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2002
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
(Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry,
the Hon Warren Truss MP)
1. The amendments to the Dairy Produce Act 1986
incorporate:
an additional function of the Australian
Dairy Corporation (ADC) to provide for the planning, facilitation and
participation in the reform or privatisation of the ADC and the Dairy Research
and Development Corporation (DRDC), and
a provision for holders of Dairy
Structural Adjustment Program (DSAP) scheme and Supplementary Dairy Assistance
(SDA) scheme entitlements to access a farm exit payment under the Farm Help
Re-establishment Grant scheme of the Farm Household Support Act
1992.
2. Significant changes over recent years in the market
situation and corporate structure of the Australian dairy industry, particularly
since deregulation in July 2000, have prompted the dairy industry to seek a
rationalisation of industry statutory service delivery arrangements to better
meet industry priorities and to improve the efficiency of service delivery
functions. To move forward this reform agenda, the dairy industry has sought
the assistance of Government in considering options for reform of the two
statutory service providers.
3. These amendments will provide the
mechanism for the ADC to fund investigations into options for statutory reform,
including funding the participation of the Commonwealth, DRDC and industry
representative bodies and in the longer term, to potentially fund an acceptable
reform implementation process.
4. The amendments to the Dairy Produce
Act 1986 and the Farm Household Support Act 1992 will enable holders
of DSAP and SDA entitlements to be eligible to apply for exit assistance under
the Farm Help Re-establishment Grant scheme. This is necessary to enable farmer
who were previously eligible to apply under the Dairy Exit Program (DEP) to
continue to have access to exit assistance following the expiring of DEP on 30
June 2002.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
5. The
proposed amendments to the Dairy Produce Act 1986 will not impose any
additional costs on the Commonwealth.
NOTES OF
CLAUSES
Clause 1 – Short Title
6. This clause
provides for the Act to be called the Dairy Industry Legislation Amendment
Act 2002.
Clause 2 - Commencement
7. Clause 2 provides
that the amendments to the Dairy Produce Act 1986 and the Farm
Household Support Act 1992 will come into effect on Royal
Assent.
Clause 3 – Schedule(s)
8. Clause 3 provides
that the amendments or the repeal of any Acts specified in Schedule 1 to the
Bill, and any other items in the Schedule, are amended or repealed according to
the terms of the Schedule.
Item 1 – at the end of section 7
9. Item 1 imposes
additional functions on the Australian Dairy Corporation (ADC). These functions
are necessarily broad to allow the ADC to effectively implement Government
policy. Specifically, new subsection 2 provides the ADC with the additional
function of planning, facilitating and participating in the reform,
privatisation or abolition of the ADC and/or the Dairy Research and Development
Corporation (DRDC), or the establishment of a new body or bodies to perform the
current functions of the ADC or DRDC, or both. This function is constrained by
any written directions from the Minister under new subsection 5.
10. New
subsection 3 gives the DRDC the meaning of the Dairy Research and Development
Corporation established by section 8 of the Primary Industries and Energy
Research and Development Act 1989.
11. New subsection 4 gives the ADC
the further function of funding the process of reform as provided for in
subsection 2. This will facilitate the involvement of the DRDC, the
Commonwealth and other industry bodies in potential reform processes by
providing a funding mechanism. Again, this function is constrained by any
written directions from the Minister under new subsection 5.
12. New
subsection 5 provides for the Minister to give the ADC written directions about
the performance of its functions under subsections 2 and 4. It distinguishes
Ministerial directions under new subsection 5 from a section 8 Ministerial
direction. Section 8 directions may only be given if the Minister is satisfied
that they are necessary because of exceptional circumstances and to ensure the
operations of the ADC do not conflict with major Government policies. This is
not the case for directions under new subsection 5.
13. New subsection 6
ensures the ADC must comply with any directions given by the Minister under
subsection 5.
