EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 No. 243
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
DAIRY PRODUCE LEVY (NO 1) ACT 1986
DAIRY PRODUCE LEVY REGULATIONS AMENDMENT
The Dairy Produce Levy (No 1) Act 1986 (the Act) provides for the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of financing aspects of the new dairy industry arrangements which are implemented under the Dairy Produce Act 1986.
The Act finances the arrangements by imposing four levies on the milk fat content of relevant dairy produce (whole milk and whole milk products). The four milk fat levies and the purpose of each are:
• the market support levy - to provide the moneys for market support payments on exported dairy produce under the Dairy Produce Act 1986
• the Corporation levy - to cover the administrative costs of the Australian Dairy Corporation which is established by the Dairy Produce Act 1986
• the promotion levy - to fund Corporation activity in promoting dairy products
• the research levy - to fund dairy industry research.
The purpose of the Regulations is to vary the operative rate of the promotion and research levies imposed by the Act.
The Regulations set the promotion levy at 3.82 cents per kilogram of milk fat and the research levy at 0.68 cents per kilogram of milk fat to apply from 1 November 1987. The Corporation levy rate is unchanged. The market support levy was amended by Statutory Rules No 127 of 1987 with effect from 1 July 1987.
The rates were set after the Administrator had taken into consideration recommendations with respect to the promotion and research levy rates made to the Minister by the executive council of the Australian Dairy Industry Conference in accordance with subsection 14(3) of the Act. The Conference believed that it was appropriate that additional funds should be directed into research and in order to maintain the current total levy impact also believed that the promotion levy should be reduced by an equal amount.
The levy rates are below the permitted maximum rate laid down in section 7 of the Act.