Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
2002-2003-2004
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH
OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister
for Trade, the Hon Mark Vaile MP)
This bill amends the Export Market Development Grants Act 1997
(the Act) to introduce a ‘not fit and proper’ person test, to be
applied by Austrade in accordance with Ministerial guidelines when assessing
entitlement to payment of an EMDG grant.
Currently, a grant to which an
applicant is otherwise entitled is not payable if certain provisions of the Act
apply. These conditions include sections 85 to 87A, which specify that grants
are not payable if the applicant is not a resident of Australia, does not have
an Australian Business Number, has outstanding disqualifying convictions, is
under insolvency administration, or is the provider of courses to overseas
students and is not a registered provider of that course.
This bill also provides that a ‘not fit and proper’
determination is subject to review in the Administrative Appeals
Tribunal.
Expenditure under the Act is set through annual Appropriation Acts. This
bill will not result in any increase in outlays.
Clause 1 This Act may be cited as the Export Market Development
Grants Amendment Act 2004
Clause 2 The Act commences on the
day on which it receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3 There is only one
Schedule amending the Export Market Development Grants Act
1997.
Clause 4 The amendments made by the Schedule apply to
applications for grants in respect of a grant year commencing on or after 1 July
2003. The ‘grant year’ is the year in which applicants incur
expenditure which they may include in a subsequent application for grant.
Applications for grants are made after the grant year to which they relate is
over. This means that in effect the amendments apply to applications received
on or after 1 July 2004 only.
SCHEDULE 1 – Amendment of
the Export Market Development Grants Act 1997
Item 1 The
references in Diagram 1 of the Reader’s Guide to circumstances under which
grants are not payable are summarised to retain overall balance in the diagram.
Item 2 To determine whether an applicant or an applicant’s
associate is ‘not fit and proper’ to receive a grant, Austrade may
need to seek information about that applicant or that associate. A new
subsection is inserted empowering Austrade to ask for consent to seek such
information. If this consent is not provided, section 73 of the Act empowers
Austrade to refuse to consider the application.
Item 3 Refer to item
2.
Item 4 This amendment provides that a grant to which an applicant is
otherwise entitled is not payable if, in accordance with Ministerial guidelines,
Austrade determines that the applicant or an associate of the applicant is
‘not fit and proper’ to receive a grant.
Austrade may only
make such a determination in accordance with ministerial guidelines. The
guidelines must be in force at the time a determination is made.
For
the purposes of determining whether an associate is ‘not fit and
proper’, ‘associate’ has the meaning given to it by
ministerial guidelines.
Item 5 Section 97 of the Act is amended to
explicitly provide that a ‘not fit and proper’
determination is
subject to review in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Item 6 See
Item 5.
Item 7 The Minister for Trade must determine, in writing,
guidelines:
• to be complied with by Austrade in forming opinions
as to whether an applicant or an associate of the applicant is ‘not fit
and proper’ to receive a grant, and
• defining
‘associate’ for the purposes of the ‘not fit and proper’
test.
Any Ministerial guidelines made under section 101 of the Act are
disallowable instruments for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts
Interpretation Act 1901.