Purpose and content of the suite of Bills

The purpose of this suite of six Bills is to remove complexity and inconsistencies, and to institute flexibility through subordinate legislation for the imposition, collection, and disbursement of agricultural levies and charges.

Imposition Bills

Three Bills, collectively called the Imposition Bills, seek to establish a consistent framework under which the different aspects of the levy system can operate. These Bills are as follows:

• the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Bill 2023 (Excise Bill) deals with the imposition of primary industry levies that are duties of excise, colloquially called production levies
• the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Bill 2023 (Customs Bill) deals with the imposition of primary industry levies that are duties of custom, colloquially called export levies
• the Primary Industries (Services) Levies Bill 2023 (Services Bill) deals with the imposition of primary industry levies that are neither duties of excise nor duties of custom, imposed on services that facilitate the production of primary industry products (for example, bee pollination services).

Collection Bill

The Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Bill 2023 (Collection Bill) replaces the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act 1991 by establishing a flexible framework for the collection of agricultural levies and charges.

Disbursement Bill

The Primary Industries Levies and Charges Disbursement Bill 2023 (Disbursement Bill) consolidates the provisions of the existing 13 funding Acts into a flexible framework for the disbursement of money raised through levies and charges.

Consequential Amendments Bill

The Primary Industries (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2023 (Consequential Amendments Bill) will facilitate the transition to the proposed legislation by repealing 23 existing Acts and making consequential amendments to several other Acts. The Consequential Amendments Bill repeals five levy and charge imposition Acts, namely, the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Act 1999, the National Residue Survey (Excise) Levy Act 1998, the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999, the National Residue Survey (Customs) Levy Act 1998, and the Horse Disease Response Levy Act 2011.

In addition, the Consequential Amendments Bill repeals a number of Acts and amends others. These are set out in the Appendix to this Bills Digest.

Item 1 of Schedule 3 to the Consequential Amendments Bill commences on the day after Royal Assent. Schedule 1, items 1–122 of Schedule 2, items 2–14 of Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 of the Consequential Amendments Bill commence on 1 January 2025. Item 123 of Schedule 3 to the Consequential Amendments Bill also commences on 1 January 2025 unless items 16 and 17 of Schedule 1 to the Inspector-General of Live Animal Exports Amendment (Animal Welfare) Act 2023 commence before that date. If that occurs, item 123 will not commence at all.

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill provides a concise summary of the repeals and consequential amendments. A schedule of repeals is duplicated in the Appendix to this Bills Digest.

Background

In 1989 the Research, innovation and competitiveness statement (Kerin Statement) acted as the catalyst for a process to reform the Rural Industries Research Act 1985 in order to improve the efficiency of distributing Rural Industry Research Fund money. The Kerin Statement set the scene for a new ‘corporate’ organisational structure. In addition, the Statement acknowledged that it was essential to ‘restructure the incentives throughout the system to improve its capacity to expand effort, manage itself well and properly prioritise efforts’[1]:

Portfolio research councils, and to a lesser extent research and development corporations, have been subject to direct government controls over staffing, salary levels and fund management. In most cases, secretariat services have been provided from within the public service environment.

The Government accepts that such restrictions can impede efficiency and responsiveness. In further developing the research and development corporation model, most of these direct controls will be eliminated. Ministerial responsibility and parliamentary accountability will be achieved through new arrangements.[2]

The Kerin Statement lists a number of key features enabling the new organisations to achieve efficiency through its corporate model.[3]

In response to the Kerin Statement, the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989 (as made, and amended in 2013 to the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989) provided the legislative framework for the reform, that is:

To establish Research and Development (R&D) Corporations and a Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) to provide for the funding and administration of R&D into agricultural industries.[4]

The [Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989] PIERD Act also provided for levies, and other research and development funds, to be attached to RDCs and for these funds to be transferred between RDCs or other research and development funds.

