NAVAL DEFENCE.
No. 93 of 1964.
An Act Relating to Naval Defence.
[Assented to 6th November, 1964.]
BE it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellency Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—
Short title and citation.
1.—(1.) This Act may be cited as the Naval Defence Act 1964.
(2.) The Naval Defence Act 1910–1952 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.
(3.) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Naval Defence Act 1910–1964.
Commencement.
2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
3. Section two of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section inserted in its stead:—
Parts.
“2. This Act is divided in Parts, as follows:—
Part I.—Introductory (Sections 1–6).
Part II.—Administration (Sections 7–18).
Part III.—The Naval Forces (Sections 19–30).
Part IV.—The Service of the Naval Forces (Sections 31–34).
Part V.—Cadets (Sections 38–39).
Part VI.—Special Powers in relation to the Naval Forces (Section 41).
Part VII.—Miscellaneous (Sections 43–45).”.
4. Section three of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section inserted in its stead:—
Definitions.
“3. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—
‘active service’ means service in or with a force that is engaged in operations against the enemy and includes service in any naval operations in time of war or time of defence emergency;
‘member’ means an officer or seaman;
‘native force’ means a force consisting, or consisting mainly, of aboriginal inhabitants of a Territory of the Commonwealth;
‘naval establishment’ includes any naval college, naval instructional establishment, ship, vessel or boat used for services auxiliary to naval defence, and any dock, shipyard, foundry, machine shop, work, or establishment, used in connexion with naval defence;
‘officer’ means a commissioned officer or a subordinate officer of the Naval Forces, but does not include a chief petty officer or a petty officer;
‘regulations’ means regulations relating to the Naval Forces, whether made under this Act or the Defence Act or made under any other power;
‘seaman’ means a member of the Naval Forces not being an officer;
‘subordinate officer’ means an officer of the rank of Acting Sub-Lieutenant or a lower rank;
‘the Defence Act’ means the Defence Act 1903–1964;
‘the Naval Discipline Act’ means the Imperial Act called the Naval Discipline Act, 1957, as in force on the date of commencement of the Naval Defence Act 1964;
‘this Act’ includes all regulations under this Act;
‘time of defence emergency’, ‘time of war’ and ‘war’ have the same meanings respectively as in the Defence Act.”.
Amendment of Defence Act 1903–1910.
5. Section four of the Principal Act is repealed, but the amendments made by that section continue to have effect as though that section had not been repealed.
6. Section five of the Principal Act is repealed and the following sections are inserted in its stead:—
Application of Defence Act.
“5.—(1.) Subject to this Act, Part I., sections twelve and thirteen of Part II., sections thirty, forty-three, fifty a, fifty b, fifty-one and fifty-eight of Part III., Part IV. and Parts VI. to XII. (inclusive) of the Defence Act apply to and in relation to the Naval Forces and the members of those Forces.
“(2.) In the application of those Parts and sections to and in relation to the Naval Forces, any reference to the Minister shall be read as a reference to the Minister administering this Act.
Extension of Act to Territories.
“5a. This Act extends to every Territory of the Commonwealth.”.
7. Sections eight to sixteen (inclusive) of the Principal Act are repealed and the following sections inserted in their stead:—
Appointment and promotion of naval officers.
“8.—(1.) The Governor-General may, in accordance with such conditions and subject to such qualifications or requirements as are prescribed or provided for by the regulations—
(a) appoint persons to be officers of the Naval Forces; and
(b) promote officers of the Naval Forces,
and, except in the case of subordinate officers, may issue commissions to persons so appointed.
“(2.) The conditions, qualifications and requirements referred to in the last preceding sub-section may be prescribed or provided for by the regulations with respect to—
(a) appointments and promotions generally;
(b) appointments or promotions—
(i) to specified ranks;
(ii) in specified parts of the Naval Forces; or
(iii) of a specified kind; and
(c) persons or officers included within a specified class of persons or officers.
“(3.) The regulations may provide that a prescribed condition, qualification or requirement does not apply, or may be dispensed with, in such cases or circumstances as are prescribed or otherwise provided for by the regulations.
Terms of appointment.
“9.—(1.) In appointing a person to be an officer, the Governor-General (or his delegate under section eleven of this Act)—
(a) shall specify the part of the Naval Forces to which the appointment is made;
(b) may express the appointment to be for a specified period of service in that part of the Naval Forces; or
(c) may express the appointment to be for a specified period of service in one part of the Naval Forces, to be followed by a specified period of service in another part of the Naval Forces.
“(2.) The last preceding sub-section does not affect any power expressly or impliedly conferred by any other provision of this Act to transfer an officer from one part to another part of the Naval Forces or to terminate the appointment of an officer.
Promotion for distinguished service.
