MOTOR VEHICLES ACT 1959 - SECT 145
MOTOR VEHICLES ACT 1959 - SECT 145
145—Regulations and fee notices
(1) The Governor may
make regulations—
(a)
prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for the
administration of this Act and for carrying out the objects of this Act; and
(b)
exempting, subject to such conditions as may be stipulated in the regulations,
any specified motor vehicle, or motor vehicles of any specified class, from
the obligation to be registered or to bear identification numbers or a permit
in pursuance of this Act; and
(ba)
empowering the Registrar to issue documents relating to the registration of a
motor vehicle or to any registered particulars of a registered motor vehicle,
prescribing fees for the issue of such documents by the Registrar, prescribing
classes of documents (whether issued by the Registrar or any other person or
body) relating to the registration of a motor vehicle and providing offences
relating to such documents; and
(c)
exempting, subject to such conditions as may be stipulated in the regulations,
persons of any specified class from the obligation to hold a licence or a
licence of a specified class, instructor's licence, or towtruck certificate
under this Act; and
(i)
notice to be given to the Registrar of specified matters
in relation to any written-off motor vehicle (whether registered or
unregistered) or any specified vehicle part;
(ii)
notices containing specified information to be affixed to
written-off motor vehicles (whether registered or unregistered) or any
specified vehicle part; and
(cb)
prohibiting or restricting the use on roads of written-off motor vehicles or
the defacing, alteration or removal of notices affixed to
written-off motor vehicles or specified vehicle parts; and
(d)
providing for the determination by the Registrar of the load capacity of a
motor vehicle to be registered; and
(e)
prescribing, and providing for the payment of fees, for any test conducted for
the purposes of this Act; and
(ea)
prescribing, and providing for the payment of fees for the inspection of a
motor vehicle for the purposes of this Act; and
(f)
prescribing any other fees or monetary amount for the purposes of this Act;
and
(fa)
prescribing fees for the purposes of the Interstate Road Transport
Act 1985 of the Commonwealth; and
(g)
providing for the remission or reduction of any fee payable under this Act;
and
(ga)
regulating the use of motor vehicles to which "L" or "P" plates are affixed
pursuant to this Act; and
(gb)
providing for the attachment of number plates to motor vehicles, or any class
of motor vehicles, and prescribing the fees payable for number plates, or any
class of number plates; and
(gc)
providing for the classification of licences and the classes of motor vehicles
permitted to be driven pursuant to those classifications; and
(gd)
prescribing the qualifications that are required to be held before a person
may hold, or be taken to hold, a licence assigned a particular classification,
and empowering the Registrar to exempt persons, conditionally or
unconditionally, from that requirement; and
(ge)
preventing a person who fails a test of a prescribed kind conducted for the
purposes of this Act from taking a subsequent such test within the prescribed
period; and
(gf)
providing for matters relating to exemptions under section 81A(14),
including the issue, carriage and production of certificates of exemption and
the use, suspension, cancellation or surrender of exemptions or certificates
of exemption; and
(h)
providing for an accident towing roster scheme and for that purpose may by
regulation—
(i)
provide for and regulate the issuing of directions by or
on behalf of police officers for towtrucks to proceed to the scenes of
accidents occurring in the declared area;
(ii)
provide for and regulate the administration of an
accident towing roster under which the towtrucks of towtruck operators holding
positions on the roster may be directed to proceed to the scenes of accidents
occurring within the declared area, or, if the declared area is divided into
zones, within a particular zone;
(iii)
empower the Registrar to declare, by notice in the
Gazette, that the declared area is divided into zones specified in the notice,
and to vary or revoke any such declaration by a subsequent notice;
(iv)
empower the Registrar to determine applications by
towtruck operators for positions on an accident towing roster;
(v)
prescribe the qualifications that applicants must have in
order to be granted positions on an accident towing roster;
(vi)
otherwise provide for and regulate applications for and
the allocation of positions on an accident towing roster;
(vii)
provide for and prescribe the duties of and regulate the
activities and conduct of towtruck operators holding positions on an accident
towing roster;
(viii)
empower the Registrar to stipulate conditions with which
towtruck operators holding positions on an accident towing roster must comply;
(ix)
empower the Registrar to reprimand a towtruck operator
who holds a position on an accident towing roster, to remove or suspend the
operator from the roster or to reduce the number of positions held by the
operator on the roster and prescribe the circumstances in which the Registrar
may exercise those powers;
(x)
provide for tests or examinations for the purpose of
determining applications for positions on an accident towing roster;
(xi)
prohibit any conduct that might interfere with the
operation or administration of an accident towing roster or the issuing of
accident towing directions;
(xii)
regulate the activities and conduct of persons employed
or acting in the course of the business of a towtruck operator holding a
position on an accident towing roster;
(xiii)
prescribe the standards and requirements for and provide