14. New subsection 7 further defines the scope of
Ministerial directions provided for in new subsection 5. It allows Ministerial
directions to address both specific matters, such as individual tasks within a
broader policy framework, or alternatively set out general policies such as a
broad reform process and require the ADC to perform the relevant functions
consistently with those policies.
15. New subsection 8 allows the
Minister to delegate the power to give such directions to an Agency Head within
the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999.
Item 2 –
paragraph 88(1)(ab)
16. Item 1A is a consequential amendment to Item
1.
Item 3 – paragraph 91(aaa)
17. Item 1B is a
consequential amendment to Item 1.
Item 4 – at the end of
subclause 119(2B) of Schedule 1
18. Subclause 119(2B) relates to the
Corporation’s powers to share information only in relation to certain
schemes. Item 4 inserts new subsection 2B(e), which provides for information
pertaining to dairy-type grants, as described in Item 5, can be disclosed for
administrative purposes such as determining eligibility and level of payments to
successful applicants. A related amendment in Item 19, amending the Farm
Household Support Act 1992 provides for corresponding information in relation to
the granting of a dairy-type grant to be provided to the Dairy Adjustment
Authority and the Corporation to assist in the administration of the DSAP and
SDA schemes.
Item 5 – clause 2 of Schedule 2
19. Item
5 provides that dairy-type grant has the same meaning as in the Farm
Household Support Act 1992. This is further defined in Item 18 of this Bill
as a re-establishment grant designated under the Farm Help Re-establishment
Grant scheme as a dairy-type grant. The purpose of this separate grant type is
to allow the identification of certain types of Farm Help Re-establishment
grants to provide for the provision of funding dairy-type grants from the Dairy
Structural Adjustment Fund.
Item 6 – clause 19 of Schedule 2
(note 4)
20. Note 4 of subsection 2 refers to Clause 53 of the Act
dealing with the cancellation of future DSAP units when a dairy exit payment
becomes payable. Item 6 includes a dairy-type grant as one of the circumstances
in which cancellation of a payment right under the Dairy Structural Adjustment
Program scheme applies.
Item 7 – clause 37(L) of Schedule 2
(note 4)
21. Note 4 of section 37L deals with the cancellation of
units under the Supplementary Dairy Adjustment scheme and again, refers to
Clause 53 of the Act. Item 7 includes a dairy-type grant as one of the
circumstances in which cancellation of a payment right under the SDA scheme
applies.
Item 8 – paragraph 43(3)(e) of Schedule
2
22. Item 8 is a consequential amendment to reflect Item 9 and the
inclusion of new subsection 43(3)(f).
Item 9 – after paragraph
43(3)(e) of Schedule 2
23. New subsection 43(3)(f) allows the Dairy
Adjustment Authority to provide information in relation to DSAP/SDA payments
already received by applicants for an exit payments under the Farm Help
Re-establishment Grant scheme. This provides for payments under the Farm Help
Re-establishment Grant scheme to be net of any DSAP/SDA payments.
Item
10 – subclause 43(3) of Schedule 2 (note)
24. Note of subclause
43(3) deals with the evidentiary burden placed on a defendant in relation to the
protection of confidentiality of information. Item 10 provides for the
recording and disclosure of protected information if the recording and
disclosure relate to the administration of dairy-type grants.
Item 11
– paragraph 53(1)(b) of Schedule 2
25. Item 11 provides for the
existing subclause 53(1)(b) to be repealed and replaced with a new subclause
53(1)(b). New subclause 53(1)(b) provides for the cancellation of payment
rights granted to a successful applicant under the Farm Help Re-establishment
Grant scheme for a dairy-type grant. This provides that successful applicants
under the Farm Help Re-establishment Grant scheme cannot receive both a
dairy-type grant and a DSAP and/or SDA entitlement.
Item 12 –
subclause 53(2) of Schedule 2
26. Item 12 provides for the
cancellation of a unit under new Clause 53(1)(b) to take effect from the time a
decision is made under the Farm Help Re-establishment Grant scheme or the Dairy
Exit Program scheme.
