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2004
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
AUSLINK (NATIONAL LAND
TRANSPORT – CONSEQUENTIAL
AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS) BILL
2004
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by
authority of the Minister for Transport and Regional Services,
the
Honourable John Anderson, MP)
AUSLINK (NATIONAL LAND TRANSPORT – CONSEQUENTIAL AND TRANSITIONAL
PROVISIONS) BILL 2004
The purpose of the Bill is to make the transitional arrangements for the
introduction of the AusLink (National Land Transport) Bill 2004 including
amendments to the Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988 (the
Act) to limit its operation after the commencement of the AusLink Bill and to
remove the ALTD Special Account.
The Bill contains an appropriation of $1,371,489,000 to provide funding
for the continued operation of the AusLink programme and the remaining ALTD
programme once the ALTD Special Account ceases to operate. The ALTD Special
Account provides the current appropriation for these
programmes.
AUSLINK (NATIONAL LAND TRANSPORT –
CONSEQUENTIAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS) BILL 2004
This is a formal provision specifying the short title of the
Bill.
The Bill has a staged commencement arrangement set out in the table
contained in this clause. Sections 1 to 3 commence on the day the Act receives
Royal Assent. Schedules 1 and 2 commence at the same time as Parts 3 to 8 of
the AusLink (National Land Transport) Act 2004 (which commence on a day
to be proclaimed).
This clause gives effect to the amendments set out in the Schedules to
the Bill.
The Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988 originally
established a separate Trust Fund for the making of payments for the development
of land transport systems. The Act was amended in 1997 to convert the Trust
Fund to the “ALTD Reserve”. Under the Financial Management
Legislation Amendment Act 1999 the ALTD Reserve was converted to the ALTD
Account which is a Special Account under the Financial Management and
Accountability Act 1997. This amendment did not change the terms of the Act
and the Act still refers to a “Reserve”. The Schedule amends the
Act to remove the Special Account and make consequential changes. Future
funding for the AusLink programme and remaining ALTD projects will be provided
through budget appropriations.
This amendment amends the long title to the Act to make it consistent
with the removal of the Reserve (Special Account) provisions of the Act.
A definition of ‘AusLink transition time’ is inserted into
the Act to define the commencement of the substantial amendments.
These items repeal the definitions of ‘charge rate’ and
‘indexation factor’. The definitions are used only for the purposes
of the operation of the Special Account and therefore no longer have any
application following the removal of the Account.
This item inserts a definition of ‘payment under this Act’.
As payments will no longer be made from a special account it is
necessary to provide a connection between payments for ALTD programmes and the
terms and conditions in the Act governing payments. This provision defines
‘payment under this Act’ to include payments made prior to the
commencement of these amendments (the ‘AusLink transition time’).
Therefore the Act continues to apply to payments made prior to the amendments.
Subsection 15(1) which authorises the Minister to make payments under the Act
ensures future payments will also be subject to the Act’s terms and
conditions.
These items repeal the definitions of ‘Reserve’ and
‘road user charge’. The definitions are used only for the purposes
of the operation of the Special Account and therefore no longer have any
application following the removal of the Account.
The definition of ‘urban area’ is repealed as it has no
application following the removal of the provisions enabling further funding for
State arterial roads or urban public transport projects under the Act.
The amendments replace the words “out of the Reserve” with
the words “under this Act” as indicated. These amendments make the
terminology in the Act consistent with the removal of the Account and ensure
that the terms and conditions governing payments continue to apply.
Sections 4 to 10 which provide for the declaration by the Minister of
categories of road, mainline railways, Black Spots, road safety measures, urban
public transport projects, research organisations and roads safety organisations
for the purposes of the Act and the operation of the indexation arrangements
(which were only operated for the early years the Act was in force) and the
determination of the charge rate for the purposes of crediting the Special
Account are repealed. The repeals flow from the closing of the Act to further
approvals and the removal of the Special Account.
The transitional
provisions (Item 4 of Schedule 2) provide for the making of a charge rate
determination for the year 2004-05 to balance receipts to the Special Account
with expenditure from it for that year after the repeal of section 10.
This item replaces the heading to Part 2 with more appropriate words
consistent with the amendments being made.
This item repeals sections 11, 12 and 14 (section 13 was repealed in
1997) which established the Australian Land Transport Development Reserve,
contained the mechanism for calculating the amounts to be credited to the
Account and provided for indexation of the charge rate in the early years of the
Act’s operations. Repeal of these sections has the effect of removing the
Special Account from the Act.
This item removes references to section 16 (which was repealed in 1997)
and sections 17 and 18 which are repealed by this Bill. It also replaces the
words “out of the Reserve” with the words “under this
Act” which ensures that future payments are subject to the terms and
conditions set out in the Act. The Minister’s power to make payments
under this Act is subject to section 19 which is a new section inserted by this
Bill.
The provision enabling funding to be provided for State arterial roads or
local roads is repealed consistent with the removal of the ability to approve
further projects under the Act. The amendments removing this ability operate by
preventing further approvals under section 26 of the Act. Subparagraph
15(1)(a)(ii) did not require section 26 approval so, to prevent further
approvals for these categories of road, this subparagraph is repealed.
This provision ensures that Black Spot projects are also described as
approved under section 26 to ensure that the ability to approve further Black
Spot projects under the ALTD Act is removed.
The provision enabling funding to be provided as a capital contribution
to an approved railway authority is repealed consistent with the removal of the
ability to approve further projects under the Act. The amendments removing this
ability operate by preventing further approvals under section 26 of the Act.