The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report (2011) on rural research and development corporations recommended that the broad model should be retained but that:

The current cap on dollar for dollar matching of industry contributions by the Government should be halved over a ten-year period.[5]

The Government rejected this recommendation.[6]

During 2013 the enactment of the Rural Research and Development Legislation Amendment Act 2013, among other things, allowed statutory research and development corporations to undertake marketing activities, provided that the relevant funding levy includes a marketing component.[7]

Over time, however:

The current agricultural levies legislation … has grown … as industries have chosen to establish statutory levies on more commodities. There are more than 50 pieces of legislation governing over 110 levies across over 75 commodities and 18 levy recipient bodies.[8]

Although the fundamentals of the reforms brought about by the Kerin Statement are still fit for purpose, the agricultural levies and charges system has become a rigid and complex system. The resulting system has placed a burden on stakeholders.[9]

While retaining the fundamentals of the system, the suite of Bills seeks to remove complexity and inconsistencies, and to institute flexibility by enabling quicker changes to occur in subordinate legislation.

Committee consideration

Senate Selection of Bills Committee

At the time of writing the Senate Selection of Bills Committee (Report No. 12 of 2023) deferred consideration of the suite of Bills until its next meeting.

Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

At the time of writing the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills has not reported on the suite of Bills.

Policy position of non-government parties/independents

At the time of writing there has been no commentary in the press, or by interested parties, on the suite of Bills.

At the time of writing there has been no second reading debate following the second reading speech by Kristy McBain, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories. The positions of non-Government parties and Independents are thus not known.

Position of major interest groups

According to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Imposition Bills:

In 2019-20, public consultation was undertaken on the early assessment regulation impact statement (RIS). 66 submissions were received from levy payers, industry representative bodies (IRBs) and collection agents, and the department held targeted discussions with research and development corporations (RDCs), Animal Health Australia (AHA) and Plant Health Australia (PHA). Stakeholders expressed a clear preference for streamlining and modernising the legislation … rather than remaking the sunsetting instruments …. Stakeholders also expressed support for:

• using the Commonwealth’s regulatory powers framework in the design of the new legislation
• amending the calculation of the [Gross Value of Production] GVP limit to include data from the three previous financial years rather than the current and two previous financial years
• removing the total levies limit on matching funding.

In 2021-22, the department conducted targeted consultation with IRBs and RDCs to inform the development of the legislation and wrote to around 7,500 collection agents to provide information about the proposed approach to the new legislative framework. The main feedback received from the majority of RDCs related to the definition of R&D. RDCs highlighted the importance of R&D extension activities and suggested that the definition should be modernised to ensure that the scope and priorities of the work undertaken by RDCs are adequately reflected. IRBs provided input to assist with the redrafting of their levies, including details on how their levies were working in practice and feedback on proposals to improve consistency of key terms across the new framework (pp. 22–23 of the Impact Analysis at Attachment A to the Explanatory Memorandum).

Although the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has undertaken consultations as set out above, actual stakeholder submissions have not been published.

Financial implications

The Explanatory Memoranda to the Imposition Bills states that the Imposition Bills are estimated to have no net financial impact on the Budget (p. 4).

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Collection Bill states that the Collection Bill is estimated to have no net financial impact on the Budget (p. 4).

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Disbursement Bill states that because of removing the total levies limit (clause 23 of the Disbursement Bill) there will be an impact on the underlying cash balance to the Budget of $8.4 million over the forward estimates to 2026–27 (p. 4).

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill states that it is estimated to have no net financial impact on the Budget (p. 4).

Special appropriations

The National Residue Survey Account established in the National Residue Survey Administration Act 1992 (Part 3) is renamed the National Residue Survey Special Account by clause 64 of the Disbursement Bill. This will have no impact on the underlying cash balance of the Budget.