“10. The Governor-General may appoint a seaman to be an officer, or promote an officer to higher rank, for distinguished service in time of war or for marked ability or gallantry on active service notwithstanding that the member has not complied with a condition, qualification or requirement in relation to appointment or promotion to the rank concerned for which provision is made by or under this Act.
Delegation of power to make appointments and promotions.
“11.—(1.) The Governor-General may delegate to the Naval Board or to an officer of the Naval Forces any of the powers to appoint and promote officers of the Naval Forces conferred upon him by sections eight and ten of this Act.
“(2.) A delegation under this section may be made applicable to appointments or promotions of officers to specified ranks or to ranks of a specified kind and either in the Naval Forces generally or in a specified part of the Naval Forces.
“(3.) A delegation to an officer under this section may be made to a named officer, to the holder of a specified office or appointment or to an officer for the time being performing the duties of a specified office or appointment.
“(4.) A delegation under this section is revocable at will and does not prevent the exercise of a power by the Governor-General.
“(5.) The Governor-General may, within three months after the making of an appointment or promotion by a delegate under this section, cancel the appointment or promotion.
“(6.) Whenever the Governor-General cancels an appointment or promotion, the officer whose appointment or promotion has been cancelled ceases, on the day on which he receives notice of the cancellation, to hold the rank or office to which he was appointed or promoted by the delegate.
Appointments during pleasure.
“12.—(1.) Subject to this Act, an officer holds his appointment during the pleasure of the Governor-General.
“(2.) The commission of an officer shall not be cancelled except for cause and after he has had notice, as prescribed, of the cause and has been called upon to answer in his defence.
Resignation of officer.
“13.—(1.) An officer may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Naval Board, tender the resignation of his naval office, but a resignation shall not be accepted, and is not effective, except as provided by this section.
“(2.) The Naval Board may, without reference to the Governor-General, reject the resignation of an officer if—
(a) it is tendered in time of war or in time of defence emergency;
(b) acceptance of the resignation would, in the opinion of the Board, seriously prejudice the ability of the Naval Forces to carry out naval operations that they are carrying out or may be required to carry out; or
(c) in the case of an officer—
(i) who is engaged in, or has completed, a course of special training, a period of employment on special duties or a period of service outside Australia; or
(ii) who was appointed outside Australia and whose transport, or whose family’s transport, was at the expense of the Commonwealth,
the officer has not completed a period of service that, under a determination of the Naval Board, and in the circumstances, the officer is required to complete.
“(3.) The Naval Board shall forward to the Minister, for submission to the Governor-General, any resignation that has been tendered and has not been rejected in pursuance of the last preceding sub-section.
“(4.) Where the Minister considers that the resignation of the officer should not be accepted unless and until the officer has complied with a condition, the officer’s resignation shall not be submitted to the Governor-General for acceptance until the officer has complied with that condition.
“(5.) The Governor-General may accept, or refuse to accept, the resignation of an officer, and whenever he accepts the resignation of an officer, shall specify in the instrument of acceptance the date upon which the resignation becomes effective.
Seniority.
“14. The seniority of officers and seamen in their respective ranks and ratings and in relation to other members shall be as prescribed by, or determined in accordance with, the regulations or, in any case for which provision is not made by the regulations, as determined by the Naval Board.”.
8. Sections nineteen to twenty-two (inclusive) and twenty-four of the Principal Act are repealed and the following sections inserted in their stead:—
Naval Forces.
“19. The Naval Forces of the Commonwealth consist of three parts, namely, the Permanent Naval Forces, the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces and the Citizen Naval Forces.
Permanent Naval Forces.
“20. The Permanent Naval Forces consist of officers appointed to, and of seamen enlisted in, those Forces.
Naval Emergency Reserve Forces.
“21. The Naval Emergency Reserve Forces consist of seamen enlisted in those Forces and of such officers as are appointed to those Forces or transferred to those Forces from the Permanent Naval Forces or the Citizen Naval Forces.
Citizen Naval Forces.
“22. The Citizen Naval Forces consist of officers appointed to, and of seamen enlisted in, those Forces and of such officers as are transferred to those Forces from the Permanent Naval Forces and the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces.
Organization of Naval Forces.
“23. The Naval Forces shall be organized as prescribed or, where there is no provision or insufficient provision made by this Act or the regulations with respect to any matter relating to the organization of those Forces, as determined by the Naval Board.
Voluntary entry.
“24.—(1.) The Naval Forces shall be kept up by the appointment to those Forces, or the enlistment in those Forces, of persons who volunteer and are accepted for service in those Forces.
“(2.) A person called upon under section sixty of the Defence Act to enlist and serve in the Citizen Forces shall not be required, unless he voluntarily agrees to do so, to enlist and serve in the Citizen Naval Forces.”.
9. Section twenty-five of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section inserted in its stead:—
Enlistment and re-engagement.
