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2008-2009-2010
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2010
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport,
Regional Development and Local Government
the Honourable Anthony Albanese, MP)
Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2010
OUTLINE
The Interstate Road Transport Charge Act 1985 (the Act) imposes
registration charges for heavy vehicles registered under the Australian
Government's Federal Interstate Registration Scheme (FIRS), to recover the
cost of road usage by heavy vehicles.
Sub-section 5(6) of the Act specifies that any regulations made for the
purpose of Section 5 (Amount of Charge) must not take effect earlier than
the first day after the end of the Disallowance Period.
The Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2010 (the Bill)
provides for a technical amendment that repeals sub-section 5(6).
The Bill will allow a subsequent amendment to the Interstate Road Transport
Charge Regulations 2009 (the Regulations) that will reduce the 2010-2011
annual automatic charge adjustment from 9.7 per cent to 4.2 per cent, to
take effect from 1 July 2010. There are no administrative provisions
within the Act or the related Interstate Road Transport Act 1985 that would
enable the difference in charge levels to be dealt with by way of a refund
or other administrative means.
The deletion of sub-section 5(6) does not change or prevent legitimate
parliamentary scrutiny. The provisions of Part 5 of the Legislative
Instruments Act 2003 that facilitate scrutiny by the Parliament of
registered legislative instruments will still apply to amendments to the
Regulations. Those provisions could still operate to disallow an amendment
to the Regulations that came into effect on 1 July 2010.
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed in February 2008 that
heavy vehicle charges should be adjusted annually to maintain cost
recovery. This agreement was given effect through an automatic adjustment
formula in the Interstate Road Transport Charge Regulations in 2009.
Adjustments to the heavy vehicle registration charge are highly dependent
on changes in the level of spending on roads and bridges and on changes in
road usage. Spending across all levels of government has increased
significantly in recent years and an unexpected and substantial growth in
the number of large heavy vehicles would result in a potential over-
recovery of $116 million in 2010-11 if the current annual adjustment
formula is applied to the heavy vehicle fleet.
The automatic annual adjustment to the registration charges would apply
from 1 July 2010. Application of the existing formula would result in a
charges adjustment of 9.7 per cent being applied to all heavy vehicles,
including those registered under the FIRS.
All Governments have agreed, through their transport ministers, to amend
their respective charges regulations to modify the annual adjustment
formula to maintain cost recovery. This would result in a 4.2 per cent
adjustment for 2010-11.
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FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
There is no net financial impact on the Australian Government Budget
flowing from this amendment. All revenue from FIRS charges is returned to
the state and territory governments under an agreed distribution formula
that accounts for road usage by FIRS heavy vehicles. State and Territory
governments are required to use FIRS funds on road maintenance within their
jurisdictions.
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Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2010
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short Title
1. This clause provides for the Act to be called the Interstate Road
Transport Charge Amendment Act 2010.
Clause 2: Commencement
2. This clause provides for the Act to come into effect on the day it
receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3: Schedules
3. Clause 3 provides that each Act specified in a Schedule to the Bill
is amended in accordance with the terms set out in the Schedule.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Interstate Road Transport Charge Act 1985
Item 1 is a formal provision which repeals subsection 5(6) of the Act.
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