Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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MEAT RESEARCH CORPORATION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1992 NO. 257

STATUTORY RULES 1992 No. 257

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy

Meat Research Corporation Act 1985

Meat Research Corporation Regulations (Amendment)

The proposed regulations provide for the inclusion of the Meat and Allied Trades Federation of Australia (the Federation) as an eligible industry body. They also provide for $3 million to be the upper limit on agreements and contracts that the Meat Research Corporation (the Corporation) may enter into without the approval of the Minister.

Paragraph 3(1)(d) of the Meat Research Corporation Act 1985 (the Act) states that an eligible industry body may mean the Cattle Council of Australia, the Sheepmeat Council of Australia, the Australian Meat Exporters' Federal Council, or a body prescribed by the Meat Research Corporation Regulations.

Subsections 30(6) and 35(3) of the Act require that the Corporation consult with each eligible industry body before preparing or revising its research and development plan, and before preparing its annual operational plan.

Under section 10 of the Act, the Corporation consults the Federation as a body representative of the meat and livestock industry and meets the relevant costs and expenses incurred by the Federation during consultations. The Corporation wishes the formal involvement of the Federation in consultations concerning its research and development and annual operational plans. It is therefore necessary that the Federation be prescribed by regulation to be an eligible industry body.

Subsection 7(3) of the Act states that the Minister may prescribe an amount higher than $100,000 as the limit on agreements and contracts that the Corporation may enter into in connection with the purchase of real or personal property without the approval of the Minister.

Arrangements are underway to repeal subsection 7(3), in line with the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989 that places no such requirement on most other research and development councils and corporations within the Minister's portfolio. In the meantime, the regulation prescribes a more reasonable limit of $3 million. This amount represents a maximum level of expenditure handled in the Corporation's routine operations.