for the registration of the premises used by towtruck operators who hold
positions on an accident towing roster;
(xiv)
require the display at towtruck operators'
registered premises of signs of a prescribed size, construction and form and
containing the prescribed information and regulate the positioning of such
signs;
(xv)
regulate the storage at the registered premises of
towtruck operators of vehicles damaged in accidents;
(xvi)
prescribe the standards and requirements for and provide
for the approval by the Registrar of towtrucks and equipment carried on
towtrucks used for towing motor vehicles damaged in accidents in the
declared area and prohibit the driving of towtrucks that do not comply with
the prescribed standards and requirements or that have not been so approved;
(xvii)
provide for and prescribe the hours at which
towtruck operators must be ready and able to engage in towing pursuant to
accident towing directions;
(xviii)
require towtruck operators to insure against risks of
damage to or loss relating to motor vehicles towed or stored in the course of
their businesses;
(xix)
prescribe application fees and fees payable annually for
positions on an accident towing roster, being fees which may vary according to
prescribed factors;
(xx)
provide for the issuing of documents to be used as
authorities to tow and the fees for issuing such documents;
(xxi)
regulate the possession or use of documents issued by
the Registrar for use as authorities to tow;
(xxii)
prescribe the duties of a towtruck driver or
towtruck operator where a document issued for use as an authority to tow, or
an authority to tow, or a copy of an authority to tow, is lost, destroyed,
rendered unusable or illegible or cancelled;
(xxiii)
require the keeping and preserving of records by persons
holding or formerly holding positions on an accident towing roster;
(xxiv)
require the provision of information to the Registrar by
towtruck operators holding positions on an accident towing roster; and
(i)
providing for the inspection of towtrucks and equipment
carried on towtrucks; and
(j)
prescribing the forms of certificates, notices or documents required or
authorised to be given under Part 3C or under the regulations or
providing that the forms of those certificates, notices or documents must be
as determined by the Minister; and
(k)
prescribing the fees for certificates under Part 3C which may be of varying
amounts according to factors prescribed in the regulations; and
(l)
exempting, or conferring on the Registrar a power to exempt, a person from
compliance with a specified provision of Part 3C or a regulation made for the
purposes of that Part for a period and subject to conditions specified in the
regulations or by the Registrar; and
(la)
exempting, conditionally or unconditionally, any person or class of persons or
any motor vehicle or class of motor vehicle, from any provision of this Act;
and
(m)
prescribing fines not exceeding $5 000, for breach of, or non-compliance with,
the regulations; and
(n)
fixing expiation fees, not exceeding $2 500, for alleged offences against the
Act or regulations.
(1a) Regulations made
under subsection (1)(ca) or (cb) may—
(a)
prescribe penalties, not exceeding a $5 000 fine or imprisonment for 6 months,
for breach of, or non-compliance with, a regulation made under that
subsection; and
(b) fix
an expiation fee, not exceeding $1 250, for an alleged offence against a
regulation made under that subsection.
(1b) To avoid doubt,
regulations made under subsection (1)(gc) or (gd) may require a
person who holds a particular class of licence (the
"original licence") to obtain a different class of licence in order to drive a
class of motor vehicle that they had been authorised to drive under the
original licence.
(2) Regulations under
this Act may—
(a) be
of general application or limited application;
(b) make
different provision according to the matters or circumstances to which they
are expressed to apply;
(c)
provide that a matter or thing in respect of which regulations may be made is
to be determined, dispensed with, regulated or prohibited according to the
discretion of the Minister, the Registrar, an inspector or any other person or
body prescribed by the regulations;
(d)
include evidentiary provisions to facilitate proof of contraventions of the
regulations for the purposes of proceedings for offences;
(e)
refer to or incorporate, wholly or partially and with or without
modification—
(i)
the text of model legislation or road transport
legislation set out in regulations made for the purposes of section 7 of
the National Transport Commission Act 2003 of the Commonwealth; or
(ii)
a document published by the National Transport Commission
and approved by the Australian Transport Council; or
(iii)
a specified standard, code or other document prepared or
published by a prescribed body,
as in force at the time the regulations are made or as in force from time to
time;
(f)
contain provisions of a savings or transitional nature.
(3) If regulations
refer to or incorporate a standard, code or other document—
(a) a
copy of the standard, code or other document must be kept available for
inspection by members of the public, without charge and during normal office
hours, at an office or offices determined by the Minister; and
(b)
evidence of the contents of the standard, code or other document may be given
in any legal proceedings by production of a document apparently certified by
the Minister to be a true copy of the code, standard or other document.
(4) The Minister may
prescribe fees for the purposes of this Act by fee notice under the
Legislation (Fees) Act 2019 .
(8) In this
section—
"written-off motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle of a class defined by the
regulations as written-off vehicles.