EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 No. 243
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industry
DAIRY PRODUCE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 30 of the Dairy Produce Act 1924 (the Act) so far as is relevant provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed for the carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 13 of the Act provides that the functions of the Corporation are:
(a) to promote the export from Australia of dairy produce;
(b) to control the export from Australia of dairy produce;
(c) to control the sale and distribution of dairy produce after its export from Australia;
(d) to promote trade and commerce in dairy produce among the States, between States and Territories and within the Territories;
(e) to improve the production and encourage the consumption of dairy produce in the Territories; and
(f) such other functions in connection with dairy
produce as are provided by the regulations.
Regulations in pursuance of section 13(f) of the Dairy Produce Act enable the Australian Dairy Corporation to provide assistance by way of loans to trading corporations engaged in the manufacture of dairy produce.
Regulation 4A(1)(b) requires such loans to be “secured by a charge over the assets of the trading corporation”.
It is considered that a bank guarantee would also be an acceptable form of security for such loans and could offer advantages of administrative convenience and lower cost to some borrowers.
To allow bank guarantees as an alternative permissible security to the existing requirement, it is proposed that regulation 4A(1)(b) be amended to require the loans to be secured by a charge over the assets of the trading corporation or by a guarantee provided to the trading corporation by a bank.
A “bank” for the purposes of the proposed regulation will be a bank recognised under the Banking Act 1959 or a bank established by a law of a State.