
The National Law Bill establishes the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) as the single national maritime regulator.
Seafarers previously had seven marine regulatory systems.
The Bill is intended to introduce one set of rules for maritime operations, licensing, registration, design standards and seafarer education for domestic commercial vessels.
According to Albanese, the rules will protect the marine environment, while allowing the maritime industry to operate across state and territory borders freely.
“The National Law Bill provides a national approach to commercial vessel maritime safety replacing 50 pieces of state and federal legislation with one national law,” Albanese says in
a statement.
The Navigation Act 2012, which also became effective yesterday, replaces the century old Navigation Act 1912.
The 2012 Act is intended to provide new measures to ensure maritime safety compliance.
These measures include increased financial penalties for non-compliant vessels, exclusion of vessels from Australian ports with poor inspection histories, and on the spot infringement notices for marine order offences.