HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ACT 1981 No. 24 of 1981 - SECT 31 Declaration of international instruments

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ACT 1981 No. 24 of 1981 - SECT 31

31. (1) The Minister may, after consulting with the appropriate Minister of
each State and of the Northern Territory, by writing under his hand, declare
an international instrument, being -

   (a)  an instrument ratified or acceded to by Australia; or

   (b)  a declaration that has been adopted by Australia, to be an
        international instrument relating to human rights and freedoms for the
        purposes of this Act.

(2) Where the Minister makes a declaration under sub-section (1) -

   (a)  there shall be published in the Gazette -

        (i)    a copy of the international instrument;

        (ii)   a copy of Australia's instrument of ratification of or
               accession to the international instrument or of the terms of
               any explanation given by Australia of its vote in respect of
               the international instrument; and

        (iii)  a copy of the instrument of declaration under sub-section (1);
               and

   (b)  the declaration under sub-section (1) has effect on and from the date
        on which the copies referred to in paragraph (a) were published in the
        Gazette or, if those copies were published in the Gazette on different
        dates, on the later or latest of those dates.

(3) The provisions of section 48 (except paragraphs (1) (a) and (b) and
sub-section (2)) and section 49 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 apply, by
force of this section, to a declaration made under sub-section (1) of this
section in like manner as those provisions apply to regulations.

(4) Nothing in the provisions applied by sub-section (3) affects the operation
of a declaration made under sub-section (1) at any time before it becomes
void, or is disallowed, in accordance with those provisions.