Item 13 – after paragraph 78(f) of Schedule
2
27. Item 13 provides that money recovered from the overpayment of
dairy-type grants is to be credited to the Dairy Structural Adjustment
Fund.
Item 14 – after paragraph 79(b) of Schedule
2
28. Item 14 provides that money standing to the credit of the Dairy
Structural Adjustment Fund can be expended on making dairy-type grants. A
corresponding amendment to the Farm Household Support Act 1992, described
in Item 23, provides that dairy type grants be funded from the Dairy Structural
Adjustment Fund.
Item 15 – after paragraph 79(j) of Schedule
2
29. Item 15 provides that money standing to the credit of the Dairy
Structural Adjustment Fund can be expended on meeting the expenses incurred by
the Commonwealth in relation to the administration of dairy-type
grants.
Item 16 – paragraph 80(a) of Schedule
2
30. Item 16 requires that the Corporation and the Minister must
take all reasonable steps to ensure there are sufficient funds in the Dairy
Structural Adjustment Fund to cover the costs associated with programs including
dairy-type grants under the Farm Help Re-establishment Grant
scheme.
Item 17 – after paragraph 94(2)(b) of Schedule
2
31. Item 17 ensures that the Minister cannot terminate the Dairy
Adjustment Levy before expenses for programs, including dairy-type grants under
the Farm Help Re-establishment Grant scheme, are fully met.
Farm
Household Support Act 1992
Item 18 – subsection
3(2)
32. Item 18 provides that a dairy-type grant means a
re-establishment grant designated as a dairy-type grant under the farm help
re-establishment grant scheme. This will allow payments made under the Farm
Help Re-establishment Grant scheme to be identified as dairy type grants to
allow for the funding of these payments from the Dairy Structural Adjustment
Fund.
Item 19 – after subsection 52A(5)
33. Item
19 relates to the disclosure of information to enable the cancellation of an
applicant’s entitlements under DSAP/SDA. New subsection (5A) provides
that the farm help re-establishment grant scheme can disclose information to the
Dairy Adjustment Authority and the Australian Dairy Corporation in relation to
dairy-type grants. This item is also referred to in the description of Item 4,
which makes the corresponding provision for the Australian Dairy Corporation to
provide information to assist in the determination of eligibility and payment
level of applicants for dairy-type grant under the Farm Help Re-establishment
Grant scheme.
34. New subsection (5B) provides that dairy-type
information is given the meaning of information disclosed or obtained for the
purposes of dairy-type grants.
Item 20 – paragraph
56(2)(a)
35. Paragraph 56(2)(a) relates to the recovery of
overpayments in full or in part of re-establishment grants. As dairy-type
grants under the re-establishment grant scheme are to be funded from the Dairy
Structural Adjustment Fund and therefore, any overpayments of these types of
grants are to be credited to the Dairy Structural Adjustment Fund, as provided
for in Item 13, Item 20 provides that only overpayments from re-establishment
grants not designated as dairy-type grants, can be regarded as a debt due to the
Commonwealth.
Item 21 – after subsection
56(2)
36. Item 21 inserts new subsection 56(2A) which provides for
any overpayments in full or in part of dairy-type grants can be recovered by the
Commonwealth, but are to be regarded as a debt due to the Australian Dairy
Corporation. This is because, as described in Item 13, overpayments of
dairy-type grants are to be credited to the Dairy Structural Adjustment Fund.
The Australian Dairy Corporation administers the Dairy Structural Adjustment
Fund.
Item 22 – subsection 57(4)
37. Item 22 ensures
that dairy-type payments under the farm help re-establishment grant scheme are
not funded out of general revenue. As described in Item 14, amending the
Dairy Produce Act 1986 and Item 23, amending the Farm Household
Support Act 1992, the Dairy Structural Adjustment Fund is to fund dairy-type
grants.
Item 23 – subsection 57(5)
38. Item 23
ensures that dairy-type payments under the farm help re-establishment grant
scheme are funded out from the Dairy Structural Adjustment Fund.