SEAMEN’S COMPENSATION AMENDMENT ACT 1976

No. 168 of 1976

An Act to increase certain Amounts of Compensation payable to and in respect of Seamen, and for other purposes.

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

Short title, &c.

1.(1) This Act may be cited as the Seamen’s Compensation Amendment Act 1976.

(2) The Seamen’s Compensation Act 1911 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.

Commencement.

2. This Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1 September 1976.

Medical benefits.

3. (1) Section 5a of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by omitting the words “, not exceeding in any case One thousand dollars,”;

(b) by omitting the words “or the sum of One thousand dollars, whichever is the less”; and

(2) The amendments made by sub-section (1) apply in relation to medical treatment or ambulance services provided after the commencement of this section (whether the injury or disease concerned occurred or was contracted before or after that commencement), and section 5a of the Principal Act continues to apply in relation to any other medical treatment or ambulance services.

Compensation for certain injuries.

4. (1) Section 5b of the Principal Act is amended by omitting from sub-section (1) the figures “$20,000” and substituting the figures “$25,000”.

(2) The amendment made by sub-section (1) applies in relation to an injury of a kind specified in sub-section 5b(4), (5) or (6) of, or in Schedule 3 to, the Principal Act as amended by this Act that is sustained after the commencement of this section, whether the accident or disease that caused the injury occurred before or after that commencement.

Maximum compensation.

5. Section 5d of the Principal Act is amended by omitting from sub-section (1) the figures “$20,000” and substituting the figures “$25,000”.

Liability of employer independently of this Act.

6. (1) Section 10a of the Principal Act is amended by omitting sub-section (2).

(2) Proceedings against an employer to recover damages in respect of an injury to a seaman may be taken, after the commencement of this section, as if the sub-section omitted by sub-section (1) had never been in force.

First Schedule.

7. The First Schedule to the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by omitting clause (i) of sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1) and substituting the following clause:—

“(i) if the seaman leaves any dependants wholly dependent upon his earnings, the sum of $25,000 and, in addition, in respect of each person who was a child at the date of the death of the seaman and was, at the date of the injury or the date of the death of the seaman, wholly or mainly dependent upon the earnings of the seaman, a weekly payment, from the date of the death, of the sum of $10;”;

(b) by omitting from clause (iii) of sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1) the figures “$450” and substituting the figures “$650”;

(d) by omitting from clause (i) of sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) the figures “$15” and substituting the figures “$21”;

(e) by omitting from clause (ii) of sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) the figure “$7” and substituting the figures “$ 10 “;

(f) by omitting from clause (ii) of sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) the words “under the age of sixteen years and”;

(g) by omitting from clause (i) of sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (1) the figures “$57” and substituting the figures “$80”;

(h) by omitting paragraph (10a) and substituting the following paragraph:—

“(10a) A weekly payment referred to in clause (i) of sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1) in respect of a child ceases to be payable when the child—

(a) ceases to be a child;

(b) marries; or

whichever event first occurs, and, where such a weekly payment ceases to be payable and the aggregate amount of such weekly payments made in respect of the child is less than $1,000, there is payable an additional amount of compensation equal to the difference between that aggregate amount and $1,000.”; and

(i) by adding at the end thereof the following paragraph:—

“(22) In this Schedule, unless the contrary intention appears, ‘child’ means—

(a) a person under the age of 16 years; or

(b) a person who—

(i) has attained the age of 16 years but is under the age of 21 years;

(ii) is receiving full time education at a school, college or university; and

(iii) is not ordinarily in employment or engaged in work on his own account.”.

Formal amendments.

8. The Principal Act is further amended as set out in the Schedule.

Application of amendments.

9. (1) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, a person was receiving, or was entitled to receive, weekly payments in accordance with the Principal Act, he is, after that commencement, entitled to receive weekly payments in accordance with the Principal Act as amended by this Act.

(2) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, weekly payments in accordance with the Principal Act would have been payable to a seaman in respect of an injury or disease but for the fact that he was not then incapacitated for work or but for the operation of clause (2)(b)(ii) or paragraph 4 or 4a of the First Schedule to that Act, and, after that commencement, he becomes incapacitated for work as a result of the injury or disease or that clause or that paragraph ceases to have effect in relation to him, weekly payments in respect of that injury or disease shall be in accordance with the Principal Act as amended by this Act.