The redundant National Cattle Disease Eradication Account will be abolished on the repeal of the National Cattle Disease Eradication Account Act 1991.[10] This will have no impact on the Budget.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), the Government has assessed the suite of Bills’ compatibility with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in clause 3 of that Act. The Government considers that the Bills are compatible.[11]

Key issues and provisions

The Imposition Bills

The Imposition Bills establish the framework for the agricultural levy system. The changes brought about by the Imposition Bills are meant to improve the agricultural levy system by providing a consistent framework for all agricultural excise levies, customs charges, and services levies.

Regulation-making power

Clause 27 of the Excise Bill, clause 24 of the Customs Bill, and clause 21 of the Services Bill allow for the making of regulations. With the repeal of existing levies and charges statutes by Schedule 1 to the Consequential Amendments Bill, ‘existing excise levies and charges in the agricultural levy system’ will be ‘re-established, in regulations’.[12] The purpose of the change is to enable quicker and easier adjustments to the levies and charges system.

Imposing levies and charges

Part 2 of the Excise Bill and the Customs Bill allows for regulations to impose a levy (Excises Bill) or a charge (Customs Bill) on ‘products that are produce of a primary industry’.[13] Part 2 of the Services Bill allows for regulations to impose a levy on ‘the provision of a specified service that facilitates the production of a specified product that is produce of a primary industry’.[14] These parts also allow for the imposition of two or more levies or charges and allow for regulations to provide exemptions from a levy or charge.[15] The term produce of a primary industry is defined broadly in each of the Imposition Bills as being products that result from any of the following:

• agriculture or the cultivation of land
• the maintenance of animals for commercial purposes
• soilless growing systems, including hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics
• controlled environment cropping, including vertical farming, indoor farming and protected cropping
• forest operations
• fishing
• aquaculture
• hunting or trapping
• picking or harvesting from the wild
• horticulture
• viticulture
• the cultivation of fungi or algae
• any other primary industry activity.[16]

Part 3 of the Excise Bill and Part 3 of the Customs Bill further provide for the imposition of levies and charges respectively in relation to ‘goods that are of a kind consumed by, or used in the maintenance or treatment of, animals, plants, fungi, or algae’, in the circumstances specified in regulations.[17]

Part 4 of the Excise Bill also imposes a levy on goods that are for use in the production or preparation of nursery products which are for sale or use in the commercial production of other goods in circumstances set out in regulations: clause 13.

Setting the rate

Part 5 of the Excise Bill, Part 4 of the Customs Bill, and Part 3 of the Services Bill each stipulate that the levy rate or charge rate is worked out in accordance with the regulations and that the components of the levy or charge are prescribed by regulation.[18]

Payer of the levy or charge

Part 6 of the Excise Bill, Part 5 of the Customs Bill and Part 4 of the Services Bill provide that a levy or charge imposed under the Imposition Bills is payable by a person in accordance with the regulations.[19]

Other matters

Part 7 of the Excise Bill, Part 6 of the Customs Bill, and Part 5 of the Services Bill deal with other matters including provisions dealing with the property of states and GST, as well as the treatment of partnerships, trusts, and unincorporated bodies and associations.

Clause 23 of the Excise Bill, clause 20 of the Customs Bill, and clause 17 of the Services Bill are in equivalent terms. The clauses provide regulatory consistency across agricultural industry sectors in the nomination of representative bodies and polling bodies, and their powers to make recommendations about the rate of a levy or charge. Representative bodies are made up of industry elected representatives that advise the Research and Development Corporations (RDCs).

The Collection Bill

The Collection Bill sets up the framework for the collection of agricultural levies and charges. It also establishes procedures for compliance by triggering the monitoring, investigation, and enforcement powers of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 (Regulatory Powers Act).

To reduce complexity and compliance costs, clause 59 empowers the Secretary to make rules by legislative instrument to better secure the payment of levy or charge. Such rules are limited; for example, they cannot create an offence or civil penalty, nor can they provide powers of arrest or detention, nor allow powers of entry, search, and seizure: subclause 59(8).

