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2002
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ROAD
TRANSPORT CHARGES (AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY) AMENDMENT BILL
2002
INTERSTATE ROAD TRANSPORT CHARGE AMENDMENT BILL
2002
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by
authority of the Minister for Transport and Regional Services
the Honourable
John Anderson, MP)
ROAD TRANSPORT CHARGES (AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY) AMENDMENT BILL
2002
INTERSTATE ROAD TRANSPORT CHARGE AMENDMENT BILL
2002
The purpose of the Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital Territory)
Amendment Bill 2002 (the Bill) is to amend the Road Transport Charges
(Australian Capital Territory) Act 1993 (the Principal Act) to provide for
automatic annual adjustments to the level of heavy vehicle registration charges
in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The annual adjustment is based on a
formula that accounts for changes in road provision and maintenance expenditure
and expected changes in road use.
The Principal Act forms part of a
system of nationally consistent road transport laws envisaged under Heads of
Government Agreements that are attached as schedules to the National Road
Transport Commission Act 1991. In accordance with the Agreements, it is
intended that the Bill amend the substantive law of the ACT in respect of heavy
vehicle registration charges. The States, the Northern Territory and the
Commonwealth will then either reference or adopt the ACT legislation, thus
delivering nationally uniform heavy vehicle registration charges. The
Australian Transport Council, comprising Commonwealth, State and Territory
Transport Ministers, has approved the procedures for the adjustment and the
Bill, which were developed by the National Road Transport Commission in
consultation with State and Territory registration authorities and transport
agencies, the Commonwealth, the transport industry, and other interested
parties.
The purpose of the cognate Interstate Road Transport Charge
Amendment Bill 2002 is to amend the Interstate Road Transport Charge Act
1985 so that the automatic annual adjustment set out in the Bill is
applied to vehicles registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme
(FIRS). FIRS is an alternative to State or Territory based registration
for heavy vehicles engaged solely in interstate trade and commerce. The States
and Territories administer FIRS on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Financial significance is low. The annual adjustment is to account for
changes in the amount of road expenditure by the States and Territories that are
attributable to heavy vehicles. Adjustments to the registration charges are
moderated by the application of rolling averages to the costs and an adjustment
‘floor’ (of zero) and a 'ceiling' (of the underlying Consumer Price
Index). The Commonwealth receives no direct financial benefit but
Australia’s economy benefits indirectly from the application of uniform
national charges within the transport industry. Under FIRS, registration
charges are returned to the States and Territories under an agreed distribution
formula that accounts for road usage by FIRS vehicles. For the States and
Territories any increases in charges reflect the combined level of expenditure
on provision and maintenance of road infrastructure for heavy vehicles. The
charges therefore remain in line with the road infrastructure costs attributable
to heavy vehicle use.
The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is attached. The Office of
Regulation Review has indicated that the RIS meets relevant
guidelines.
ROAD TRANSPORT CHARGES (AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY)
AMENDMENT BILL 2002
This clause provides for this Act to be cited as the Road Transport
Charges (Australian Capital Territory) Amendment Act 2002 (the Act).
This clause provides for the Act to commence on Royal Assent.
This clause provides for amendments or repeal of Acts as set out
in a Schedule to the Act.
A new section 3A is inserted that provides for any new adjustment to the
level of charge for each specified vehicle class to be applied on 1 July of the
relevant year. The first application of the adjustment formula is to occur on 1
July 2002. The section also provides that any new adjustment is applied to the
level of charges that most recently applied. In addition the section requires
the National Road Transport Commission (NRTC) to publish details of the
calculations of the new charges, for the information of the public.
This item limits the operation of section 4 to only enable alteration, by
regulation, those amounts specified in Part 3 of the Schedule to the Principal
Act. Part 3 of the Schedule prescribes the permit charges for vehicles or
vehicle combinations over 125 tonnes. The effect of this amendment is to remove
the power to vary charges set out in other parts of the Schedule.
This item repeals Part 2 of the Schedule (a table setting out the level
of charges) of the Principal Act and substitutes a new Part 2 which sets out a
table of the current charges. The current charges were put in place in October
2001 by the Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital Territory) Amendment
Regulations 2001.
