Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Transitional Provisions) Act 1987

No. 4, 1987

An Act to enact certain transitional provisions in consequence of the enactment of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987

[Assented to 13 March 1987]

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Transitional Provisions) Act 1987.

2 Commencement

This Act shall come into operation on the day on which the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 comes into operation.

3 Interpretation

Expressions used in this Act have, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning as those expressions have in the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987.

4 Application

This Act has effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987.

5 Members of Commission cease to hold office

On the commencing day, the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman and the other members of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission who held office immediately before that day cease to hold office, but the corporate identity of the body corporate referred to in subsection 4(1) of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 is preserved.

6 References to Commission in instruments, etc.

A reference to the Australian Atomic Energy Commission in any law of the Commonwealth, in any law of a Territory, or in any contract, award or other instrument to which the Australian Atomic Energy Commission was a party, shall, except in relation to matters that occurred before the commencing day, be construed as a reference to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

7 Property, powers, liabilities, etc.

The alteration of the name and constitution of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission resulting from section 4 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 does not affect any property, powers, rights, liabilities or obligations of the body corporate continued in existence by that section.

8 Saving of proceedings

(1) The alteration of the name and constitution of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission resulting from section 4 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 does not render defective any legal or other proceedings instituted or to be instituted by or against the body corporate continued in existence by that section, and any legal or other proceedings that might have been continued or commenced by or against the body corporate by the name of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission may be continued or commenced by or against the body corporate by the name of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

(2) The alteration of the name and constitution of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission resulting from section 4 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 does not render defective any investigation being or proposed to be undertaken by the Commonwealth Ombudsman under the Ombudsman Act 1976 into any action taken before the commencing day by the body corporate continued in existence by that section, and any investigation that might have been continued or commenced into any action taken by the body corporate by the name of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission may be continued or commenced as if the action had been taken by the body corporate by the name of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

9 Judicial notice

All courts, judges and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the imprint of the seal of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission appearing on a document that was executed before the commencing day and shall presume that the document was duly sealed.

10 Officers and employees

(1) Any person who was an officer (including an officer on probation) or an employee of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission immediately before the commencing day by virtue of his or her having been appointed or engaged under subsection 21(1) of the Atomic Energy Act 1953 continues, subject to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987, as an officer or employee, as the case may be, of the Organisation as if the person had been appointed or engaged under section 24 of the last‑mentioned Act.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to a person whose employment as an officer or employee of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission would, if the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 and this Act had not been enacted, have terminated immediately before the commencing day.

(3) The Board shall, upon the commencing day, be deemed to have determined under subsection 24(3) of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 with the approval of the Public Service Board terms and conditions of service or employment of officers and employees of the Organisation to whom subsection (1) of this section applies that are the same as the terms and conditions of service or employment of those officers and employees immediately before the commencing day.

11 Application of money

Notwithstanding section 27 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987, the money of the Organisation may be applied:

(a) in payment or discharge of any expenses, charges, obligations or liabilities that were incurred or undertaken before the commencing day by the Australian Atomic Energy Commission in or in connection with the performance of its functions or the exercise of its powers and were not paid or discharged before that day; and

(b) in payment of any remuneration or allowances the liability for which arose under Part II of the Atomic Energy Act 1953 but which had not been paid before the commencing day.

12 Estimates

Where estimates of receipts and expenses were prepared by the Australian Atomic Energy Commission under subsection 30A(1) of the Atomic Energy Act 1953 in relation to a period after the commencement of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987, or in relation to a period that included a period after that commencement:

(a) those estimates shall be deemed to be estimates of receipts and expenditure prepared by the Board under subsection 28(1) of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987; and

(b) if those estimates, in so far as they were estimates of expenses, related to a period that included a period before the commencement of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987—any expenditure in accordance with those estimates by the Australian Atomic Energy Commission shall, for the purposes of the application of those estimates in relation to the Organisation, be deemed to have been incurred by the Organisation.

13 Bank accounts

The bank accounts maintained by the Australian Atomic Energy Commission immediately before the commencing day continue in existence as bank accounts of the Organisation as if they had been opened by the Organisation under section 63J of the Audit Act 1901 as that section applies to the Organisation by virtue of section 29 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987.

14 Audit

Section 63L of the Audit Act 1901 as that section applies to the Organisation by virtue of section 29 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 extends to accounts and records of financial transactions of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission that took place before the commencing day as if they were accounts and records of financial transactions of the Organisation.

15 Annual report and financial statements

(1) If the Australian Atomic Energy Commission had not, before the commencing day, furnished a report and financial statement in relation to the operations of the Commission during the year that ended on 30 June last preceding that day, the Board shall cause to be prepared a report and financial statement on the operations of the Commission during that year in accordance with section 31 of the Atomic Energy Act 1953 and, notwithstanding the repeal of that section effected by this Act, that section continues in force for the purpose of the preparation of that report and financial statement as if:

(a) the reference to the Australian Atomic Energy Commission in subsection 31(1) were a reference to the Board;

(b) the reference in subsection 31(1) to operations continued to be a reference to the operations of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission;

(c) the reference to the Australian Atomic Energy Commission first occurring in subsection 31(2) were a reference to the Board; and

(d) the reference in subsection 31(3) to the report and financial statements of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission were a reference to the report and financial statements prepared by the Board in relation to the operations of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission.

(2) If the commencing day is a day other than 1 July, the report and financial statement in relation to the operations of the Organisation during the year ending on 30 June next following the commencing day that is required to be prepared by section 63M of the Audit Act 1901 (as that section applies to the Organisation by virtue of section 29 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987) shall extend to the operations of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission during the part of that year that preceded the commencing day.

(3) A report by the Organisation that relates to operations of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission shall include any matters that would have been required to be included in a report relating to those operations prepared under section 31 of the Atomic Energy Act 1953 if the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 and this Act had not been enacted.