Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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DEPARTURE TAX COLLECTION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 436

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 436

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction

Departure Tax Collection Act 1978

Departure Tax Collection Regulations (Amendment)

Section 15 of the Departure Tax Collection Act 1978 (the Act) provides in part that:

"(1) The Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act prescribing all matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act ..."

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Departure Tax Collection Regulations to bring them into fine with the Act as recently amended by the Departure Tax Collection Amendment Act 1994.

The latter Act together with the Departure Tax Amendment Act 1994 implements the Government's decision announced in the 1994 Budget to replace the existing departure tax with a $27 passenger movement charge to fully offset the cost of customs, immigration and quarantine processing at Australia's borders and the cost of issuing short-term visitor visas.

The cost recovery initiative is proposed to be achieved by utilising the existing legislative mechanism for departure tax to both levy and collect the passenger movement charge. The bulk of the amendments effected by the two Amendment Acts therefore simply substitute the current references to "tax" of each of the Acts with "charge". The amendments apply in respect of departures from Australia that occur on or after 1 January 1995.

The Regulations replace all references to "departure tax" with "passenger movement charge" wherever they appear in the Departure Tax Collection Regulations so as to make them consistent with the Principal Act (regulations 3 to 15 inclusive and regulation 17 refers).

In addition, regulation 16 effects a minor amendment to paragraphs 11(1)(b) and (c) of the Regulations to remove the gender specific nature of the provision. Regulation 18 is a transitional provision to ensure that the proposed amendments do not affect existing rights and obligations attaching to the Departure Tax Collection Regulations.

The Regulations would commence on 1 January 1995, being the date on which the Departure Tax Collection Amendment Act 1994 commences.