Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
1998-1999-2000
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ROADS TO RECOVERY BILL
2000
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority
of the Minister for Transport and Regional Services,
the Hon John Anderson
MP)
ISBN: 0642 454981
ROADS TO RECOVERY BILL 2000
GENERAL OUTLINE
1. The Bill is to appropriate
funds for the Roads to Recovery Program announced by the Government which is to
provide additional funding for local roads in rural, regional and metropolitan
areas. The funds are to be provided in the form of grants to local government
bodies for expenditure on roads.
2. The Bill provides a mechanism for
specifying the funding to be received by each local government body over the
life of the program and the conditions on which the funds are provided. The
list attached to this Explanatory Memorandum is the tabled list referred
to in the Bill. This list sets out the local government bodies to be funded and
the amounts of grant each is entitled to over the life of the program.
3. The Bill appropriates the amounts necessary to make the grant
payments set out in the attachment which total $1.2 billion over the period
2000-01 to 2004-05.
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
4. The Act may be cited as Roads to Recovery Act 2000
5. The Bill provides for the Act to commence on the day it receives
Royal Assent.
6. The clause defines a funding recipient as a body included in
the list that the Minister, under clause 5, is required to publish in the
Gazette. The list will set out each funding recipient and the amount of grant
each will be entitled to under the Roads to Recovery Program. These bodies are
generally local government bodies.
7. The program runs until 30 June
2005 and a funding year is defined as any financial year ending on 30
June 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. The definition is used in clause 10, which
provides for reports to Parliament on the operation of the program in each
funding year.
8. The published list is defined as the list
required to be published under clause 5.
9. A road is defined for
the purposes of the Act as including assets associated with the operation of
roads such as traffic lights, signs, bridges and tunnels. The program will also
be able to fund expenditure on vehicular ferries and bicycle paths.
10.
Roads expenditure is defined to include expenditure on maintenance and
the upgrading of roads as well as construction.
11. The tabled
list is the list attached to this Explanatory Memorandum. This list sets
out the local government bodies that will receive grants and the amounts they
are entitled to under the program.
12. The object of the Act is to provide additional funding to local
governments for expenditure on roads. The Government will provide $1.2 billion
over the life of the program.
PART 2 – FUNDING FOR ROADS
13. This clause requires the Minister to publish in the Gazette,
as soon as possible after the commencement of the Act, a list of funding
recipients and the amount of grant that each is to receive as set out in the
tabled list attached to this Explanatory Memorandum.
14. This clause provides that the amount set out in the published list
is payable to the local government body (the funding recipient)
concerned.
15. The Minister is to have the discretion to pay the amount
in one or more instalments and the timing of the instalments is also subject to
the discretion of the Minister. It is likely that small local government bodies
will receive their full entitlement in one instalment.
16. This clause
also appropriates the funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to make the
payments.
17. The program ends on 30 June 2005 and sub-clause (4)
specifies that payments must be made before 1 July 2005.
18. This clause requires the Minister power to set conditions on the
payment of the grants under the program. These conditions must include the key
criteria set out by the Prime Minister in his announcement of the program.
Under these criteria, local government bodies must :
§ use the grants for expenditure on roads;
§ account for their expenditure properly;
§ maintain their existing road expenditures; and
§ give
appropriate acknowledgment of the Commonwealth contribution in respect of
individual road works.
19. The Minister may also set conditions on any other
matter to do with the payment of the grants. These conditions are to cover in
particular, the requirement to repay grants in the event of a breach of the
conditions and the requirement for recipients to comply with administrative
guidelines issued under clause 11.
20. It is expected that these
conditions will cover the following administrative aspects of the
program:
A local government body is to provide the Minister with a proposal for the
expenditure of the grant. This can be provided once for the whole program, or
if desired, an initial proposal for the first half-year of the program followed
by a more detailed proposal for the remaining four years.
The conditions will ensure that the Commonwealth receives appropriate
recognition for its contribution to the roads concerned. The conditions will
require that the local government body must erect signs acknowledging the
Commonwealth funding along the road works being funded from the grants.
The local government body will be required to account for the expenditure of
Commonwealth funds by the provision of an audited statement following the close
of each financial year in which it receives funding.
The Commonwealth
will reserve the power to inspect documents held by a local government body if
there is a problem with the audit process in respect of that local government
body.
In addition to the audited statement, each local government body receiving
funding will be required to provide a certificate signed by the chief executive
officer stating that it has maintained its level of expenditure on roads, and
that all conditions of the grant have been met.
21. Any conditions
determined by the Minister must be notified in the Gazette and any
variations or revocations of the conditions must also be notified in the
Gazette. In varying any conditions, the Minister will have to ensure
that the compulsory conditions in subclause (2) are maintained.
Clause 8 – Replacement funding recipients
22. This
clause provides that the Minister must nominate one or more replacement bodies
for the remaining funding, if a local government body ceases to exist before it
has received the full amount payable to it. This body will generally be the
replacement local government body with responsibility for that local government
area, or if no such body exists, the State Government in which the funding
recipient is located.
PART 3 - MISCELLANEOUS
23. This clause inserts a provision that any amounts liable to be repaid
may be recovered by the Commonwealth as a debt through the courts or deducted
from any future instalments.
24. This clause requires the Minister to report to Parliament on the
operation of the program during a funding year as soon as possible after the
completion of that funding year.
25. The Minister will have the power to issue guidelines for the
administration of the Act. These will cover such things as forms, timing of
payments, specification of signs, etc.
26. The Minister will have the power to delegate any of his functions
under the Bill to a Senior Executive Service officer of the
Department.
27. Any delegate must comply with any directions of the
Minister in exercising powers or functions under the Act.
28. The Bill includes the power for the Governor-General to make
regulations prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed or
necessary or convenient for carrying out or giving effect to the
program.
29. The Attachment to this Memorandum sets out the local government
bodies in each State that will be eligible for grants under the program and the
amount of their entitlement. This represents the tabled list referred to
in the Bill.