Payment of a levy or charge

Part 2 of the Collection Bill establishes the framework of rules for the collection of levies and charges. The essential features are as follows:

• Clause 8 stipulates that rules may be made about when a levy or charge is due and payable and the circumstances in which it may be paid to another entity on behalf of the Commonwealth.
• Clause 9 provides that where an amount of levy or charge remains unpaid at the end of the due day, the levy payer or charge payer is liable for a late payment penalty for the period from the day after the due day until the day before the whole of the unpaid amount is paid.
• The Secretary is empowered to remit the whole or part of the penalty having regard to the matters listed in subclause 9(6).
• Subclause 10(1) allows for rules to be made to provide for collection agents to pay an amount on behalf of levy or charge payers that is equal to the amount of levy or charge due—that is, an equivalent amount. In addition, the rules may specify the time that the equivalent amount is due and payable. According to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Collection Bill this ‘would enable the critical role of collection agents, such as processors and wholesalers, who underpin the efficient and cost-effective collection of a significant proportion of agricultural levies and charges’ (p. 22).
• Clause 11 of the Collection Bill provides that a collection agent is liable to pay to the Commonwealth a late payment penalty where the whole or a part of an equivalent amount is unpaid at the end of the due day. The penalty period and the ability of the Secretary to remit the penalty are in equivalent terms to those relating to a payment by a levy payer or charge payer.
• Clause 12 allows the Commonwealth to make collection agreements with the states and territories about both the collection by that state or territory of a levy or charge payable by a levy payer or charge payer; and the collection of equivalent amounts that a collection agent is liable to pay. In that case, the Secretary must publish a copy of the collection agreement on its website and in the Gazette, within 28 days of making the agreement: subclause 12(4).

Recovery and refund of amounts

Clause 13 provides that unpaid amounts of a levy or a charge, amounts that a collection agent is liable to pay, and late payment penalties are debts due to the Commonwealth which are recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction. Where any of those amounts has been overpaid the Commonwealth must refund the amount: clause 14. In the alternative, clause 15 of the Collection Bill allows the Commonwealth, or another entity on behalf of the Commonwealth to offset the amount that a levy payer or charge payer is liable to pay against previous overpayments which have not been refunded.

Civil penalties

Clauses 17 and 18 of the Collection Bill create offences and civil penalties for persons who fail to:

• give a return or notice under the rules or
• make or keep records in accordance with the rules.

In each case the offence is one of strict liability. Importantly, the imposition of strict liability means that a fault element does not need to be satisfied, but the offence will not criminalise honest errors and a person cannot be held liable if he, or she, had an honest and reasonable belief that they were complying with relevant obligations.

The civil penalty provisions are framed in equivalent terms to the strict liability offences. In every case the maximum penalty is 60 penalty units which is $18,780.[20]

Triggering the Regulatory Powers Act

Part 4 of the Collection Bill deals with compliance, enforcement, and investigation. Part 4 triggers the operation of the Regulatory Powers Act, which was enacted to provide for uniformity of enforcement, monitoring and investigation provisions across Commonwealth statutes.

According to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Collection Bill this will ‘provide a more flexible and proportionate compliance system compared to the existing Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act 1991 (p. 38).[21]

Monitoring powers

Under Part 2 of the Regulatory Powers Act, an authorised person may enter premises for the purposes of monitoring, either with the consent of the occupier or under a monitoring warrant. If entering the premises under a monitoring warrant, the authorised person can exercise monitoring powers with regards to compliance with a provision or the correctness of information given in compliance with a provision. Monitoring powers include the power to search premises, the power to examine or observe any activity conducted on the premises, the power to inspect and examine anything on the premises, the power to record anything on the premises and the power to inspect and copy any document on the premises.

Clause 20 of the Collection Bill triggers the monitoring powers of the Regulatory Powers Act.