(3) Where, after the commencement of this section, death results from an injury or disease in respect of which compensation was payable before that commencement under the Principal Act, compensation shall be paid in respect of that death in accordance with the Principal Act as amended by this Act.

(4) Where weekly payments that, by virtue of sub-section (1) of this section, have become payable in respect of a child in accordance with clause (1)(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Principal Act as amended by this Act cease to be so payable, any additional amount of compensation payable in respect of that child shall be payable in accordance with that Act as so amended.

(5) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, a seaman was receiving, was entitled to receive or, but for the operation of clause (2)(b)(ii) or paragraph 4 or 4a of the First Schedule to the Principal Act, would have been entitled to receive, weekly payments in accordance with that Schedule in respect of an injury or injuries or a disease, the provisions of section 5d of the Principal Act as amended by this Act apply in relation to the injury, injuries or disease.

(6) Where weekly payments in respect of a child would have been payable immediately before the commencement of this section with respect to—

(a) an injury sustained by a seaman before that commencement; or

(b) a disease that, before that commencement, caused the death or incapacity for work of a seaman,

if the Seamen’s Compensation Act 1911, as in force immediately after the commencement of this section, had been in force when the injury was so sustained or the death or incapacity for work was so caused, weekly payments in respect of that child in accordance with that Act as so in force are payable with respect to that injury or that disease after the commencement of this section.

SCHEDULE Section 8

FORMAL AMENDMENTS

1. The following provisions of the Principal Act are amended by omitting any number expressed in words that is used, whether with or without the addition of a letter or letters, to identify a section of that Act or of another Act, and substituting that number expressed in figures:—

Sections 3(3) and (5), 5d(3) and 6(1)(c).

2. The following provisions of the Principal Act are amended by omitting the words “of this Act”, “of this section” and “to this Act” (wherever occurring):—

Sections 3(5), 5(3) and (4), 5a, 5b(1a) and (5), 5c(3), 5d(2) and (3), 6(1)(c) and (6)(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) and 8(3).

3. The following provisions of the First Schedule to the Principal Act are amended by omitting the words “of this Schedule” (wherever occurring):—

Paragraphs (2) and (6a).

4. The Principal Act is further amended as set out in the following table:—

Provision	Amendment
Section 3(3)...............	Omit “of this Act” (second occurring).
Section 5(1)...............	Omit “the First Schedule to this Act”, substitute “Schedule 1”.
Section 5(3)...............	(a) Omit “the First Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 1”.
	(b) Omit “the Second Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 2”.
Section 5a................	Omit “the First Schedule “, substitute “Schedule 1”.
Section 5b(1)..............	Omit “the Third Schedule to this Act”, substitute “Schedule 3”.
Section 5b(1aa).............	Omit “the Third Schedule to this Act”, substitute “Schedule 3”.
Section 5b(1a)..............	Omit “the First Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 1”.
Section 5b(5)..............	Omit “the Third Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 3”.
Section 5b(6)..............	Omit “the Third Schedule to this Act”, substitute “Schedule 3”.
Section 5c(3)...............	(a) Omit “the First Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 1”.
	(b) Omit “the Second Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 2”.
Section 5d(3)..............	(a) Omit “the First Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 1”.

	(b) Omit “the Third Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 3”.
Section 6(6)...............	Omit “five c, and sub-section (3) of section three, of this Act”, substitute “5c and sub-section (3) of section 3,”.
Section 8(3)...............	Omit “the First Schedule”, substitute “Schedule 1”.
Section 17................	Omit “the Second Schedule to this Act”, substitute “Schedule 2”.
The Schedules..............	Omit “SCHEDULES”.
First Schedule..............	Omit “FIRST SCHEDULE”, substitute “SCHEDULE 1”.
Second Schedule............	Omit “SECOND SCHEDULE”, substitute “SCHEDULE 2”.
Third Schedule.............	Omit “THIRD SCHEDULE”, substitute “SCHEDULE 3”.