EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES NO. 171
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Education and Youth Affairs.
REGULATIONS UNDER THE STUDENT ASSISTANCE ACT 1973 - AMENDMENTS
(Executive Council Minute No. 19 of 1983 refers)
Section 36 of the Student Assistance Act 1973 (the Act) provides that:
“The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act, are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act ...”
The amendments made by these Statutory Rules amended certain provisions of regulation 50A and regulation 51 of the Student Assistance Regulations to give effect to decisions of the former Government agreed to by the present Government. These decisions were -
• to increase the previous limit of $500 a year, which had applied since 1977, on the value of other similar awards that might be held concurrently with a Postgraduate Award to $1000 a year where the source of other assistance is a tertiary education institution, or to $5000 a year where the source is the private sector;
• to draw a distinction between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth funded tertiary education institution awards so that the limit of $1000 applies only to Commonwealth funded awards;
• to provide a date of effect of the above provisions of 1 January 1983; and
• to effect certain drafting amendments.
Amending regulation 2 amended regulation 50A by simplifying the wording of the regulation.
Amending regulation 3 amended the eligibility provisions of existing regulation 51 as follows:
Paragraph 3(a) amended sub-regulation 51(1) to make it clear that relevant provisions apply to both an applicant for an Award and a person who is the holder of an Award. Similar amendments of sub-regulations 51(3), 51(4), 51(5), 51(6), 51(8), and 51(9) were effected by amending paragraphs 3(d), 3(f), 3(h), 3(k), 3(m), 3(n), 3(p), and 3(g) respectively.
• Paragraph 3(b) amended sub-regulation 51(1) to define more precisely the period when certain provisions of ineligibility apply and to simplify the wording of the regulation.
• Paragraph 3(c) amended sub-regulation 51(1) by the insertion of a new sub-regulation 2A to make it clear that the term “authority of Australia” does not include institutions such as the Australian National University or the Canberra College of Advanced Education. This rectified a deficiency in the regulation.
• Paragraphs 3(e), 3(g) and 3(j), effected an amendment to sub-regulations 51(3), 51(4) and 51(5) similar in purpose to the amendment in amending regulation 2.
Amending regulation 4 amended sub-regulation 51(7) to give effect to the new liberalised provisions with regard to the permissible limits on income from other similar awards that may be held concurrently with a Postgraduate Award in a year, as follows:
• Sub-paragraph 7(a)(i) enables the holder of a Postgraduate Award to receive concurrently with his Award benefit or assistance granted or awarded under a scholarship, bursary, prize or like award providing benefits similar to a Postgraduate Award from sources such as industry and the private sector generally, and State Governments and their instrumentalities, up to a value of $5000.
• Sub-paragraph 7(a)(ii) enables the holder of a Postgraduate Award to receive concurrently with his Award benefit or assistance granted or awarded under a scholarship, bursary, prize or like award providing benefits similar to a Postgraduate Award from sources such as a university or advanced education institution, up to a value of $5000 provided that the relevant institution certifies that the donor of the benefit or assistance is not the Commonwealth or another tertiary institution. The effect of this amendment is that the holder of a Postgraduate Award may receive concurrently with his Award tertiary institution awards to a value of $5000 funded by private sector sources such as private endowments, bursaries, benefactions and prizes.
• Sub-paragraph 7(b) enables the holder of a Postgraduate Award to receive concurrently with his Award benefit or assistance granted or awarded under a scholarship, bursary, prize or like award providing benefits similar to a Postgraduate Award from other sources up to a value of $1000. The effect of this amendment is to limit to $1000 the value of other tertiary institution awards held concurrently with a Postgraduate Award where the source of the other award funds is the Commonwealth. The intention of this provision was, for example, to limit the level of other assistance universities might provide from their funds provided by the Commonwealth on the recommendation of the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission to the recipients of Commonwealth benefits who are the holders of Postgraduate Awards.
Amending regulation 4 also added new sub-regulations 51(7A), 51(7B) and 51(7C).
Sub-regulation 51(7A) inserted a new provision to define the word “donor” as used in the amendment to sub-regulation 51(7). It was expected that this amendment would have particular application to university foundations and benefactions arising from private bequests.
Sub-regulation 51(7B) provided that the certificate required under amending sub-paragraph 7(a)(ii) might be signed by an officer of the relevant institution.
Sub-regulation 51(7C) established the precedence of sub-regulation 51(1), as amended, over sub-regulation 51(7), as amended. This was intended to ensure that the holder of a Postgraduate Award did not hold concurrently another Commonwealth award providing benefits similar to those provided under a Postgraduate Award.
Amending regulation 1 provided that the beneficent amendments prescribed in sub-regulation 51(7), as amended, should be deemed to have come into operation on 1 January 1983.