“25.—(1.) A person who volunteers to serve as a seaman in the Naval Forces shall, if accepted, be enlisted as a seaman in a specified part of those Forces and, upon enlistment, shall be engaged to serve for a prescribed period.
“(2.) On or before the expiration of the period for which a seaman was enlisted or previously re-engaged, he may volunteer to serve for a further period as prescribed and be re-engaged for further service accordingly.
“(3.) A period of re-engagement commences on the day immediately after the expiration of the period for which, on enlistment or previous re-engagement, the seaman had volunteered to serve.”.
10. Section twenty-six of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section inserted in its stead:—
Oath on enlistment
“26.—(1.) A person offering to be enlisted in any part of the Naval Forces shall, if accepted, take and subscribe, before an officer or a Justice of the Peace, an oath in accordance with the appropriate form set out in the Schedule to this Act.
“(2.) The taking and subscribing of that oath by a person shall be regarded as enlistment of that person in the Naval Forces and binds him to serve in the Naval Forces in accordance with the tenor of his oath until his service is lawfully terminated.”.
11. Sections twenty-eight and twenty-nine of the Principal Act are repealed and the following sections inserted in their stead:—
Discharge on expiration of period of engagement.
“28.—(1.) Subject to this section, a seaman is entitled to be discharged upon the expiration of the period of service for which he is engaged.
“(2.) A seaman of the Permanent Naval Forces is not entitled to be discharged during a time of war, a time of defence emergency or a period for which any part of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces is called out for continuous service.
“(3.) A seaman of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces is not entitled to be discharged during a time of war, a time of defence emergency or a period for which the part of those Forces to which he belongs is called out for continuous service.
“(4.) A seaman of the Citizen Naval Forces is not entitled to be discharged during a time of war or time of defence emergency.
“(5.) When a seaman becomes entitled to be discharged, he shall be discharged with all convenient speed, but, until he is discharged, he remains a seaman of the Naval Forces.
Discharge prior to expiration of period of engagement.
“29.—(1.) A seaman of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces or of the Citizen Naval Forces may, except—
(a) in time of war or in time of defence emergency;
(b) during any period for which he has volunteered to render continuous full time naval service; or
(c) in the case of a member of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces—during any period for which the part of the Forces to which he belongs is called out for continuous service,
claim his discharge before the expiration of the period of service for which he is engaged, if he has given not less than three months’ notice in writing to his commanding officer of his intention to claim his discharge.
“(2.) Whenever a seaman claims his discharge as provided by the last preceding sub-section, he shall be discharged with all convenient speed, but until he is discharged, he remains a seaman of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces or of the Citizen Naval Forces, as the case may be.”.
12. Sections thirty-one and thirty-two of the Principal Act are repealed and the following sections inserted in their stead:—
Service of the Permanent Naval Forces.
“31.—(1.) Members of the Permanent Naval Forces are bound to render continuous full time naval service for the respective terms for which—
(a) in the case of officers—they hold their appointments in those Forces; or
(b) in the case of seamen—they enlisted or re-engaged to serve in those Forces,
unless their services are sooner lawfully terminated.
“(2.) If the term of appointment or the term of engagement of a member of the Permanent Naval Forces expires during a time for which any part of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces is called out for continuous service, a time of defence emergency or a time of war, the term of his appointment, or of his engagement, as the case may be, in the Permanent Naval Forces shall be deemed to be extended until the end of that time or, if more than one of those times successively occur, until the end of the last occurring of those times.
Service of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces.
“32.—(1.) Except as provided by the succeeding provisions of this section, members of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces are not bound to serve continuously, but are bound to render naval service for such periods as are fixed by or in accordance with the regulations.
“(2.) Where the Governor-General considers it desirable to do so, he may, by notice in the Gazette, call out the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces, or any specified part of those Forces, for continuous service.
“(3.) Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, while the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces are, or a part of those Forces is, called out for continuous service in pursuance of the last preceding sub-section, a member of those Forces, or of that part of those Forces, as the case may be, is bound to render continuous full time naval service for such period or periods as the prescribed authority directs.
“(4.) Where a member of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces has completed a period of twelve consecutive months’ full time naval service, he shall be released from employment on that form of service with all convenient speed but, until he is so released, he remains bound, notwithstanding anything in the last preceding sub-section, to render that form of service.
“(5.) Where a member of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces has, whether in accordance with the last preceding sub-section or otherwise, been released from employment on continuous full time naval service upon completion of a period of that form of service, then, except in time of war or in time of defence emergency, he is not liable to be again employed on continuous full time naval service until the expiration of a period equal to the first-mentioned period.
“(6.) A member of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces may, at any time, voluntarily undertake to render continuous full time naval service for a period specified by him and, if that undertaking is accepted, he is bound to render that form of service for that specified period, or for such period or periods within that specified period, as the prescribed authority directs.
