Explanatory Statement
Statutory Rules 1988, No 121
Issued by the Authority of the Treasurer
Housing Loans Insurance Regulations (Amendment)
Section 37A of the Housing Loans Insurance Act 1965 (the Act) provides that the Housing Loans Insurance Corporation shall not, except with the approval of the Minister, enter into a contract (not being a contract relating to its usual insurance and investment activities) involving payment or receipt by the Corporation of an amount exceeding $250,000, or, if a higher amount is prescribed by the regulations, that higher amount. No higher limit has been prescribed.
From time to time the Housing Loans Insurance Corporation finds it necessary to enter into contracts outside its usual insurance and investment activities, eg, leasing contracts for premises it occupies in some of the State capital cities. Under section 37A of the Act, the Corporation is required to obtain prior Ministerial approval to the entering into of such contracts where the contractual amount exceeds $250,000. In the light of the reduction in the value of money in real terms over the 11 years since the contract limit was inserted in the Act, it is considered that the present limit should be increased to dispense with the requirement for Ministerial consideration of contracts involving $500,000 or less.
The amendment to the Housing Loans Insurance Regulations provides for an increased contract limit for the purposes of section 37A of the Act of $500,000.