Chinatown Historic Precinct Act 1984

Version No. 011

Chinatown Historic Precinct Act 1984

Act No. 10165/1984

Version incorporating amendments as at 22 November 2000

table of provisions

Section Page

PART 1—PRELIMINARY 1

1. Short title 1

2. Commencement 1

3. Definitions 1

4. The Chinatown Historic Precinct 2

PART 2—CHINATOWN HISTORIC PRECINCT COMMITTEE 4

5. Chinatown Historic Precinct Committee 4

6. Conditions of membership of the Committee 5

7. Acting members 7

8. Proceedings of the Committee 7

9. Pecuniary interests 8

10. Staff of the Committee 9

PART 3—DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PRECINCT 10

11. Powers and functions of the Committee 10

12. General powers of the Council 10

13. Delegation 11

14. Conservation and enhancement of the precinct 11

15. Regulation of vehicles 12

16. Local laws 15

17. Fees 16

18. Borrowings 16

19. Separate rates 16

20. Chinatown Historic Precinct Fund 17

21. Grants and loans 18

PART 4—MISCELLANEOUS 20

22. Power to accept donations etc. 20

23. No compensation payable 20

24. Sale of land abutting Little Bourke-street 20

25. Amendment of the Melbourne (Widening of Streets) Act 1940 22

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SCHEDULE—Provisions with respect to pecuniary interests 23

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ENDNOTES 28

1. General Information 28

2. Table of Amendments 29

3. Explanatory Details 31

Version No. 011

Chinatown Historic Precinct Act 1984

Act No. 10165/1984

Version incorporating amendments as at 22 November 2000

An Act to provide for the operation management development and promotion of Little Bourke Street between Exhibition Street and Swanston Street as the Chinatown Historic Precinct, to establish the Chinatown Historic Precinct Committee, to amend the Melbourne (Widening of Streets) Act 1940, and for otherpurposes.

Part I—Preliminary

Chinatown Historic Precinct Act 1984

Act No. 10165/1984

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say):

Part I—Preliminary

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Chinatown Historic Precinct Act 1984.

2. Commencement

This Act shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council published in the Government Gazette.

3. Definitions

In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context or subject-matter—

"Committee" means the Chinatown Historic Precinct Committee established under this Act;

"council" means the council of the City of Melbourne;

"fund" means the fund established under section20;

"precinct" means the Chinatown Historic Precinct established under section 4.

4. The Chinatown Historic Precinct

s. 4

(1) There shall be a Chinatown Historic Precinct which subject to this section shall be comprised of—

(a) Little Bourke-street between Exhibition-street and Swanston-street in the City of Melbourne;

(b) all the streets roads highways alleys thoroughfares lanes squares courts or passages (but not including Swanston-street Bourke-street Russell-street Lonsdale-street or Exhibition-street) on the land bounded by—

(i) Swanston-street Bourke-street Russell-street and Little Bourke-street in the City of Melbourne;

(ii) Swanston-street Lonsdale-street Russell-street and Little Bourke-street in the City of Melbourne;

(iii) Russell-street Bourke-street Exhibition-street and Little Bourke-street in the City of Melbourne; and

(iv) Russell-street Lonsdale-street Exhibition-street and Little Bourke-street in the City of Melbourne—

whether or not those streets roads highways alleys thoroughfares lanes squares courts or passages or any of them are or is dedicated to the public as a public highway within the meaning of any law now or hereafter in force; and

(2) The Governor in Council may by Order published in the Government Gazette declare any land described in the Order to be part of the precinct and on and from the day on which the Order is so published the land shall be part of the precinct.

s. 4

(3) The Governor in Council may in the like manner revoke in whole or in part any Order under sub-section (2) and on the day on which an Order under this sub-section is published in the Government Gazette the land described in the Order under this sub-section shall cease to be part of the precinct.

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Part II—Chinatown Historic Precinct Committee

5. Chinatown Historic Precinct Committee

s. 5

(1) There shall be a Chinatown Historic Precinct Committee.

(2) The Committee shall consist of 12 members appointed by the Governor in Council, of whom—

(a) one shall be a councillor of the Council nominated by the Council, being a councillor elected in respect of a Ward of the City of Melbourne within which the precinct or part of the precinct is situated;

(b) one shall be an officer of the Council or another councillor nominated by the Council;

S. 5(2)(c) amended by No. 81/1992 s.10(3).

(d) two shall be nominated by the Minister for Planning and Environment, of whom one shall be a person who has experience in relation to the conservation of historic buildings;

(e) three shall be nominated by the Federation of Chinese Associations, of whom at least one shall be a member of the Chinese Professional and Businessmen's Association; and

(f) three shall be nominated by the Melbourne Chinatown Association, of whom at least one shall be a person involved in or employed by a business carried on on rateable property in the vicinity of the precinct.

(3) Where any body or person referred to in sub-section (2) fails to make a nomination within two months after being requested in writing by the Minister to do so, the Governor in Council may appoint any person considered suitable and any person so appointed shall be deemed to have been nominated by the body or person who failed to make the nomination.

(4) The Governor in Council shall appoint one of the members of the Committee nominated under sub-section (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d) to be Chairman of the Committee.

S. 5(5) amended by No. 125/1993
s. 33(a).

(5) In this section, "rateable property" means property within the City of Melbourne that is rateable property within the meaning of Part 8 of the Local Government Act 1989.

