COASTAL WATERS (NORTHERN TERRITORY TITLE) ACT 1980 No. 78 of 1980 - SECT 4 Vesting of title in Territory

COASTAL WATERS (NORTHERN TERRITORY TITLE) ACT 1980 No. 78 of 1980 - SECT 4

4. (1) By force of this Act, but subject to this Act, there are vested in the
Territory, upon the date of commencement of this Act, the same right and title
to the property in the sea-bed beneath the coastal waters of the Territory, as
extending on that date, and the same rights in respect of the space (including
space occupied by water) above that sea-bed, as would belong to the Territory
if that sea-bed were the sea-bed beneath waters of the sea within the limits
of the Territory.

(2) The rights and title vested in the Territory under sub-section (1) are
vested subject to-

   (a)  any right or title to the property in the sea-bed beneath the coastal
        waters of the Territory of any other person (including the
        Commonwealth) subsisting immediately before the date of commencement
        of this Act, other than any such right or title of the Commonwealth
        that may have subsisted by reason only of the sovereignty referred to
        in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973;

   (b)  a right of the Commonwealth, or an authority of the Commonwealth
        authorized by the Commonwealth or by a law of the Commonwealth, to use
        the sea-bed and space referred to in sub- section (1) for purposes in
        relation to communications, the safety of navigation, quarantine or
        defence, and to place, construct and maintain equipment and structures
        for the purposes of such use; and

   (c)  a right of the Commonwealth to authorize the construction and use of
        pipelines for the transport across the sea-bed referred to in
        sub-section (1) of petroleum (including petroleum in gaseous form),
        recovered, in accordance with a law of the Commonwealth, from any area
        of the sea-bed beyond the coastal waters of the Territory.

(3) Where, after the commencement of this Act, a change takes place in the
baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea of Australia is
measured-

   (a)  if, by reason of the change, the coastal waters of the Territory
        extend to an area to which they did not previously extend-sub-
        sections (1) and (2) have effect in relation to that area as if the
        references in those sub-sections to the date of commencement of this
        Act were references to the date on which the change occurs; or

   (b)  if, by reason of the change, the coastal waters of the Territory cease
        to extend to an area to which they previously extended- neither the
        Territory, nor any person claiming through the Territory, continues to
        have, by virtue of the operation of this Act, any right or title in
        relation to that area.

(4) It is the intention of the Parliament that, subject to sub-section (2),
any right or title vested in the Territory by this section may be disposed of
or otherwise dealt with in accordance with the laws of the Territory.