EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 NO 134
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industry.
RURAL INDUSTRIES RESEARCH REGULATIONS
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 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.
Sections 5, 6 and 11 of the Act provide for regulations to declare a levy and to establish a Research Council and Trust Fund in respect of a particular commodity. To date, research arrangements are in place for a range of commodities including barley, wheat, cotton, oilseeds, pigs and poultry.
Sugar cane is not a listed commodity. However, legislation to establish a research levy for sugar cane received Royal Assent on 26 May 1987. The Sugar Cane Levy Act 1987 and the Sugar Cane Levy Collection Act 1987 provide that all sugar cane accepted for milling by a sugar mill on and after 1 June 1987 is leviable at the rate of 5 cents per tonne for the purposes of sugar research pursuant to the provisions of the Act.
Consequently, an amendment to the Rural Industries Research Regulations has been made to formally add sugar cane to the commodities covered by the Act. Specifically, the amendment confirms that the whole of the levy is to be used for sugar research. It also establishes a Sugar Research Council and a Sugar Research Trust Fund to provide the machinery for operating the research scheme.
Amounts equal to levy collected will be paid into the Trust Fund. 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 sugar.
The Sugar Research Council will be selected and appointed as soon as possible after 1 July 1987. It will then begin developing an appropriate sugar research program. The actual level of expenditure on sugar research will be determined by the Council but it is expected that annual programs in the vicinity of $2 million could commence from 1988/89.