Legal Opinions

The Secretary, Home and Territories Department has forwarded the following memorandum from the Administrator of New Guinea for advice:

The validity of the Regulations made under the Administrator’s Powers Ordinance 1923 has been questioned on the grounds that these Regulations are Legislation and that the Governor-General being himself a delegate has no power to delegate his legislative powers.

As this opinion, if upheld, will render abortive all the Regulations made under that Ordinance, it is essential that the point should be decided as early as possible.

The Chief Electoral Officer has forwarded for advice the following memorandum:

Section 39(5) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act provides as follows:

(5) No aboriginal native of Australia, Asia, Africa, or the Islands of the Pacific (except New Zealand) shall be entitled to have his name placed on or retained on any roll or to vote at any Senate election or House of Representatives election unless so entitled under section forty-one of the Constitution.

Section 41 of the Constitution provides as follows:

The Secretary, Home and Territories Department, forwards the following request for advice:

A suggestion has been made that, if practicable, it should be arranged for the present Parliament to meet at Canberra for one day, in the latter half of this year, for the transaction of business.

In view of the final paragraph of section 125 of the Constitution my Minister would be glad to learn whether, in your opinion, the holding of such a meeting would preclude Parliament from again meeting in Melbourne.

The Secretary to the Treasury has forwarded me the following memorandum
for advice:

Section 23(2) of the War Time Profits Assessment Act reads as follows:

When any alteration in an assessment has the effect of reducing the taxpayer’s liability, the Commissioner shall refund the taxpayer any tax overpaid.

The Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs has forwarded the following memorandum for advice:

• On 18/2/23 Regulation 34(B) under the Customs Act 1901–23 was made by the Governor-General, Statutory Rules 1925, No. 29.

2. Clauses (a), (b) and (c) of regulation 34(B)(1) read:

34(B)(1) Goods which comply with the following conditions shall be deemed to be the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom for the purposes of the operation of the British Preferential Tariff, viz.,

The Acting Assistant Secretary to the Department of the Treasury has forwarded for advice the following memorandum:

The Assistant Secretary to the Treasury has forwarded for advice the following memorandum:

The Comptroller-General of Customs has forwarded me the following minute
for advice:

The Secretary to the Home and Territories Department has forwarded for advice a copy of a memorandum by the Crown Law Officer of the Territory of New Guinea relative to the rights of natives to fishing over reefs in the territorial waters of the Territory.

The Secretary, Department of Home and Territories, has forwarded me the following minute for advice:

Section 12(1) of the Nationality Act 1920 provides that—

Where the Governor-General is satisfied that a Certificate of Naturalization has been obtained by false representation or fraud … or that the person to whom the certificate is granted has shown himself by act or speech to be disaffected or disloyal to His Majesty, the Governor-General shall by order revoke the certificate.