Agriculture and Water Resources Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 - Commentary on Ministerial and Other Responses [2017] AUSStaCSBSD 79 (22 March 2017)

• Chapter 2
• Commentary on ministerial and other responses
• Agriculture and Water Resources Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
• Parliamentary scrutiny—removing requirements to table certain documents1

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Chapter 2

Commentary on ministerial and other responses

2.1 This chapter considers the responses of ministers to matters previously raised by the committee.

2.2 Correspondence relating to these matters is included at Appendix 1.

Agriculture and Water Resources Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Purpose	This bill seeks to amend 13 portfolio Acts to: • cease four redundant statutory bodies; • remove unnecessary regulation; and • make technical amendments The bill also will repeal 12 Acts that are redundant
Portfolio	Agriculture and Water Resources
Introduced	House of Representatives on 1 December 2016
Bill status	Before Senate
Scrutiny principle	Standing Order 24(1)(a)(v)

2.3 The committee dealt with this bill in Scrutiny Digest No. 1 of 2017. The Minister responded to the committee's comments in a letter dated 16 February 2017. Set out below are extracts from the committee's initial scrutiny of the bill and the Minister's response followed by the committee's comments on the response. A copy of the letter is at Appendix 1.

Parliamentary scrutiny—removing requirements to table certain documents^[1]

Initial scrutiny – extract

2.4 Part 2 of the bill proposes to remove requirements contained in several Acts for the Minister to table certain documents in Parliament. These documents include:

• funding agreements between the Commonwealth and Australian Livestock Export Corporation Limited and reports on compliance with the funding agreement;^[2]

• the annual report of the Australian Livestock Export Corporation Limited;^[3]

• funding contracts between the Commonwealth and Dairy Australia Limited;^[4]

• the financial (annual) report of Dairy Australia Limited;^[5]

• reports following the annual general meetings of Dairy Australia Limited;^[6]

• funding contracts between the Commonwealth and Forest and Wood Products Australia Limited;^[7] and

• funding contracts between the Commonwealth and Sugar Research Australia Limited.^[8]

2.5 While some of this information may be published online, the bill proposes to remove legislative provisions which require that this information be made available to the Parliament (and therefore the public at large).

2.6 Noting the potential impact on parliamentary scrutiny of removing the requirement for certain information to be made available to the Parliament, the committee requests the Minister's advice as to:

• why the requirement for these documents to be tabled in Parliament is proposed to be removed; and

• whether each of the documents referred to above (at paragraph 2.4) will be made available online (including other legislative provisions, if any, which require the publishing of these documents online).

Minister's response

2.7 The Minister advised:

There are ten industry-owned research and development corporations (RDCs), four of which have varying, additional publication requirements. I consider these additional requirements unnecessary and the proposed amendments will make the requirements consistent for all. Removing these additional requirements will also reduce the costs associated with preparing documents that meet the Australian Parliament's tabling rules.

