EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 NO. 92
LIQUID FUEL EMERGENCY ACT 1984
GUIDELINES UNDER SUB-SECTION 22(1)
Sub-section 22(1) of the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act 1984 (‘the Act’) provides that the Minister may, by instrument in writing, specify guidelines for the calculation of the quantities of fuel to be allocated by persons who are suppliers to their identified bulk customers during a declared liquid fuel emergency.
Under sub-section 22(2) of the Act, the Minister may, during an emergency, direct the supply of bulk fuel by persons who are suppliers to bulk customers (identified under sub-section 10(3)) in accordance with the previously designed bulk allocation procedures (Section 13). Sub-section 22(3) requires that the manner in which the quantities of fuels to be supplied to users are calculated will be in accordance with the Guidelines made under sub-section 22(1).
The Guidelines provide for allocation of fuels to identified bulk customers on the basis of historical monthly fuel purchase volumes with seasonal and trend adjustments; the actual quantity of fuel supplied to each user is a percentage of this adjusted historical monthly volume. The percentages of ‘normal’ consumption to be allocated may vary between Essential, High Priority and other users, and will be determined by the Minister. The Guidelines require the Minister to determine these percentages at
levels that will ensure that the total quantity of each fuel available, to each class of user in each State or Territory (and Commonwealth-defined fuel users) will be available for purchase. The Guidelines further require the Minister to determine the total quantities of each fuel to be made available in each of the above groups of Essential users to be sufficient to maintain activities at the highest possible level under the prevailing circumstances, while for High Priority users the total quantity of each fuel is to be sufficient to minimise, with due allowance for the prevailing circumstances, the discomfort, inconvenience or financial difficulties caused to the community. The total quantity of each fuel to be made available for allocation to other bulk customers is to be the residual quantity after the Essential and High Priority user appropriations have been determined.