Download EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

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.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
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.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
Clause 1 - Short Title
4. The Act may be cited as Roads to Recovery Act 2000
Clause 2 – Commencement
5. The Bill provides for the Act to commence on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3 – Definitions
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.
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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.
Clause 4 – Object
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
Clause 5 – Gazettal of list of funding recipients
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.
Clause 6 – Payments to Funding Recipients
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.
Clause 7 – Funding Conditions
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
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
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:
Proposal
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.
Recognition
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.
Audit
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.
Statement by CEO
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.
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PART 3 - MISCELLANEOUS
Clause 9 – Amounts repayable by funding recipient
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.
Clause 10 – Report to Parliament
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.
Clause 11 - Guidelines
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.
Clause 12 - Delegations
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.
Clause 13 – Regulations
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.
ATTACHMENT
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.
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