EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1985 No. 309
States Grants (Petroleum Products) Regulations
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Industry, Technology and Commerce.
The States Grants (Petroleum Products) Amendment Act 1985 (Act No. 105 of 1985 - “the Amending Act”) received the Royal Assent on 16 October 1985.
Sub-section 3(2) of the Amending Act amended section 5 of the States Grants (Petroleum Products) Act 1965 (“the Act”) to provide the legislative framework for the payment of subsidy on petroleum products produced at mini-refineries.
The purpose of the regulations is to prescribe, for the purposes of section 5 of the Act, 238,500 litres of petroleum daily as the maximum refining capacity of a mini-refinery. This is above the current capacity of the existing mini-refineries located at Roma and Eromanga in Queensland and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
The regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1: provides for the regulations to be cited as the States Grants (Petroleum Products) Regulations.
Regulation 2: defines the term “the Act” in the regulations to mean the States Grants (Petroleum Products) Act 1965.
Regulation 3: is the substantive amending provision:
• Sub-regulation 3(1) prescribes, for the purposes of section 5 of the Act, the quantity of 238,500 litres of petroleum daily as the maximum refining capacity of a mini-refinery; and
• Sub-regulation 3(2) provides for sub-regulation 3(1) to be deemed to have come into operation on 1 January 1984, being the day upon which the amendments to section 5 of the Act came into operation. The purpose of the amendments to section 5 of the Act is to validate subsidy payments on the output of mini-refineries made after 1 January 1984. The amendments to section 5 of the Act are provided in sub-section 3(2) of the Amending Act and in pursuance of sub-section 2(2) of the Amending Act those amendments are deemed to have come into operation on 1 January 1984.
Regulation (4): Repeals the existing States Grants (Petroleum Products) Regulations (Statutory Rules 1966 No. 7) as those regulations, which provide for decimal currency equivalents to apply to payments under the Act, are now redundant.