EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 No 143
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Finance for and on behalf of the Minister for Primary Industry.
RURAL INDUSTRIES RESEARCH REGULATIONS
The Rural Industries Research Act 1985 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.
Section 62 of the Rural Industries Research Act 1985 (the RIR Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to the RIR Act.
The RIR Act provides for a Research Fund and Research Council to be established for Barley, Chicken Meat, Cotton, Dairy, Dried Fruits, Honey, Oilseeds, Pigs, Poultry, Tobacco and Wheat.
Sub-sections 6(3) and (4) and 11(3) and 4 of the RIR Act provide for the establishment of a Research Trust Fund and a Research Council for commodities other than those listed above.
When the RIR Act received Royal Assent on 3 October 1985, there were no statutory research arrangements in place for grapes and wine. Legislative research arrangements for grapes and wine (the Grape Research Levy Act 1986 and the Wine Grapes Levy Act 1979) have received passage, to operate from 1 July 1986. Regulations have now been made to prescribe levy imposed by Section 6 of the Grape Research Levy Act 1986 and levy imposed by Section 5 of the Wine Grapes Levy Act 1979 and referred to in sub-paragraph 6(1)(i)(ii) and 6(1)(b)(ii). Simultaneously, the Regulations established a Grape and Wine Research Trust Fund and a Grape and Wine Research Council.
Amounts equal to the respective levies collected under the Grape Research Levy Act and the research amount under the Wine Grapes Levy Act will be paid into a Research Trust Fund established under the RIR Act. The Commonwealth will match expenditure of industry monies from the Fund on a dollar for dollar basis up to a maximum level equal to 0.5% of the average gross value of production of wine.
The prescription of the ‘research amount’ of the Wine Grapes levy under the RIR Act will ensure continuity of funding of wine research for 1986/87.
Grape Research will not begin until 1987/88 when the level of funds should be sufficient to finance a research programme. The actual level of expenditure on both grape and wine research will be determined by the Grape and Wine Research Council which will be selected and appointed as soon as possible after 1 July 1986.
S.R. No. 174/86