EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULE 1986 NO. 109 ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
Section 80 of the Overseas Telecommunications Act 1946 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Sub-section 52(2) of the Act provides that, subject to sub-section 52(3), the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (Australia) (‘the Commission’) is not subject to taxation under a law of a State or a Territory.
Sub-section 52(3) of the Act states that the regulations may provide that sub-section 52(2) does not apply in relation to taxation under a specified law of a State or of a Territory.
The Minister for Communications in conjunction with the Minister for Territories has decided that the Commission should be liable to pay local customs duty on goods imported into Norfolk Island.
Regulation 43 of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission Regulations formerly provided that the Commission was subject to State and Territory payroll taxes. The statutory rule amends regulation 43 to provide that the Commission is also subject to enactments within the meaning of sub-section 4(1) of the Norfolk Island Act 1979 that relate to the imposition of customs duties upon goods imported into the Territory of Norfolk Island.