This item inserts a fourth part in the Schedule of the Principal Act,
which sets out the new automatic annual adjustment formula.
Paragraph 1
sets out the formula for calculating the percentage by which charges will be
adjusted. This percentage adjustment accounts for the effects of changes in
expenditure by States and Territories on the following classes of roads: Rural
Arterial Roads; Rural Local Roads; Urban Arterial Roads; and Urban Local Roads.
The change in expenditure on each class of road is multiplied by a factor to
account for the relative level of road infrastructure costs attributable to
heavy vehicles on each class of road. Further, a component of the formula
applies a road use factor that accounts for projected changes in the numbers of
and travel by heavy vehicles. The calculations for the various factors used in
this formula have been provided and reviewed in the Regulatory Impact Statement.
A standard rounding rule ensures that the final percentage is correct to one
decimal place.
Paragraphs 2 and 3 provide for a 'ceiling' and a 'floor'
that limits the adjustment percentage to a range between nil and the underlying
Consumer Price Index (CPI) indexation factor for the relevant 1 July. This
means that the adjustment factor does not result in a decrease in charges and
that any increase is no more than the level of underlying
inflation.
Paragraph 4 provides a further final rounding provision to
ensure that the final calculated charge for each class of vehicle is a whole
dollar amount.
Paragraph 5 sets out the method for calculating changes
in expenditure for each of the four classes of roads. These changes in
expenditure are referred to as adjustment factors and are calculated using
specified data on changes in expenditure for each class of road. These factors
are in effect the difference between the average of the three most recent years
of expenditure compared to the average of expenditure in the previous three
years. That is, the annual percentage change between three year moving averages
of road expenditure. To provide transparency, the paragraph requires the
expenditure inputs used in these calculations to be published in the annual
report of the NRTC, which is tabled in Parliament. For 2002, the NRTC is
required to publish the necessary data separately. This is because the current
NRTC annual report does not contain the necessary expenditure data and the next
annual report, which will contain the data, will not be published until after
July 2002. Again a standard rule for rounding the adjustment factors is
applied.
Paragraph 6 requires that the CPI indexation factor that
determines the 'ceiling' for any particular 1 July is calculated using the
average of the sum of the current year's and the previous year's quarterly
‘All Groups Consumer Price Index’, as provided and published by the
Australian Statistician. The index applied is required to be the one that is
the ‘weighted average for the 8 capital cities’. A standard
rounding rule to one decimal place is applied to the resultant CPI indexation
factor. Provision is also made for any changes in the reference base made by
the Australian Statistician. The CPI indexation factor will be nil if calculated
as less than nil, which ensures that the ceiling applied to the adjustment
formula is never a negative amount. Special index numbers apply for the March
and June 2000 quarters to moderate the short-term effects of the introduction of
the Goods and Service Tax. This ensures that the CPI indexation factor reflects
the level of underlying inflation.
INTERSTATE ROAD TRANSPORT CHARGE
AMENDMENT BILL 2002
This clause provides for this Act to be cited as the Interstate Road
Transport Charge Amendment Act 2002.
This clause provides for the Act to commence on Royal
Assent.
Clause 3: Schedule(s)
This clause provides for
amendments or repeal of Acts as set out in a Schedule to the Act.
Item 1 repeals section 6, the regulation making power that allowed for a
potential annual 5% adjustment to any existing level of charge and inserts a new
section 5A. Section 5A ensures that any existing charge will be adjusted
consistently with the adjustment amount determined in section 3A of the Road
Transport Charges (Australian Capital Territory) Act 1993 (the Principal
Act) on the relevant date.
This amendment ensures that the
charges determined under this Act are not able to exceed those determined under
the Principal Act. However, the previous ability to determine, by
regulation, a reduction in charges of up to 5% is retained in a new section 6.
This provides some flexibility for the Commonwealth, consistent with that
provided to the States and Territories who may apply their own charges below the
national level set out in the Principal Act.
This item amends the note immediately after the heading to insert a
reference to the new section 5A. This ensures users are aware of the effect of
that provision on the Schedule.