Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]

CHARTER OF BUDGET HONESTY AMENDMENT (REGIONAL AUSTRALIA STATEMENTS) BILL 2015

                                               2013-2014-2015
             THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

                                   HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Charter of Budget Honesty Amendment (Regional Australia Statements) Bill 2015
                                   EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
                                                       and

                 STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

                                         Circulated by authority of
                                            Cathy McGowan MP
Charter of Budget Honesty Amendment (Regional Australia Statements) Bill 2015

OUTLINE

The purpose of the amendments are to ensure that the framework for the conduct of
Government fiscal policy, which includes obligations on the Government of regular fiscal
reporting, include an obligation to publicly release and table a regional Australia statement
together with each budget economic and fiscal outlook report and each mid-year economic
and fiscal outlook report. The purpose of the regional Australia statements is to provide
information to allow the assessment of the impact of the Government's policy decisions on
regional Australia. There is no standard Australian Government classification of regional
Australia - the term generally refers to the regions outside metropolitan areas.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

The bill will have no financial impact.

                                             NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1: Short Title

This clause provides for the citation of the Act as the Charter of Budget Honesty
Amendment (Regional Australia Statements) Act 2015.

Clause 2: Commencement

This clause provides for the commencement of all Sections of the Act the day after the Act
receives Royal Assent.

Clause 3: Schedules

This clause establishes that, as the intent of the Bill is to be realised through amendments
to other Acts, the Schedules of this Bill will amend those Acts accordingly.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998

Item 1 of Schedule 1:

Item 1 proposes an obligation upon the Treasurer to publicly release and table regional
Australia statements together with each budget economic and fiscal outlook report and
each mid-year economic and fiscal outlook report.

Item 2 of Schedule 1:

Item 2 inserts a new Part 5A - Regional Australia Statements after existing Part 5 Annual
Government Reporting of the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998.
Section 19A outlines the public release and tabling of regional Australia statements by the
Treasurer with each budget economic and fiscal outlook report and each mid-year
economic and fiscal outlook report.

Section 19B outlines the purpose of regional Australia statements to provide information
to allow the assessment of the impact of the Government's decision on regional Australia.

Section 19C details the contents of the regional Australia statements, including the likely
economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts on regional Australia of key
Government initiatives.

Section 19D allows for the Treasurer to request Commonwealth bodies to provide
information to help in the preparation of regional Australia statements and that the
Commonwealth body is to provide the information in time to allow the information to be
taken into account in the preparation of the statements.

                    STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

     Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

  Charter of Budget Honesty Amendment (Regional Australia Statements) Bill 2015

  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 the bill is to ensure that the obligations imposed on Government in the
Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 include an obligation to publically release and table
regular regional Australia statements in the conduct of their Government fiscal policy. The
purpose of the regional Australia statements is to provide information to allow the
assessment of the impact of the Government's policy decisions on regional Australia.

Human rights implications

This bill does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

Conclusion

This bill is compatible with human rights because it does not raise any human rights
issues.

Cathy McGowan AO MP

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]