“(7.) In time of war or in time of defence emergency, members of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces are bound to render continuous full time naval service for such period or periods during that time as the prescribed authority directs.
“(8.) A direction by the prescribed authority under this section may be given with respect to different parts, or members within specified classes of members, of the Naval Emergency Reserve Forces.
Service of the Citizen Naval Forces
“32a.—(1.) Subject to this section, members of the Citizen Naval Forces are not bound to serve continuously, but are bound to render naval service for such periods as are fixed by or in accordance with the regulations.
“(2.) The regulations may make provision for different periods of naval service with respect to different parts, or members within specified classes of members, of those Forces.
“(3.) A member of the Citizen Naval Forces may, at any time, voluntarily undertake to render continuous full time naval service for a period specified by him and, if that undertaking is accepted, he is bound to render that form of service for that specified period, or for such period or periods within that specified period, as the prescribed authority directs.
“(4.) Nothing in this section affects the liability of a member of the Citizen Naval Forces to be employed on continuous full time naval service while he is a member of a part of those Forces called out for such service under section fifty a of the Defence Act.”.
13. Sections thirty-four to thirty-seven (inclusive) of the Principal Act are repealed and the following section is inserted in their stead:—
Application of Naval Discipline Act and Queen’s Regulations.
“34. Subject to this Act—
(a) the Naval Discipline Act; and
(b) the Queen’s Regulations and Admiralty Instructions in force at the date of commencement of the Naval Defence Act 1964,
with such exceptions and subject to such modifications and adaptations as are provided by the regulations, apply to and in relation to the Naval Forces and the members of those Forces.”.
Transfers between Forces.
14. Section forty-two of the Principal Act is repealed.
15.—(1.) Sections forty-three, forty-four, forty-four a and forty-four b of the Principal Act are repealed and the following sections inserted in their stead:—
Affirmation in lieu of oath.
“43.—(1.) Where, under this Act, a person is required to take an oath in accordance with the appropriate form set out in the Schedule to this Act and that person conscientiously objects to take an oath, he may make an affirmation in accordance with the appropriate form set out in that Schedule instead of taking the oath.
“(2.) An affirmation so made has the same force and effect and entails the same consequences as the taking of the oath.
Female members.
“44. The regulations may provide that specified provisions of this Act do not apply to or in relation to female members of the Naval Forces or that provisions of this Act do so apply subject to such modifications and adaptations as are provided by the regulations.
Modifications of applied provisions.
“44a. Where by this Act it is provided that provisions of this Act or of any other law apply or may be applied subject to such modifications as are provided by the regulations, the regulations may make provisions in addition to or in substitution for any of the provisions that may be so modified.”.
(2.) It is hereby declared that the Naval Defence Act 1910, or that Act as amended, in so far as it enacted that provisions of that Act, or of that Act as amended, or of any other law, applied, or might be applied, subject to such modifications as were provided by the regulations, authorized the making of regulations making provisions in addition to, or in substitution for, any of the provisions that might be so modified.
Schedule.
16. The Schedules to the Principal Act are repealed and the following Schedule is inserted in their stead:—
“THE SCHEDULE.
Section 26.
Form of Oath on Enlistment.
1, , do swear that I will well and truly serve Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors according to law, as a seaman in the for the period , or until my service is sooner lawfully terminated, that I will resist Her enemies and that in all matters appertaining to my service I will faithfully discharge my duty according to law.
So help me God!
——
Section 43.
Form of Affirmation on Enlistment.
I, , do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will well and truly serve Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors according to law, as a seaman in the for the period or until my service is sooner lawfully terminated, that I will resist Her enemies and that in all matters appertaining to my service I will faithfully discharge my duty according to law.”.
Saving.
17.—(1.) Members of the Naval Forces who are serving at the date of commencement of this Act shall continue to serve in accordance with the Principal Act as amended by this Act and the Permanent Naval Forces and the Citizen Naval Forces in existence immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been organized in accordance with section twenty-three of the Naval Defence Act 1910–1964.
(2.) All regulations made under the Principal Act that were in force immediately before the date of commencement of this Act continue in force except in so far as they are inconsistent with the Principal Act as amended by this Act, but any such regulation may be amended or repealed by regulations under the Principal Act as amended by this Act.
Termination of service in certain cases.
18. Where a member of the Citizen Naval Forces serving at the date of commencement of this Act has, within thirty days after that date, by writing under his hand addressed to his commanding officer—
(a) stated that he is unwilling to be liable to be called out for continuous service in time of defence emergency; and
(b) applied, on that account, to resign his naval office or to be discharged,
his resignation shall be accepted or he shall be discharged, as the case requires, with all convenient speed.