Drought
Assistance (Primary Producers) Act 1982
No. 99 of 1982
An Act to make
provision for the grant of financial assistance to primary producers who are
affected by drought
[Assented to 28 October 1982]
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the
Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as
follows:
PART
I—PRELIMINARY
Short
title
1. This Act may be cited as
the Drought Assistance (Primary Producers) Act 1982.
Commencement
2. This Act shall come
into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
PART II—INTEREST
SUBSIDY
Appropriation
3. (1) The Consolidated Revenue Fund is appropriated to the extent of
$36,000,000 for the purpose of making payments to eligible primary producers to
assist them to pay interest in respect of loans made to them.
(2) In sub-section (1), “eligible
primary producer” means a primary producer who is eligible to receive payments
under that sub-section in accordance with criteria determined by the Minister
by instrument in writing under his hand published in the Gazette.
PART III—FODDER
SUBSIDY
Interpretation
4. In this Part, unless the
contrary intention appears—
“advance” means an advance made
under section 8;
“arrangement” means an arrangement
entered into under section 5;
“fodder”
means grain, hay, manufactured feedstuffs and other substances suitable for
feeding to sheep or cattle;
“prescribed
period” means the period that commenced on 1 September 1982 and ends on a date
to be fixed by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette;
“State”
includes the Northern Territory.
Arrangements
with States
5. For the purposes of
this Part, the Minister may, on behalf of the Commonwealth, make an arrangement
with the appropriate Minister of a State for the making of payments by the
State to primary producers in the State towards meeting the cost of purchasing,
during the prescribed period, fodder for feeding to sheep and cattle that are
affected by drought.
Grant
of financial assistance
6. Subject to this Part,
there is payable to a State, by way of financial assistance, the amount
necessary to reimburse that State in respect of any expenditure by the State in
accordance with an arrangement.
Evidence
of expenditure
7. A State is not entitled
to a payment under section 6 with respect to any expenditure by the State in
accordance with an arrangement unless the State has furnished to the Minister
for Finance—
(a)
a statement in respect of that expenditure, in accordance with a form approved
by the Minister for Finance, accompanied by a certificate of the
Auditor-General of the State certifying that, in his opinion, the amounts shown
in the statement as having been expended were expended in accordance with the
arrangement; and
(b)
such further information, if any, as the Minister for Finance requires in
respect of that expenditure.
Advances
8. The Minister for
Finance may, at such times as he thinks fit, make advances to a State of such
amounts as he thinks fit on account of an amount that may become payable to a
State under this Part.
Conditions
9. (1) Payments of amounts (including advances) to a State in
accordance with an arrangement are subject to such conditions as are set out in
the arrangement.
(2) In addition to the
conditions referred to in sub-section (1), payment of an amount (including an
advance) to a State in accordance with an arrangement is subject to the
following conditions:
(a)
that, if the Minister so requests, there will be furnished to the Minister by
the State, as soon as practicable after such date as the Minister specifies, a
report on the carrying out by the State of the arrangement, being a report
containing such particulars as are specified by the Minister;
(b)
that, if the Minister informs the Treasurer of the State that he is satisfied
that the State has failed to fulfil a condition set out in the arrangement or
the condition specified in paragraph (a), the State will repay the amount, or
such part of the amount as the Minister specifies, to the Commonwealth;
(c)
that the Minister for Finance may deduct any amount repayable by a State in
accordance with the condition specified in paragraph (b) from any amount
payable by the Commonwealth to the State under this Part.
(3) Payment of an amount
(including an advance) to a State under this Part is subject to the following
conditions:
(a)
that the State will repay to the Commonwealth, on demand by the Minister for
Finance, the amount by which, at the time of the demand, the total of the
amounts (including advances) paid to the State under this Part exceeds the
total of the amounts that have become payable to the State under this Part;
(b)
that the Minister for Finance may deduct any amount repayable by a State in
accordance with the condition specified in paragraph (a) from any amount
payable by the Commonwealth to the State under this Part.
Payments
to States to be made out of Consolidated Revenue Fund
10.