EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES NO 222 OF 1989
Australian Citizenship Regulations (Amendment)
Issued by the authority of the
Minister for Immigration,
Local Government and Ethnic Affairs
Subject - Australian Citizenship Act 1948
Australian Citizenship Regulations (Amendment)
Section 53 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 (the Act), so far as is relevant, provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters which are necessary to give effect to the Act and in particular the remission, refund, waiver of or exemption from fees imposed by the Act.
The purpose of the amendments is to amend the Australian Citizenship Regulations (the Regulations) to permit the refund of an amount equal to any fee imposed under the Regulations. More specifically, the provisions which are dealt with by Regulation 23 are fees imposed by regulations 7A (for registration of a name), 9 (for the grant of a certificate of Australian citizenship), 16 (for lodging a declaration concerning resumption of citizenship), 8 (for a declaratory certificate of citizenship) and regulations 18 and 19 (for evidentiary certificates of citizenship).
Although the exact detail of the circumstances in which a refund is available varies between the provisions, essentially a person is entitled to the refund of any fee paid where the fee was paid unnecessarily (for various enumerated reasons) or it was paid as a result of incorrect advice given by the Department to the person.
The details of the regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1 provides that the regulations shall commence on 1 September 1989.
Regulation 2 inserts regulation 23 into the Regulations. Subregulation (1) of regulation 23 provides that where a person has, on lodgement of an application, paid a fee under regulation 7A or 9 of the Regulations the person is entitled to a refund in an amount equal to the fee paid, if the application is unnecessary or the application was lodged as a result of incorrect Departmental advice. An application is unnecessary if the person had previously lodged an application on which no decision has been made or the person is an Australian citizen.
Subregulation (2) of regulation 23 provides that where on furnishing a declaration a person pays a fee under regulation 16 of the Regulations, the person is entitled to a refund in an amount equal to the fee paid if the declaration is unnecessary or the declaration was lodged as a result of incorrect Departmental advice. For the purposes of subregulation (2) a declaration is unnecessary if, in the case of a declaration under section 23AA of the Act, the person previously furnished a declaration under that provision on which no decision has been made or in the case of a declaration under section 23A or 23B of the Act the person has previously furnished a declaration under that provision or in any of those cases because the person is an Australian citizen.
Subregulation (3) of regulation 23 provides that where a person pays a fee under regulation 8, 18 or 19 of the Regulations on lodgement of an application, the person is entitled to a refund in an amount equal to the fee paid if the application was unnecessary either because the person has previously lodged an application on which no decision has been made or the application was lodged as a result of incorrect Departmental advice.