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2010-2011
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HORSE DISEASE RESPONSE LEVY (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS)
BILL 2011
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by Authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry,
Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig)
HORSE DISEASE RESPONSE LEVY (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS)
BILL 2011
OUTLINE
1. The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Australian Animal Health Council
(Live-stock Industries) Funding Act 1996 to enable funds raised by levies on
manufactured horse feed and worm treatments for horses to be appropriated to the
Australian Animal Health Council (also known as Animal Health Australia).
2. There are two companion Bills relating to this Bill: the Horse Disease Response
Levy Bill 2011, which imposes the levies, and the Horse Disease Response Levy
Collection Bill 2011, which authorises the Commonwealth to collect and administer
the levies. All three Bills are required to establish the levy funding mechanism
requested by the horse industry and enable it to meet its obligations as an
Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADR Agreement) signatory.
All three Bills are not retrospective in effect.
3. Under this Bill, Animal Health Australia will have the authority to hold and manage
funds raised by the levies on the horse industry's behalf. This is similar to
arrangements that other livestock industries with emergency animal disease
response levies have in place.
4. Funds raised through the levies will initially flow to the Commonwealth's
Consolidated Revenue Fund and subsequently be disbursed to Animal Health
Australia. This Bill allows for Animal Health Australia to be reimbursed for costs
incurred in receiving and applying monies received from the Commonwealth that
have been raised by the horse disease response levies.
5. This Bill also provides a mechanism for any excess horse disease response levies
that are collected to be paid to an organisation that is concerned with research and
development activities relevant to the horse industry, or with promotion or
maintenance of the health of horses. This mechanism is included as it is not possible
to time the termination of the levies at the precise moment the debt to the
Commonwealth has been fully paid.
6. For ease of reading, the provisions in the Bill for the horse disease response levies
have been drafted separately to the provisions for other livestock industry levies in
the Animal Health Australia Council (Live-stock Industries) Funding Act 1996. This
is because the horse disease response levies are unlike the others, in that the levies
do not relate to an animal product.
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FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
7. There is no financial impact on the Commonwealth unless an emergency animal
disease outbreak affecting horses occurs, and it is agreed that a national response is
required. Should such an event occur, there will be a financial impact on the
Commonwealth, in that it will initially meet the horse industry's costs of the
response under the EADR Agreement. However, this money will be repaid through
funds raised by the levies, and will include recovery of the Commonwealth's costs
in collecting or recovering the levies. There is no impact on Commonwealth
contributions to industry research and development as a consequence of these
arrangements.
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HORSE DISEASE RESPONSE LEVY (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS)
BILL 2011
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short title
This clause is a formal provision specifying that the short title of the Act may be cited
as the Horse Disease Response Levy (Consequential Amendments) Act 2011.
Clause 2: Commencement
The commencement date provides that sections 1 to 3 of the Act will commence the day
the Act receives Royal Assent and that Schedule 1 of the Act will commence on the
start of the day after the Act receives Royal Assent or the commencement of section 3
of the Horse Disease Response Levy Collection Act 2011, whichever happens later.
However, Schedule 1 will not commence at all if the Horse Disease Response Levy
Collection Act 2011 does not commence.
Clause 3: Schedule(s)
This clause is intended to specify that amendments will be made to the Australian
Animal Health Council (Live-stock Industries) Funding Act 1996.
Schedule 1: Amendments to the Australian Animal Health Council (Live-stock
Industries) Funding Act 1996
Item 1: Section 3
This item inserts a new definition of `horse disease response levy' into section 3 of the
Australian Animal Health Council (Live-stock Industries) Funding Act 1996.
The purpose of the amendment is to make clear that all references to horse disease
response levy in the Australian Animal Health Council (Live-stock Industries) Funding
Act 1996 are references to the levy imposed by the Horse Disease Response Levy Act
2011.
Item 2: After section 4
This item adds a new clause 4A after the existing Section 4 of the Australian Animal
Health Council (Live-stock Industries) Funding Act 1996 and specifies how monies
raised by the horse disease response levies and paid to Animal Health Australia by the
Commonwealth are to be applied. These applications are consistent with the application
of monies raised by other livestock industries' emergency animal disease response
levies.
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The note at the foot of item 2 changes the heading of section 4 by adding "--levies and
charges other than horse disease response levy". The purpose of the amendment is to
make clear that section 4 provides for levies and charges under the Primary Industries
Levies and Charges Collection Act 1991 and section 4A provides for the horse disease
response levy under the Horse Disease Response Levy Collection Act 2011.
Item 3: Section 5
The purpose of this item is to expand the scope of section 5 to sections 4 and 4A so that
amounts raised by the horse disease response levies that are payable to Animal Health
Australia are to be transferred from the Commonwealth's Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Item 4: At the end of the Act
This item inserts a new clause 7 that provides for situations where the Commonwealth
refunds an amount of horse disease response levy. This is in similar terms to the existing
section 6, which provides for situations where the Commonwealth refunds an amount of
levies and charges under the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act
1991.
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