Decimal Currency Act 1965

Decimal Currency Act 1965

An Act to revise the law of the State in consequence of the adoption of decimal currency in Australia and to make provision for matters incidental thereto

Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:

1.   Short title

This Act may be cited as the Decimal Currency Act 1965 .

2.   Interpretation

(1)  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

appointed day means the fourteenth day of February 1966;

Commonwealth Act means the Currency Act 1965 of the Commonwealth, and includes that Act as amended from time to time and any Commonwealth Act passed in substitution therefor;

industrial award means any determination, award, order, regulation, by-law, or other instrument made or issued under an Act and having the effect of fixing, determining, or prescribing the amounts or rates of remuneration to be paid to employees or any class of employees (including employees of the Crown) in any trade, business, profession, calling, undertaking, or institution;

new currency means the currency provided for by the Commonwealth Act ;

old currency means the currency provided for by the Coinage Act 1909-1947 of the Commonwealth;

provision, used in relation to an Act or statutory instrument, means any Part, Division, subdivision, section, subsection, regulation, sub-regulation, by-law, rule, sub-rule, paragraph, sub-paragraph, clause, sub-clause, schedule, appendix, form, or other portion of the Act or instrument, but does not include any portion of an Act or statutory instrument in which there is contained or set forth a copy of an agreement or arrangement or proposed agreement or arrangement or any heads of agreement to be embodied in a proposed agreement or arrangement;

statutory instrument includes –

(a) an instrument that is a statutory rule within the meaning of the Rules Publication Act 1953 ;

(b) an instrument having effect by virtue of any regulation, by-law, rule, proclamation, order-in-council, order, or other instrument made, issued, or granted under the authority of an Act; and

(c) any other instrument (whether of a legislative character or not) that is made, issued, or granted under the authority of an Act, or in the exercise of the prerogative rights of the Crown, whether by the Governor or by any other person.

(2)  [Section 2 Subsection (2) amended by No. 68 of 1994, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]Nothing in this Act applies to or in relation to the construction of, or affects the operation of –

(a) an industrial award;

(b) a judgment or order given or made by any court, judge, police magistrate, or justice in criminal or civil proceedings; or

(c) [Section 2 Subsection (2) amended by No. 9 of 2011, Sched. 1, Applied:01 Oct 2012] an award made on a request for a dispute to be referred to arbitration under the Commercial Arbitration Act 2011 .

3.   Amendments of Acts

(1)  See note Schedule 1 .

(2)  See note Schedule 2 .

(3)  This section shall commence on the appointed day.

4.   Amendments of the Co-operative Housing Societies Act 1963

See note Schedule 3 .

5.   References to old currency to be construed as references to new currency

(1)  Subject to this section, a reference in a provision of an Act or statutory instrument (being an Act or instrument passed, made, issued, or granted before the appointed day) to an amount of money in the old currency shall be construed on and after that day as a reference to a corresponding amount of money in the new currency, calculated on the basis of the equivalents referred to in subsection (4) of section eight of the Commonwealth Act .

(2)  Where such a reference as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section is to a percentage, rate, or proportion expressed in terms of money, the reference shall be construed as a reference to an equivalent percentage, rate, or proportion expressed in terms of money in the new currency.

(3)  Where such a reference as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section occurs (whether in tabular form, columnar form, or otherwise) under or in relation to –

(a) all or any of the words "pounds", "shillings", and "pence" or other words of like import, that reference shall, on and after the appointed day, be construed as a reference to the word "dollars" or, as the case may require, to the words "dollars" and "cents" in combination with the appropriate number (if any) of dollars or of dollars and cents; or

(b) all or any of the symbols "£", "s", and "d" or other symbols of like import, that reference shall, on and after the appointed day, be construed as a reference to a symbol recognized as denoting the dollar, in combination with the appropriate number (if any) of dollars or, as the case may require, of dollars and cents.