Paragraph 15(1)(ba) did not require section 26 approval so, to prevent further
approvals for capital contributions, this subparagraph is repealed.
This provision deals with conditions on the payment of a capital
contribution to an approved railway authority. The ability to make future
capital contributions has been removed by the repeal of paragraph 15(1)(ba)
(Item 16) and so this subsection no longer has any application.
This item repeals section 17 which limited amounts that could be paid to
the States for state arterial roads and local roads. The section links to
Schedule 2 of the Act which sets out the limits on funding by State, which is
also repealed. This Bill removes the ability to make further payments for State
arterial roads and local roads.
These provisions related to the initial
structure of the Act which established a separate fund for a five year period.
Once the fund (the ALTD Special Account) ceases to exist the rationale for
limiting expenditure from it also disappears.
Section 18 no longer has
any application as it is related to the transition of projects from the
legislation that governed road funding prior to the ALTD Act. All such projects
have ceased to be active.
These items repeal sections 19, 20 and 21 of the Act and replace them
with a new section 19.
The repealed sections were complex and outdated
provisions which enabled the Minister to authorise and determine that payments
provided for one programme or project under the Act could be expended on another
programme or project.
The new section 19 provides a simpler provision
which gives the Minister power to authorise that an amount paid to a State for a
particular purpose or project may be used by the State for another purpose or
project as specified by the Minister.
A new section 23 is inserted which does not require a statement
accompanying a payment under the Act to specify which portion of the payment is
to be expended in carrying out the construction or maintenance of State arterial
or local roads. These categories of payment can no longer be made.
This item inserts a new section 26 which specifies that the Minister must
not grant a new project approval after the AusLink transition time. The new
section continues in force an approval made before the AusLink transition time
which is not transferred to the AusLink (National Land Transport) Act
2004 by a determination under Schedule 2 of this Act.
This allows
payments to continue to be made under the ALTD Act for any projects not
transferred to the AusLink programme. It is expected that these will be projects
not on the AusLink National Network to be declared under the AusLink
(National Land Transport) Act 2004.
The new section 26 also
continues in force any declarations made under the Act prior to the AusLink
transition time.
This item replaces the words “for which the Reserve was
established” with the words “of this Act”. This amendment
makes the terminology in the Act consistent with the removal of the Special
Account.
This item omits the words “out of the Reserve” from section
28 wherever occurring. These amendments make the terminology in the Act
consistent with the removal of the Account and ensure that the terms and
conditions governing payments continue to apply.
These amendments to subsections 28A(2) and (3) are consequential on the
removal of paragraph 15(1)(ba) and ensure that the conditions that applied to
any payments under that provision before the AusLink transition time continue to
apply.
This item repeals section 34 which provided that where money paid under
the Act was returned to the Commonwealth an equal amount of money was to be paid
into the ALTD Special Account. With the removal of the Account there is no
requirement to ensure that such payments are returned to the Account.
This item replaces the words “out of the Reserve in accordance
with” with the word “under” to make it consistent with the
removal of the Special Account.
This item repeals section 41, which provided a detailed prescription on
what aspects of the operation of the Special Account the Minister is required to
report on to Parliament, and replaces it with a new section 41.
There
is no general requirement for Ministers to report separately to Parliament on
the operations of programmes funded through annual appropriations. However, a
requirement to report to Parliament on the operations of the Act has been
retained in view of the size of the Commonwealth’s roads programmes and to
provide continuity with previous reports.
Some of the detailed
requirements of the former section 41 have been removed such as the need to
report on expenditure on all projects in previous years.
The new section
requires the Minister to report on the operation of the Act as soon as practical
after 30 June each financial year. The requirement will only operate if, during
a financial year, payments have been made under the Act. It is expected that
the Act will cease to be active once the projects which remain under it are
completed.
This item repeals Schedule 2 which detailed the funding limits to the states
for State arterial roads after 30 June 1989. The Schedule is referred to in
section 17 which is also being repealed.
The transition time is defined as the commencement of the
Schedule.
This provision provides a power for the Minister to determine, by notice
in the Gazette, which project approvals made under the ALTD Act become
project approvals under the AusLink legislation. The Minister may vary the
determination, but only to correct an error.
The determination or
instrument varying the determination will be a legislative instrument for
purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. The
disallowance provisions and the sunsetting provisions of that Act will not
apply. This is because the determination is a routine machinery measure to
enable all AusLink projects to be administered under the same legislation.
There is provision enabling payments made under the Act for a project
which is carried over to the AusLink legislation to be counted towards the
maximum payment to be made to the project under the AusLink legislation.
This item provides for an appropriation of $1,371,489,000 out of the
Consolidated Revenue Fund for the financial year ending 30 June 2005.
The appropriation is required as the Bill removes the provisions
establishing and operating the ALTD Special Account which, with the Financial
Management and Accountability Act 1997, provide the appropriation of funds
for Australian Land Transport Development programmes. The amount is the funding
identified in the 2004-05 Budget for expenditure on the AusLink programme in
that year. Funding in future years will be provided by annual appropriations.
The appropriation also provides funding for payments to be made for
projects not transferring to the AusLink legislation but remaining as projects
approved under the ALTD Act.
The transitional provisions enable a charge rate determination to be made
for the year 2004-05 after the commencement of the consequential provisions
which remove the sections governing the operation of the Special Account. This
will enable the credits to the Account to be balanced with expenditure made from
it during 2004-05.