Investigation powers

An authorised person may enter premises for the purposes of investigation, either with the consent of the occupier or under an investigation warrant. If entering the premises under an investigation warrant, the authorised person can exercise investigation powers with regards to contravention of an offence provision or a civil penalty provision. Investigation powers under Part 3 of the Regulatory Powers Act include the power to search premises for evidential material suspected to be on the premises, the power to seize evidential material found on the premises, the power to inspect and examine anything on the premises, and the power to record anything on the premises.

Clause 21 of the Collection Bill triggers the investigation powers of the Regulatory Powers Act.

Authorised person

Subclauses 20(4) and 21(3) of the Collection Bill provide that a compliance officer is an authorised person. Clause 4 of the Collection Bill defines a compliance officer as the Secretary or an APS employee in the Department who has been appointed to that position.

Other compliance and enforcement tools

The Collection Bill also triggers the Regulatory Powers Act to:

• enforce civil penalty provisions in the Collection Bill: clause 22
• allow for the giving of infringement notices in respect of specified civil penalties and offences: clause 23[22]
• empower the Secretary or a delegate of the Secretary to apply to a court for an injunction to restrain a person from contravening a provision, or to compel compliance with a provision of the Collection Bill: clause 24.

The Disbursement Bill

The Disbursement Bill provides for the disbursement of different components of levies and charges:

• levy and charge components raised for research and development (R&D) and marketing are disbursed to declared [23] and statutory recipient bodies. Most of these bodies also receive Commonwealth matching payments
• levy and charge components raised for biosecurity activities and biosecurity response activities will be disbursed to Animal Health Australia (AHA) and Plant Health Australia (PHA)
• levy and charge components raised for residue testing will be credited to the National Residue Survey (NRS) Special Account.

The relevant recipient bodies are set out in table 1 below:

Table 1: recipient bodies

Explanatory Memorandum, Disbursements Bill, p. 17.

To enable more flexibility in disbursements clause 90 gives the Minister the power to make rules prescribing matters relevant to the Disbursement Bill by legislative instrument. Subclause 90(2) allows the rules to make provision for the Minister or Secretary to make a legislative instrument, a notifiable instrument, or a written instrument.

What the Commonwealth must pay to recipient bodies

Clause 15 of the Disbursement Bill requires the Commonwealth to make payments of the following amounts to recipient bodies:

• amounts of a levy or charge imposed by a provision prescribed by the rules that have been made under the Imposition Bills (if enacted) in relation to that body—to the extent that those amounts are equal to the components of the rate of the relevant levy or charge prescribed by the rules
• equivalent amounts paid to a collection agent under paragraph 10(1)(a) of the Collection Bill (if enacted)
• amounts by way of late payment penalty under section 9 or 11 of the Collection Bill.

Clause 16 allows the Commonwealth to recover the costs it has incurred in collecting or recovering levy and charge amounts as well as its administrative costs from recipient bodies. In that case, the Secretary must give the recipient body a written notice setting out the amount of those costs and the time by which they must be paid.

What declared recipient bodies may spend

Clauses 18–20 of the Disbursement Bill deal with declared recipient bodies. Clause 18 restricts spending on marketing activities to the amount that is collected for marketing purposes. Spending on marketing activities includes the Commonwealth’s costs, refunds and debts to the extent that they are related to amounts collected for marketing purposes. It also includes other matters prescribed by the rules. Subclause 18(2) makes clear that a matter is marketing activities, in relation to the body, where expenditure on those activities is:

• for the benefit of a designated primary industry sector in relation to the body
• in accordance with the body’s funding agreement and
• in accordance with the rules (if any).[24]

Clause 19 requires a declared recipient body to spend amounts collected for R&D activities, only on research and development activities as set out in the clause. Subclause 19(2) provides that a matter is research and development activities, for a designated primary industry sector in relation to the body, where expenditure on those activities is:

• for the benefit of that sector
• in accordance with the body’s funding agreement and
• in accordance with the rules (if any).

