CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS Clause Samples
CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS. 7.1 Constitution, Part 3, Responsibility for Functions, Sections 4.3: “to discharge the executive functions that fall within their portfolio, whether or not they are also delegated to officers except for matters specifically reserved to Council, Cabinet or cabinet committees.”
CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS. 32 33 35 CERTIFICATE OF INCUMBENCY
CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS. Under the Constitution, the Commonwealth Parliament does not have an express power to legislate in respect of water management and use in Australia. However, the Commonwealth has been able to legislate in respect of water resources in reliance on a range of constitutional powers. In relation to the Water Act as originally enacted in 2007, the most significant of these were: The external affairs power (s 51(xxix)) of the Constitution, in implementation of Australia’s obligations under international law, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and other treaties; The corporations power (s 51(xx)), in relation to the regulation of the activities of trading or financial corporations concerning water and water access entitlements; The interstate trade and commerce power (s 51(i)), in relation to the promotion and regulation of interstate trade in water access entitlements; and The powers relating to meteorological observations (s 51(viii), and census and statistics (s 51(xi)), which support the Bureau of Meteorology’s water information functions. Following the 2008 referrals of power by the States, provisions were introduced by the Water Amendment Act 2008 that also rely on s 51(xxxvii) of the Constitution. This paragraph provides that the Commonwealth Parliament may make laws on matters referred to it by the Parliament of any State, but such laws can extend only to the States by whose Parliaments the matter is referred or that afterwards adopt the law.