(4)  Where in any provision of an Act or of a statutory instrument (being an Act or instrument passed, made, issued, or granted before the appointed day) it is provided that an amount shall be calculated to the nearest pound, or to the nearest shilling, or to the nearest sixpence, or to the nearest penny, that provision shall, on and after that day, be construed as providing that that amount shall be calculated –

(a) to the nearest dollar, in the case of a reference to the nearest pound;

(b) to the amount of ten cents or the nearest multiple of ten cents, in the case of a reference to the nearest shilling;

(c) to the amount of five cents, in the case of a reference to the nearest sixpence; and

(d) to the nearest cent, in the case of a reference to the nearest penny.

(5)  For the purposes of this section, a guinea is the sum of one pound and one shilling in denominations of money in the old currency.

(6)  Every –

(a) Act; and

(b) instrument –

the construction of which is affected by any of the foregoing provisions of this section is, by force of this subsection, amended to such extent as may be necessary to give effect to those provisions.

(7)  This section does not –

(a) affect the operation of any specific amendment of a provision that is made by section three and Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 , or section four and Schedule 3 , or under the authority of section eleven or section twelve ; or

(b) apply to or in relation to any Act that is specified in Part I of Schedule 4 or any provision that is specified in Part II of that schedule.

6.   Forms

Where an Act or statutory instrument passed, made, issued, or granted before the appointed day prescribes or contains a form that refers to an amount of money in the old currency or provides for an amount of money to be specified in that currency, a person using the form may fill it in in such a manner as to set forth the equivalent of that amount in the new currency.

7.   Special provisions relating to the payment of stamp duty

(1)  Where, on or after the appointed day, an instrument that is subject to duty under the Stamp Duties Act 1931 is stamped for the purposes of that Act that instrument shall be deemed to be properly stamped for the purposes of that Act if, before the day on which this subsection ceases to have effect, there is impressed on or affixed to the instrument the proper stamp or stamps denoting the amount of money in terms of the old currency that, if impressed on or affixed to the instrument immediately before the appointed day, would have made the instrument a properly or duly stamped instrument for the purposes of that Act.

(2)  Subsection (1) of this section shall cease to have effect on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

(3)  Subject to subsection (1) of this section, for the purpose of assessing the duty payable under the Stamp Duties Act 1931 on an instrument executed or made on or after the appointed day for or in respect of, or by reference to, a consideration in money or money's worth, or a payment, expressed in terms of the old currency, that instrument shall be treated as if the consideration or payment were expressed as the corresponding amount in the new currency, calculated on the basis of the equivalents specified in subsection (4) of section eight of the Commonwealth Act , and the scale and rates of duty prescribed, in terms of the new currency, in the Stamp Duties Act 1931 apply to and in relation to such an instrument accordingly.

8.   References in registers, &c.

(1)  Where in a document (not being a statutory instrument) that is made under the authority or for the purposes of an Act or statutory instrument there appears a reference to an amount of money (including a reference to a percentage, rate, or proportion) expressed in terms of the old currency, the provisions of section five , with the necessary adaptations and modifications, apply to and in relation to that document in the same manner as they apply to the provisions of Acts and statutory instruments.

(2)  The person who has the custody of a document to which subsection (1) of this section relates may, where he considers it necessary or desirable so to do for the purposes of the administration of an Act or statutory instrument, alter the document by substituting for such a reference therein as is mentioned in that subsection the appropriate reference in terms of the new currency.

(3)  A reference to an amount of money expressed in terms of the old currency in a document made or lodged under the authority or for the purposes of the Companies Act 1962 or any corresponding previous enactment (being a document that is kept by the Registrar of Companies) shall, on and after the appointed day, be deemed to be a reference to the equivalent amount of money expressed in terms of the new currency, and the Registrar may accordingly alter or cause to be altered any copy of that document that is kept or issued by him.

(4)  In this section,

document includes a register, record, or instrument.

9.   Construction of certain references to the commencement of the Currency Act 1963 of the Commonwealth

Where in any Act or statutory instrument passed, made, issued, or granted before the appointed day there is a reference to the date of the commencement of Part II of the Currency Act 1963 of the Commonwealth, that reference shall be construed as a reference to the appointed day.

10.   Power to appoint special bank holidays

(1)  For the purpose of enabling savings banks carrying on business in this State to facilitate the transition of the banking business of those banks from the system of the old currency to the system of the new currency, the Governor may, in accordance with the provisions of the Bank Holidays Act 1919 , appoint any day or days (being a day or days earlier than the fourteenth day of February 1966) to be a bank holiday or, as the case may be, to be bank holidays.

