Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move government amendments (1) and (3) to (7) on sheet PD357 together:

That the House of Representatives be requested to make the following amendments:

(1)   Schedule 3, item 1, page 5 (lines 6 to 8), omit the item, substitute:

1  Subsection 43-10(3)

Omit “, determined by the ^*Transport Minister”, substitute “for the fuel”.

(3)    Schedule 3, item 4, page 5 (line 15), omit the heading to subsection 43-10(7), substitute:

Determining the rate of road user charge

(4)    Schedule 3, item 4, page 5 (lines 16 to 18), omit “The road user charge for taxable fuel means the following rate (as indexed in accordance with regulations made for the purposes of subsection (8))”, substitute “The amount of road user charge for taxable fuelis worked out using the following rate”.

(5)    Schedule 3, item 4, page 5 (lines 19 and 20), omit “prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition”, substitute “determined by the ^*Transport Minister”.

(6)    Schedule 3, item 4, page 5 (lines 22 and 23), omit “prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition”, substitute “determined by the Transport Minister”.

(7)    Schedule 3, item 4, page 5 (lines 24 and 25), omit subsection 43-10(8), substitute:

        (8)    For the purposes of subsection (7), the ^*Transport Minister may determine, by legislative instrument, the rate of the road user charge.

        (9)    Before the ^*Transport Minister determines an increased rate of road user charge, the Transport Minister must:

             (a)    make the following publicly available for at least 60 days:

                   (i)    the proposed increased rate of road user charge;

                  (ii)    any information that was relied on in determining the proposed increased rate; and

             (b)    consider any comments received, within the period specified by the Transport Minister, from the public in relation to the proposed increased rate.

      (10)    However, the ^*Transport Minister may, as a result of considering any comments received from the public in accordance with subsection (9), determine a rate of road user charge that is different from the proposed rate that was made publicly available without making that different rate publicly available in accordance with that subsection.

I also indicate that the government opposes schedule 3 in the following terms:

(2)    Schedule 3, item 3, page 5 (lines 11 and 12), to be opposed.

(8)    Schedule 3, items 5 to 8, page 5 (line 26) to page 6 (line 8), to be opposed.

Statement by the Clerk of the Senate pursuant to the order of the Senate of 26 June 2000—

This is a bill imposing taxation within the meaning of section 53 of the Constitution. The Senate may not amend a bill imposing taxation and therefore, any amendments to the bill must be moved as requests. This is in accordance with the precedents of the Senate.

The first one is a minor drafting amendment describing how fuel tax credit is removed by the transport minister after the road user charge. The second one is a minor amendment that opposes item 3 of the bill, which would have formerly defined a road user charge. This reference is no longer needed given the definition that will be found in government amendment (4).

The third one changes the heading and is a consequence of reverting the adjustment of the rate of the road user charge back for ministerial determination. The fourth one is a consequence of removing the ability to automatically index the rate of the charge by regulation to a determination by the transport minister. The fifth one removes the ability to automatically index the rate of charge by regulation to a determination by the transport minister.

The sixth one reverts the setting of a road user charge to that of a determination by the transport minister rather than by regulation, in response to concerns by industry and by senators about indexation by regulation. The effect of the amendment is to ensure that any variations to the rate of the road user charge must be brought back to parliament for scrutiny through a disallowable instrument.

The seventh one, subsection 8, replaces the ability to make regulations that may index the rate of the road user charge with a provision that allows the transport minister to determine a rate by disallowable legislative instrument. The effect of this subclause is to ensure that any variation to the rate of the road user charge must be brought back to parliament for scrutiny through a disallowable instrument. It also provides a new subsection 9, which establishes two conditions that must be met by the transport minister in making a determination to vary the rate.

The eighth is a 60-day consultation period where the minister must make the proposed rates and any information used in this calculation publicly available for a period of public consultation and must consider any comments received from the public. It provides a new subsection 10, which provides that the minister may at the conclusion of the consultation period vary the rate of the charge from that originally proposed without needing to reconvene another 60-day consultation process. The clause reinserts definitions of ‘transport minister’, ‘transport secretary’ and ‘transport department’. The bill proposed to repeal them because they were no longer necessary. This amendment reinserts them because the determination to vary the rate of road user charges is to be made by the transport minister and this needs to be defined.