EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1990 NO 77
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy.
RURAL INDUSTRIES RESEARCH ACT 1985
RURAL INDUSTRIES RESEARCH REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 62 of the Rural Industries Research Act 1985 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to the Act.
The Act is concerned with the organisation and administrative arrangements under which Government and industry monies are allocated to rural industry research. Funds are allocated by Research Councils or State Research Committees representing each of the industries for which research levies are collected under Commonwealth legislation. The objects of this legislation are to ensure expenditure on rural industry research increases the commercial returns to producers and to improve accountability for expenditure on rural research and development.
It is proposed these Regulations be amended to include a levy to be collected for the purpose of financing research and development relevant to the goat fibre industry. The Goat Fibre Levy Act 1989 and the Goat Fibre Levy Collection Act 1989 provide that all goat fibre produced after 1 January 1990 is leviable and payable by the grower at the rate of 1.5 per cent of the sale value of the fibre. This levy has been imposed in response to a request by producer organisations and has been supported by goat fibre marketing groups.
All money collected by the goat fibre levy will be channelled directly through the Special Research Fund, which was established by the Act. To enable this to take place, it is declared that the whole of the goat fibre levy is for research, and that from 1 April 1990 goat fibre levy payments will be attached to the Special Research Fund and the Special Research Council.