6. Conditions of membership of the Committee

s. 6

(1) A member of the Committee shall—

(a) be appointed for the period not exceeding five years specified in the instrument of appointment and be eligible to be re-appointed for further periods each not exceeding five years as specified in the instrument of re-appointment;

(b) (not being an officer of the Council or a person employed by or on behalf of the Crown or any public statutory authority) be entitled to be paid the remuneration (if any) fixed from time to time by the Governor in Council; and

(c) be entitled to be paid the travelling and other allowances (if any) fixed from time to time by the Governor in Council.

S. 6(2) amended by No. 46/1998
s. 7(Sch. 1).

(2) The members of the Committee shall not in respect of their offices as members be subject to the Public Sector Management and Employment Act 1998.

(3) The Governor in Council may at any time removefrom office any member of the Committee.

(4) A member of the Committee may resign by writing delivered to the Governor in Council.

(5) The Minister may grant leave of absence to a member of the Committee on such terms and conditions as the Minister determines.

(6) The office of a member of the Committee shall become vacant—

s. 6

(a) if the member is removed from office pursuant to sub-section (3);

(b) if the member resigns in accordance with sub-section (4);

(d) if the member becomes bankrupt or insolvent;

(e) if the member is convicted of an indictable offence or of an offence which, if committedin Victoria, would be an indictable offence;

(f) at the expiration of the term of appointment of the member;

(g) if the member becomes incapable of performing the duties of a member of the Committee; or

(h) if the member dies.

7. Acting members

s. 7

(1) Where any member of the Committee is temporarily unable to perform the duties of a member of the Committee or has been granted leave of absence under section 6(5), the Governor in Council may upon the nomination of the body or person who nominated that member appoint a person to act in the place of that member during the period of inability or absence.

(2) A person appointed under this section to act in the place of a member shall while so acting—

(a) have all the rights and powers and perform all the duties of the member;

(c) be entitled to be paid the travelling and other allowances (if any) fixed from time to time by the Governor in Council.

(3) The Governor in Council may at any time revoke any appointment under this section.

8. Proceedings of the Committee

(1) Subject to this Act, the Committee may regulate its own proceedings.

(2) The Committee shall meet at the times and places fixed by the Chairman.

(3) The Chairman shall preside at a meeting of the Committee at which the Chairman is present and if the Chairman is not present the members present shall elect one of their number to preside.

(4) A majority of the members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum.

(5) Subject to the presence of a quorum the Committee may act notwithstanding any vacancy in its membership.

(6) The powers and functions of the Committee may be exercised in accordance with a majority of votes of the members present at any meeting andin the event of an equality of votes the personpresiding shall have an additional or casting vote.

(7) An act or decision of the Committee shall not be invalid by reason only of—

(a) a defect or irregularity in or in connexion with the appointment of a member;

(b) a vacancy in the membership of the Committee including a vacancy arising because of the failure to appoint an original member; or

(c) in the case of a person appointed to act in the place of a member, on the ground that the occasion for so acting had not arisen or had ceased.

9. Pecuniary interests

s. 8

The provisions of the Schedule shall apply to and in relation to the Committee and the members of the Committee.

10. Staff of the Committee

s. 10

(1) The Council may provide an officer of the Council to be the Secretary to the Committee.

(2) With the approval of the Council, the Committee may make use of any person in the service of the Council for the purposes of the exercise and performance by the Committee of its powers and functions.

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Part III—Development and Management of the Precinct

11. Powers and functions of the Committee

s. 11

(1) The Committee may make recommendations to the Council with respect to any matter relating to the precinct, whether or not that matter is provided for by or under this Act.

(2) The Committee shall have and may exercise and perform the powers and functions delegated to it by the Council under section 13.

12. General powers of the Council

S. 12(1) amended by No. 125/1993 s.33(b).

(1) In addition to any powers it may have in respect of the precinct pursuant to this Act, the Local Government Act 1989 or any other Act, the Council may upon the recommendation of the Committee do and shall have power to do all things necessary for or incidental to—

(a) the operation management and development of the precinct; and

(b) the promotion of the precinct both within and outside the precinct.

S. 12(2) amended by No. 74/2000 s.3(Sch. 1 item20).

(2) The Council may in writing request the Committee to make a recommendation with respect to any thing which the Council is empowered to do in relation to the precinct pursuant to this Act, the Local Government Act 1989 or any other Act.

(3) Where the Committee fails within two months after a request is made under sub-section (2) to make a recommendation or to determine not to make a recommendation, the Council may notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act do the thing to which the request relates as if the Committee had made a recommendation in the terms of the request.

S. 13 amended by No. 125/1993 s.33(c)(i)(ii).

13. Delegation

s. 13

Subject to and in accordance with section 86 of the Local Government Act 1989, the Council may from time to time by resolution delegate to the Committee, as if it were a Committee to which section 86 of the Local Government Act 1989 applies, any power or function of the Council with respect to the operation management development and promotion of the precinct other than—

(a) this power of delegation;

S. 13(b) amended by No. 125/1993 s.33(c)(ii).

(b) a power or function that may not be delegated by a council under section 86 of the Local Government Act 1989; or

14. Conservation and enhancement of the precinct

(1) Upon the recommendation of the Committee, the Council may in writing request the owner of any land abutting or within the precinct to carry out works to or alter or decorate the land or any building or other structure permanently affixed to the land in order to render the external appearance of the land or building or structure consistent with the character of the precinct, but nothing in this Act shall be deemed or taken to require the owner to carry out the works or alteration or decoration.

(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), a grant or loan from the Fund may in accordance with section21 be made to defray wholly or in part the costs of carrying out any works or alteration or decoration.