Clause 20 allows spending of general amounts on activities prescribed by the rules, and the Commonwealth’s costs, refunds and debts related to general collection amounts. The Explanatory Memorandum to the Disbursement Bill provides that arrangements under the enabling Acts for declared recipient bodies would be continued through this mechanism (p.23).

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Disbursement Bills states that:

Where spending on industry-specific activities is permitted, these activities would be prescribed in the rules. This is because they are specific to the needs of a particular industry and do not apply to all declared recipient bodies.[25]

What statutory recipient bodies may spend

Clauses 21 and 22 deal with statutory recipient bodies. The spending requirements replace existing provisions in the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989[26] and the WineAustralia Act 2013.[27]

The clauses are in similar terms to those in clauses 18 and 19—that is, they set out the requirements for the spending of amounts of levy and change components to ensure those amounts are used for the purpose for which the relevant levy or charge was imposed.

However, the Explanatory Memorandum to the Disbursement Bill states that the provisions allow:

… statutory recipient bodies established under the PIRD Act to spend R&D components on activities and expenses that relate to their general functions and powers as statutory corporations. Arrangements under the PIRD Act would be continued …. The Wine Act did not provide for this in relation to the spending of R&D components.[28]

Matching payments to most recipient bodies

Clauses 23–25 set out the proposed changes to the mechanism for the Commonwealth to make matching payments for co-investment in R&D as well as the spending requirements of these matching payments by most (but not all) recipient bodies. Subclause 23(2) sets out the bodies that are exceptions to the general rule.

Clause 23 removes a total levies limit imposed by the current RDC Acts.

Under subclause 23(1) matching payments in the relevant financial year are limited to 50% of the recipient body’s relevant R&D expenditure (the expenditure limit) and 0.5% of each industry’s gross value of production (GVP limit). An explicit carry-over provision is added in subclause 23(5) which activates if the expenditure limit in a given financial year exceeds the GVP limit. In that case an amount equal to the excess is carried over into the next financial year.

Clause 25 modifies the determination of the average gross value of production used to determine the GVP limit. The current RDC Acts average the previous two financial years GVP values and the current financial year’s GVP value to determine the GVP limit. The Imposition Bill proposes averaging the GVP value of the three previous financial years. The reason is that the current financial year’s GVP is an estimate, thus subject to adjustment and a source of financial uncertainty for the relevant RDCs.

Under subclauses 25(2) and (4) the Secretary must make a notifiable instrument determining an average gross value of production amount in relation to the recipient body for the relevant financial year. That instrument must specify each GVP amount the Secretary has used to determine the average.

Matching payments to Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

The FRDC has a distinct funding mechanism which is set out in clauses 26–32 of the Disbursement Bill. According to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Disbursement Bill:

These industry-specific arrangements reflect the shared responsibility of the Commonwealth and State and Territory governments for marine resources. The FRDC has responsibility for research to manage the fisheries natural resource for the benefit of the Australian community (p. 33).

Essentially the arrangements for the FRDC are as follows:

The Commonwealth is to make matching payments to the FRDC in relation to the fishing industry (except declared fisheries). The payments to the FRDC in the relevant financial year would be equal to the sum of payable amounts worked out under clause 26 being the lesser of:

• the FRDC’s relevant fishing expenditure amount for the relevant financial year
• the amount equal to 0.5% of the average total main fishing industry GVP amount: subclause 26(2)

The FRDC’s relevant fishing expenditure amount is the sum of the specified expenses listed in subclause 26(3).

Subclauses 26(5), 26(6), 26(7) and 26(8) contain method statements for working out amounts payable in various circumstances. The Commonwealth is to make matching payments to a declared fishery using the method statements set out in clause 27.[29]

Clause 33 (declared recipient bodies) and clauses 34 and 35 (statutory recipient bodies) set out the spending requirements for matching payments. In each case the clauses establish one consistent set of provisions for all declared and statutory recipient bodies in the fishing industry.

