EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULE 1987 No 335 ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
Section 112 of the Telecommunications Act 1975 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the regulations, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed by the regulations, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Subsection 79(1) of the Act provides that the Australian Telecommunications Commission must obtain the Minister’s approval before entering into a contract exceeding the amount of $500,000, or if a higher amount is prescribed by regulations, that higher amount.
Regulation 42A of the Telecommunications Regulations previously provided that, for the purposes of subsection 79(1) of the Act, the prescribed higher amount was $2,000,000.
It was decided to increase the prescribed amount to $6,000,000 which is in line with the threshold for referral of public works to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works.
The statutory rule amends regulation 42A to provide that, for the purposes of section 79 of the Act, the prescribed higher amount is $6,000,000.