Territory of Cocos (keeling) Islands

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Utilities and Services Ordinance 1996

No. 4 of 1996

I, The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following Ordinance under the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955.

Dated 14 August 1996.

 WILLIAM DEANE

 Governor-General

 By His Excellency’s Command,

WARWICK SMITH

Minister for Sport, Territories and Local Government

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An Ordinance to provide for the supply of utilities and services in the Territory, and for certain fees

Short title

 1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Utilities and Services Ordinance.1

[Note: This Ordinance commences on gazettal: see Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955, s. 12 (2).]

Interpretation

 2. In this Ordinance:

“Administrator” means the Administrator of the Territory appointed under section 5 of the Administration Ordinance 1975.

Supply of utilities and services

 3. The Administrator may make provision for the supply and use of any of the following utilities and services:

 (a) water;

 (b) electricity;

 (c) gas;

 (d) drainage and sewerage;

 (e) refuse removal;

 (f) public transport;

 (g) community health care;

 (h) education;

 (i) community housing;

 (j) marine traffic facilities;

 (k) marine harbour facilities;

 (l) airport facilities.

Fees

 4. (1) There is imposed on a person a fee in relation to:

 (a) the provision, by the Administrator, of a utility to the person; or

 (b) the use, by the person, of a service provided by the Administrator;

being the fee determined by the Administrator, from time to time, to be the fee applicable to the utility or service.

 (2) A determination is of no effect in relation to any particular fee unless:

 (a) notice of the fee is published in the Gazette; and

 (b) the fee bears a reasonable relationship to the cost of supplying the utility or service to a person liable to pay the fee, or is less than the cost of supplying the utility or service to the person.

 (3) A determination may, in relation to a utility or service that is supplied in different localities or in different circumstances, fix different fees.

 (4) The amount of a fee is a debt due to the Commonwealth.

Notice

 5. A notice under subsection 4 (2) must specify a date, not being a date earlier than the date of publication of the notice, as the date on which the fee commences to apply, and may:

 (a) specify the manner in which a fee is to be paid; and

 (b) specify a date or period before the end of which a fee must be paid.

Tabling and disallowance of notice

 6. Sections 13, 13A, 13B and 13C of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955 apply to a determination as if a reference in those sections to an Ordinance were a reference to a determination.

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NOTE

1. Notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 21 August 1996.