The FRDC must spend amounts paid to it under clauses 26 and 27 only for those matters that are permitted by the Disbursement Bill. For an amount paid under subsection 26(1), a matter is research and development activities for the fishing industry (except any declared fishery), where expenditure on those activities is:

• for the benefit of the fishing industry (except any declared fishery)
• for the benefit of the Australian community generally
• in accordance with the Corporation’s funding agreement and annual operational plan and
• in accordance with the rules (if any).

For an amount paid under subsection 27(1), a matter is research and development activities for the declared fishery where expenditure on those activities is:

• for the benefit of the declared fishery
• for the benefit of the Australian community generally
• in accordance with the Corporation’s funding agreement and annual operational plan and
• in accordance with the rules (if any).

Clause 36 sets out the other amounts that the Commonwealth must pay to the FRDC and the matters that the FRDC may spend those amounts on.

Funding agreements with recipient bodies

Clauses 38–41 of the Disbursement Bill consolidate the rules about funding agreements between the Commonwealth and declared recipient bodies.

The Minister is empowered to enter into a funding agreement which may contain conditions: clause 38.

In addition, the Minister may, in writing, declare that a body is a recipient body only if:

• the body is registered as a company under the Corporations Act 2001
• there is a funding agreement in force between the Commonwealth and the body
• the Minister is satisfied that, if the body is so declared, the body will comply with its obligations under the funding agreement and the Disbursement Act (when enacted) and
• the Minister is satisfied that any other requirements prescribed by the rules are satisfied: subclauses 39(1) and (3).

That declaration may be revoked by the Minister at the request of the relevant body or where, amongst other things, the Minister reasonably believes that the body has contravened the Disbursement Act (when enacted) or the funding agreement with the body: subclause 40(1).

In addition, the Minister must enter into a funding agreement with a statutory recipient body. Once that has occurred, the Minister may vary that agreement or enter into a new funding agreement with the body. Where the funding agreement is subject to terms and conditions, the body must comply with them: clause 42.

Other funding arrangements

Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of the Disbursement Bill largely replicate the existing funding provisions for Animal Health Australia, Plant Health Australia, and the National Residue Survey. There are some changes to improve consistency between the organisations. The National Residue Survey Account is renamed the National Residue Survey Special Account in clause 64 of Part 5 of the Disbursement Bill.

Other matters

Part 6 deals with other matters for the purposes of the Disbursement Bill. Clauses 84 and 85 set out standard provisions for reconsideration and review of decisions made with respect to the Disbursement Bill.

Appendix

The schedule of Acts that will be repealed, or made redundant, is duplicated from the Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill in tables A1 to A4.

Repeals and main amendments

If the suite of Bills discussed in this Bills Digest is enacted, then the Consequential Amendment Act would repeal 23 redundant Commonwealth Acts. The tables below are lists of repeals duplicated from the Explanatory Memorandum to the Amendments Bill.

Table A1: Repeals related to the proposed Imposition Acts

Source: Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill, p. 7.

Table A2: Repeals related to the proposed Collection Act

Source: Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill, p. 7.

Table A3: Repeals related to the proposed Disbursement Act

Source: Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill, p. 8.

Table A4: Repeal of other redundant Acts

Source: Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill, p. 9.

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Consequential Amendments Bill specifies that neither the PIRD Act nor the Wine Australia Act will be repealed. However, amendments to the PIRD Act and Wine Australia Act will be made on by Schedule 2 to the Consequential Amendments Bill:

[by] omitting provisions relating to the disbursement of levy and charge amounts and matching funding, to reflect the consolidation of disbursement related provisions into the proposed Disbursement Act to ensure the agricultural levies legislation remains fit-for-purpose into the future.[30]

Amendments also will be made to a number of other Acts, as outlined in the Consequential Amendments Bill, to reflect changes in terminology and the intent of the proposed Imposition Bills, Collection Bill and Disbursement Bill.