Funding agreements
To promote transparency, all funding agreements signed by the Commonwealth since July 2011 have required the agreement to be available on the RDC's public website.
There are funding agreements between the Commonwealth and every RDC setting terms and conditions for use and management of grower levy funds and Commonwealth matching. Only the legislation relating to Australian Livestock Export Corporation Limited ('LiveCorp'), Dairy Australia Limited, Forest and Wood Products Limited and Sugar Research Australia Limited requires these agreements be tabled.
An example of the funding agreements clause pertaining to disclosure is in the agreement between Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and the Commonwealth 2016 to 2020, which requires corporate governance documents to be published ('the publication clause'). These documents are listed at clause 29 'Information on Activities', available on the MLA website.
Given that LiveCorp's current agreement was executed in 2010, it does not include this requirement. The government proposes that LiveCorp's new agreement (currently under negotiation) would be consistent with requirements for all other RDCs in this regard.
Annual Reports
All industry-owned RDCs are required under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act 2001 to prepare and distribute annual reports to those members who elect to receive them. Only LiveCorp and Dairy Australia Limited are also required to table their annual reports.
Consistent with good corporate practice, RDCs publish annual reports on their public websites. For example, since 2007-08 LiveCorp has published its annual reports on its website. Each annual report includes a compliance report setting out how the corporation has complied with the funding agreement.
To promote a uniform approach, all funding agreements signed by the Commonwealth since October 2016 have required annual reports to be available through an RDC's public website. An example of this clause is in the agreement between Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and the Commonwealth 2016 to 2020, which requires corporate governance documents to be published. These documents are listed at clause 29 'Information on Activities', available on the AWI website.
Negotiation of new Funding Agreements
The government expects that a new agreement with LiveCorp will be signed before the end of the financial year, which will require the funding agreement and annual report to be published on LiveCorp's public website.
The Commonwealth is negotiating with Dairy Australia Limited and will begin negotiations with Forest and Wood Products Limited and Sugar Research Australia Limited in February or March 2017. While each of these RDCs already publishes their funding agreements and annual reports, the government will propose consistent publication clauses for each new agreement.
I trust that this information confirms that parliamentary scrutiny will not be impeded by the measures in the Agriculture and Water Resources Legislation Amendment Bill 2016. I expect that amendments will streamline the processes which support public and parliamentary engagement in the RDCs activities.

Committee comment

2.8 The committee thanks the Minister for this response. The committee notes the Minister's advice that the tabling requirements are proposed to be removed in order to reduce costs and make the publication requirements consistent for all research and development corporations (RDCs). The committee also notes the Minister's advice that all funding agreements signed by the Commonwealth since July 2011 have required that the agreement and annual reports be made available on the RDCs public website. The Minister also advised that one current agreement does not include this requirement but the new agreement, which is under negotiation, will include this requirement.

2.9 The committee notes that removing the requirement for certain information to be tabled in Parliament reduces the scope for parliamentary scrutiny. As such, the committee expects there to be appropriate justification for removing a tabling requirement. This is particularly relevant where public funding has been provided to research and development corporations (RDCs), over which there should be appropriate levels of transparency and accountability.

2.10 The process of tabling documents in Parliament alerts parliamentarians to their existence and provides opportunities for debate that are not available where documents are only published online. The committee does not consider the costs involved in tabling the documents to be a sufficient basis for removing the requirement to table in Parliament. The committee notes the Minister's advice that the tabling requirements are proposed to be removed in order to ensure consistency for all RDCs. However, from a scrutiny perspective the committee considers consistency could best be achieved by amending the relevant legislation to require all RDCs to table documents relating to funding agreements and annual reports.

2.11 The committee notes that most (though not all) funding agreements require the agreement and annual report to be published online. However, there appears to be no legislative requirement requiring the publishing of these documents online.

2.12 The committee considers that the interests of parliamentary scrutiny would best be served by removing items 58 to 66 of Schedule 1 from the bill. However, if these items remain, the committee considers it would be appropriate, at a minimum:

• that there should be a legislative requirement that the relevant documents be published online; and

• that a statement be tabled in both Houses of the Parliament drawing attention to the publication of the relevant document online.

2.13 The committee draws its scrutiny concerns to the attention of Senators and leaves to the Senate as a whole the appropriateness of removing the requirement for the Minister to table certain documents in Parliament.

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[1] Schedule 1, items 58–66.

[2] See Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997, sections 68B–68C.

[3] See Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997, sections 68D.

[4] See Dairy Produce Act 1986, subsections 5(6)–(7).

[5] See Dairy Produce Act 1986, subsection 13(2).

[6] See Dairy Produce Act 1986, section 14.

[7] See Forestry Marketing and Research and Development Services Act 2007,

subsections 8(6)–(7).

[8] See Sugar Research and Development Services Act 2013, subsections 6(6)–(7).