EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 NO.96
LIQUID FUEL EMERGENCY ACT 1984
GUIDELINES UNDER SUB-SECTION 11 (1)
Sub-section 11 (1) of the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act 1984 (‘the Act’) provides that the Minister may, by instrument in writing, specify guidelines to be observed in identifying persons or organisations as Essential and High Priority users of a specified fuel in a particular State or Territory.
Sections 21 and 22 of the Act provide, inter alia, for separate calculations of the quantities of fuel to be allocated, during a declared emergency, to identified Essential, and High Priority users, and to other users. Under sub-sections 11(3) and 11(4), Essential and High Priority users may be identified by the Minister and by appropriate State and Tertiory Energy Ministers only in accordance with guidelines under 11(1) that are in force immediately before each identification.
The Guidelines define the criteria for identification as an Essential user, based on the need for fuel to maintain activities that are indispensable for the provision of goods or services that are essential for the health, safety or general welfare of the community, or to avoid substantial and irrecoverable financial loss in excess of other persons or organisations, or to avoid substantial stand-downs of employees in excess of that occurring generally.
For High Priority users, the conditions for identification are based on the need for fuel to maintain activities indispensable
for the provision of goods or services that contribute substantially to the welfare of the community, or without which the magnitude of the fuel shortage would be increased.