Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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MIGRATION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1996 NO. 108

STATUTORY RULES 1996 No. 108

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

Migration Act 1958

Migration Regulations (Amendment)

Section 504 of the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, to prescribe all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act. In particular, paragraph 504(1)(a) provides that the regulations may provide for the charging and recovery of fees in respect of any matter under the Act or the regulations.

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend fees charged for immigration services in accordance with relevant changes in the Commonwealth Government Final Consumption Expenditure Index. The Commonwealth Government Final Consumption Expenditure Index, which is compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and published quarterly, is the price index which is used to adjust Commonwealth government administrative funding to reflect changes in the value of dollars between one year and the next.

Details of the Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 - Commencement

These Regulations commence on 1 July 1996.

Regulation 2 - Amendment

These Regulations amend the Migration Regulations.

Regulation 3 - Schedule (Indexation of fees)

The Schedule lists a number of provisions in the Migration Regulations in which the current fee for migration services is amended in accordance with the relevant change in the Commonwealth Government Final Consumption Expenditure Index. Indexed fees are rounded to the nearest $5. The only exception is paragraph 5.38 (2)(b) (for 10 or more sponsorships) where the fee is set at 10 times the amount of a single sponsorship.