Details of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Infrastructure and Regional Development Measures No. 1) Regulation 2016

 

Section 1 - Name

 

This section provides that the title of the Regulation is the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Infrastructure and Regional Development       Measures No. 1) Regulation 2016.

 

Section 2 - Commencement

 

This section provides that the Regulation commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. 

 

Section 3 - Authority

 

This section provides that the Regulation is made under the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997.

 

Section 4 - Schedules

 

This section provides that the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 are amended as set out in the Schedules to the Regulation.

 

Schedule 1 - Amendments

 

Item 1 - In the appropriate position in Part 4 of Schedule 1AB (table)

 

This item adds a new table item to Part 4 of Schedule 1AB to establish legislative authority for government spending on the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages which will be administered by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

 

New table item 190 establishes legislative authority for government spending on the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages (RJIP).

 

The RJIP is a $220 million grant program designed to help regions in Australia diversify their economies, stimulate economic growth and deliver sustainable employment.  The packages will be delivered across the following ten regions: 

*         Cairns;

*         Bowen Basin;

*         Wide Bay Burnett;

*         New South Wales North Coast;

*         New South Wales South Coast;

*         Upper Spencer Gulf;

*         Goulburn Valley;

*         Latrobe Valley;

*         Geelong; and

*         Regional Tasmania.

 

The RJIP is part of the Government's 'Jobs and Growth in Regional Australia' election commitment announced in June 2016.  Separate announcements were made in June 2016 in nine of the RJIP regions.  On 3 November 2016, the Minister for Regional Development, Senator the Hon Fiona Nash; the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon Darren Chester MP; the Minister for the Environment and Energy, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP; the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Greg Hunt MP; and the Minister for Employment, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, jointly announced $20 million funding for the Latrobe Valley RJIP.

 

The delivery of each RJIP will consist of a planning and funding phase. 

 

The planning phase will involve each RJIP region establishing a local planning committee which will contribute to the development of local investment plans.  These plans will identify each region's key growth priorities with evidence-based potential for sustainable economic growth.

 

Once a region has completed its plan, it will move to the funding phase.  This phase will deliver funds awarded through a competitive grants process across three streams:

*         business innovation grants to help businesses invest in new technology, diversify operations, create new export opportunities and deliver new sustainable jobs;

*         local infrastructure investment to enable local communities to invest in infrastructure to help boost the region's long-term productivity and resilience; and

*         skills and training initiatives to help communities address regional skills shortages and to support workers impacted by structural change to retrain and upskill.

 

Funding details for the four-year program will be included in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2016-17.

 

Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis as decided by the Minister for Regional Development.  Potential grant recipients could include individual businesses, not-for-profit organisations, local government and educational institutions.

 

Selection criteria for the RJIP grants will be included in the grant guidelines which will be publicly released prior to the first grant round.  The guidelines will be published on the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development's website at http://regional.gov.au/regional/regional-jobs-investment-package/. 

 

The Minister for Regional Development will announce the selection of funded projects. These will be published on the Department's website.

 

The RJIP is unsuitable for merits review.  Decisions which allocate funding under the RJIP will involve the allocation of finite resources between competing applicants.  The funds available for the RJIP are limited, and as the program involves a competitive selection process, it is likely that only a proportion of applications for a share of the funding will be able to be met.

 

Providing for merits review, where decisions could be set aside, would result in the possibility that allocations of funding to successful applicants would be affected.  Delays in the implementation of projects, and the achievement of the objects of the program, would also be likely.

 

Administrative decisions of this nature are generally recognised as not being appropriate for merits review.  However, the grant guidelines will ensure that the decision-making process is objective and transparent and that eligibility criteria are clear.

 

Funding for this item will come from Program 3.1: Regional Development, which is part of Outcome 3: Strengthening the sustainability, capacity and diversity of regional economies including through facilitating local partnerships between all levels of government and local communities; and providing grants and financial assistance.  Details will be set out in the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2016-17: Infrastructure and Regional Development Portfolio.

 

Noting that it is not a comprehensive statement of relevant constitutional considerations, the objective of the item references the following powers of the Constitution:

*         the interstate and international trade and commerce power (section 51(i));

*         the communications power (section 51(v));

*         the aliens power (section 51(xix));

*         the social welfare power (section 51(xxiiiA));

*         the immigration power (section 51(xxvii));

*         the race power (section 51(xxvi));

*         the power to grant financial assistance to States (section 96);

*         the external affairs power (section 51(xxix));

*         the railway construction and extension power (section 51(xxxiv)); and

*         the Commonwealth executive power and the express incidental power (section 61 and section 51(xxxix)).

 

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Infrastructure and Regional Development Measures No. 1) Regulation 2016

 

This Regulation is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

 

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

 

Section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (the FF(SP) Act) authorises the Commonwealth to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants specified in the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 (the FF(SP) Regulations) and to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants for the purposes of programs specified in the Regulations.  Schedule 1AA and Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations specify the arrangements, grants and programs. 

 

The FF(SP) Act applies to Ministers and the accountable authorities of non-corporate Commonwealth entities, as defined under section 12 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. 

 

Schedule 1 to the Regulation amends Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations to establish legislative authority for government spending on the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages (RJIP) which will be administered by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. 

 

The RJIP is a grant program designed to help regions in Australia diversify their economies, stimulate economic growth and deliver sustainable employment.  It will be delivered in ten regions through a competitive grants process across three streams: business innovation grants, local infrastructure investment, and skills and training initiatives.

 

The Minister for Regional Development has portfolio responsibility for this matter.

 

Human rights implications

 

The Regulation does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

 

Conclusion

 

This Regulation is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.

 

 

 

Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

Minister for Finance