EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULE 1987 No 334 ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND 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 required or permitted to be prescribed by the regulations, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed by the regulations for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Subsection 38(2) of the Act provides that the Overseas Telecommunications Commission must obtain the Minister’s approval before entering into a contract exceeding the amount of $500,000, or if a higher amount is prescribed by regulations, that higher amount.
Regulation 13A of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission Regulations previously provided that, for the purpose of subsection 38(2) of the Act, the prescribed higher amount was $2,000,000.
It was decided to increase the prescribed amount to $6,000,000 which is in line with the threshold for referral of public works to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works.
The statutory rule amends 13A to provide that, for the purposes of subsection 38(2) of the Act, the prescribed higher amount is $6,000,000.