(2)  [Section 10 Subsection (2) amended by No. 68 of 1994, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]A day that is appointed as a bank holiday pursuant to this section shall not be deemed to be a holiday, or a bank holiday, or a public holiday for the purposes of any industrial award or for the purposes of the Tasmanian State Service Act 1984 .

11.   Power of Governor to resolve doubts, &c.

(1)  Notwithstanding any other law or rule of law to the contrary, if –

(a) a doubt or difficulty arises in relation to the construction under this Act of a reference in any other Act to an amount of money, or to a percentage, rate, or proportion expressed in terms of money; or

(b) in the opinion of the Governor, this Act omits to make adequate provision for the amendment of a provision of any other Act resulting from the adoption of the new currency –

the Governor may, by order, make such provision as he considers just and reasonable for the purpose of resolving that doubt or difficulty or rectifying that omission.

(2)  Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, an order under this section may –

(a) be made for or with respect to resolving doubts or difficulties arising, or that, in the opinion of the Governor, may arise, in respect of the correspondence (calculated on the basis of the equivalents specified in subsection (4) of section eight of the Commonwealth Act ) of amounts of money (including percentages, rates, or proportions affecting money) when expressed in the old currency and in the new currency;

(b) be made for or with respect to correcting any errors or anomalies that, in the opinion of the Governor, have arisen in the substitution by this Act in terms of the new currency of references to amounts of money (including references to percentages, rates, or proportions affecting money) in terms of the old currency; and

(c) amend Schedule 1 , Schedule 2 , or Schedule 4 by amending any item occurring therein, adding any item thereto, omitting any item therefrom, or substituting a new item for any item occurring therein.

(3)  An amendment effected by an order made under this section may be expressed to commence on such date (whether before or after the date of the making of the order but not earlier than the appointed day) as may be specified in that behalf in the order, and if no date is so specified in an order, the order shall commence, or shall be deemed to have commenced, on the appointed day.

(4)  An order made under this section has effect according to its tenor on and from the date on which it commences or is deemed to have commenced as if it were expressly enacted in this Act.

(5)  The power conferred on the Governor by this section shall not be exercised after the expiration of a period of six months after the appointed day.

12.   Power of Governor to amend statutory instruments

(1)  Notwithstanding any other law or rule of law to the contrary, the Governor may, by order, amend any statutory instrument made, issued, or granted before the appointed day –

(a) by substituting references to amounts of money in terms of the new currency for references therein to amounts of money in terms of the old currency; and

(b) by making provision for any matter that is ancillary to or consequent upon the making of such a substitution.

(2)  An amendment effected by an order made under this section may be expressed to commence on such date (whether before or after the date of the making of the order but not earlier than the appointed day) as may be specified in that behalf in the order, and if no date is so specified in an order, the order shall commence, or shall be deemed to have commenced, on the appointed day.

(3)  An order made under this section –

(a) may be made without regard to –

(i) any method or procedure required by law for the amendment of the statutory instruments, or of any class or kind of the statutory instruments, to which it relates; or

(ii) the fact that any statutory instrument, or kind or class of statutory instruments, to which it relates is or may be incapable of amendment apart from this section; and

(b) has effect according to its tenor on and from the date on which it commences or is deemed to have commenced and is not subject to appeal, disallowance, or any similar procedure.

SCHEDULE 1 - Amendment of Acts

[Schedule 1 Amended by No. 99 of 1982, s. 3 and Sched. 2 ]

Section 3 (1)

The amendments effected by this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the appropriate Acts.

SCHEDULE 2 - Amendments of the Crown Lands Act 1935

Section 3 (2)

The amendments effected by this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the Crown Lands Act 1935 .

SCHEDULE 3 - Amendments of the Co-operative Housing Societies Act 1963

Section 4

The amendments effected by this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the Co-operative Housing Societies Act 1963 .

SCHEDULE 4 - Acts and provisions unaffected

[Schedule 4 Amended by No. 99 of 1982, s. 3 and Sched. 2 ]

Section 5 (7)

PART I - Acts not Affected by Section 5

PART II - Provisions not Affected by Section 5