EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997
DETERMINATION UNDER PARAGRAPH 15(1)(e) No. 1 of 2005
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
The Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997 (the Act) sets out the method of calculating annual charges that apply to the carrier licences held by the telecommunications carriers. Paragraph 15(1)(e) of the Act provides that part of the total charges that may be imposed on carrier licences includes an amount determined by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, by written instrument, to be the proportion of the Commonwealth’s costs for the immediately preceding financial year that is attributable to the administration of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Telecommunications Act 1997. Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Telecommunications Act deals with industry development plans, which must be provided by carriers.
The accompanying determination has been made for the purposes of paragraph 15(1)(e) of the Act. The determination provides that the amount determined to be the proportion of the Commonwealth’s costs for administering Part 2 of Schedule 1 for the 2003-04 financial year is $168,309.06. The definition of ‘costs’ in subsection 15(4) of the Act requires that the Commonwealth’s costs are to be calculated in accordance with accrual-based accounting principles. This amount has been calculated in accordance with those principles.
Subsection 15(2) of the Act provides that an instrument under subsection (1) must be notified in the Gazette before the day on which charges referred to in subsection (1) become due for payment. Subsection 15(3) of the Act provides that an instrument under subsection (1) is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
As a consequence of the commencement of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA) and the repeal of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 on 1 January 2005, the accompanying determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the LIA (see LIA s.6(1)(d)). The accompanying determination must therefore be tabled in the Parliament and is subject to Parliamentary disallowance. The requirement for gazettal in subsection 15(2) of the Act has been satisfied by the registration of the accompanying determination and this explanatory statement on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments before the day on which the charges referred to in subsection (1) become due for payment (see LIA s.56(1)).
Consultation was considered unnecessary due to the minor and machinery nature of the accompanying determination (see paragraph 18(2)(a) of the LIA).