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2016-2017
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SENATE
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION AMENDMENT
(REGIONAL AUSTRALIA) BILL 2017
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of Senator Burston)
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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION AMENDMENT
(REGIONAL AUSTRALIA) BILL 2017
The main purpose of this Bill is to ensure that the expenditure of the ABC in regional
Australia reflects the proportion of Australia's population that lives in regional Australia.
This corrects the current situation in which the expenditure of the ABC is disproportionately
concentrated in metropolitan areas.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
This Bill will have no financial impact.
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011.
Overview of the Bill
The purpose of this Bill is to ensure that the expenditure of the ABC in regional Australia
reflects the proportion of Australia's population that lives in regional Australia.
Human rights implications
The Bill does not affect the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011.
Senator Burston
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Notes on clauses
Clause 1--Short title
1 Clause 1 provides for the short title of the Act to be the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation Amendment (Regional Australia) Act 2017.
Clause 2--Commencement
1 Subclause 2(1) provides that each provision of the Act specified in column 1 of the
table set out in the subclause commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with
column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
2 The note at the end of the table explains that the table relates only to the provisions of
the Act as originally enacted. The table will not be amended to deal with any later
amendments of the Act.
3 Subclause 2(2) provides that any information in column 3 of the table is not part of
the Act. It also clarifies that information may be inserted in column 3, or information in it
may be edited, in any published version of the Act.
4 Table item 1 of the table in subclause 2(1) provides for the whole of the Act to
commence on the day after it receives the Royal Assent.
Clause 3--Schedules
5 Clause 3 provides that legislation that is specified in a Schedule to the Act is amended
or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned and any other item in
a Schedule has effect according to its terms. This is a technical provision to give operational
effect to the amendments contained in the Schedules.
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Schedule 1--Amendments
6 The items in this Schedule amend the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983.
Item 1
7 Item 1 amends section 68, which deals with how the Corporation may apply its
money. The amendment under Item 1 adds a provision requiring the Corporation to ensure
that at least 35 per cent of the money of the Corporation applied in a financial year is applied
in making payments to persons in regional, rural or remote parts of Australia.
Item 2
8 Item 2 amends section 80, which lists matters to be included in the annual report of
the Corporation. The amendment under item 2 adds to that list the particulars of the amount
of the money of the Corporation applied, during the period covered by the annual report, in
making payments to persons in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia.
Item 3
9 Item 3 is a transitional provision that applies if the amendments under this Act
commence on a day that is not the first day of a financial year. It provides that, in such a
case, the period from the commencement to the end of the current financial year is treated as
if it were a financial year for the purpose of the amended provisions.
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