Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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DIESEL AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS GRANTS SCHEME AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2001 (NO. 1) 2001 NO. 17

STATUTORY RULES 2001 No. 17

Issued by authority of the Treasurer

Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme Act 1999

Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme Amendment Regulations 2001 (No. 1)

Section 63 of the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme Act 1999 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required to give effect to the Act.

The Act came into effect on 1 July 2000. The legislation introduced a grant for certain on road use of diesel and alternative fuels to reduce transport costs to businesses in rural and regional Australia. The grant is available for all on road use in vehicles weighing 20 tonnes or more and, with certain restrictions, for vehicles weighing between 4.5 tonnes and 20 tonnes used for transporting goods or passengers.

The purpose of the regulations was to introduce provisions which allow automatic indexation of the rate of grant applicable to diesel and alternative and set out the mechanism for calculating the indexed rates of grant. This is consistent with the Government's intention to preserve the real value of the grant under the scheme.

Regulation 7 of the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme Regulations 2000 states that the grant rates per litre applicable to the following types of diesel or alternative fuel are:

(a) for diesel fuel - 17.798 cents;

(b) for compressed natural gas - 12.132 cents;

(c) for liquefied petroleum gas - 11.466 cents;

(d) for ethanol - 20.009 cents.

The regulations provide that the rates of grant applicable to the fuels above are automatically indexed in line with changes in the Consumer Price Index. The indexation period is the six month period that commenced on 1 February 2001 with subsequent indexations occurring every six months.

The regulations are taken to have commenced on 1 February 2001. The retrospective commencement is not in breach of sub-section 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as it will not affect the rights of persons so as to disadvantage them or impose liabilities for anything done or omitted to be done before the date of notification.