EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by Authority of the Minister for Finance
Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation (Abolition) Act 2014
Albury Wodonga Development Corporation (Abolition) Commencement Proclamation 2014
Item 2 of the table in subsection 2(1) of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation (Abolition) Act 2014 (the Act) provides that Schedule 1, Parts 1 and 2 to the Act commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if the provisions do not commence within the period of 6 months beginning on the day the Act receives Royal Assent, they commence on the day after the end of that period or 1 July 2015, whichever date falls later. The Act received the Royal Assent on 11 November 2014.
The Proclamation fixed 1 January 2015 as the day on which Schedule 1, Parts 1 and 2 to the Act commence.
Schedule 1, Part 1 to the Act repeals the whole of the Albury-Wodonga Development Act 1973 (AWD Act). The Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation (AWDC) is a body corporate created under statute and repealing the AWD Act abolishes the AWDC.
Schedule 1, Part 2 to the Act makes some consequential amendments to some other Commonwealth Acts arising from the repeal of the AWD Act.
Schedule 1, Part 3 to the Act contains the transitional provisions associated with transferring the remaining functions, assets and liabilities of the AWDC to the Commonwealth, and these provisions commenced the day after the Royal Assent. However, under these provisions the transfer of the functions, assets and liabilities will not occur until the ‘commencement time’, which is when the AWD Act is repealed and the AWDC is abolished under Schedule 1, Part 1. The effect of these provisions is that the functions, assets and liabilities of the AWDC will be transferred to the Commonwealth immediately upon its abolition. Accordingly, the effect of the proclamation is that the AWDC will be abolished as at midnight on 31 December 2014, and its remaining functions, assets and liabilities will be transferred from the Corporation to the Commonwealth on 1 January 2015.
The Act reflects the Government’s 2014 Budget announcement that the AWDC cease as part of the smaller government policy. This reform will achieve efficiencies through the transfer of the AWDC’s functions into the Department of Finance which will reduce duplication of government effort in property management and improve coordination.
The impact of the wind-up on the Albury-Wodonga region is considered to be minimal. The wind-up of the AWDC has been in planning since 2004 when the Corporation ceased land development activities. Since that time, the Corporation has been selling down its land bank. Throughout this process, it has been the Commonwealth’s intention to dispose of the land in an orderly manner to avoid impact on local property values.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.