Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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GREAT BARRIER REEF MARINE PARK AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2004 (NO. 1) 2004 NO. 15

Subsection 66(1) of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 ("the Act") provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act nor with a zoning plan, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Paragraph 66(2)(k) of the Act provides. that regulations may be made providing for fees or charges to be imposed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (" the Authority") upon persons using services or facilities provided by the Authority in or in connection with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park ("the Marine Park").

Paragraph 66(2)(u) of the Act provides that regulations may be made for the grant or issue of licences, permissions, permits and authorities, the conditions subject to which they are granted or issued and the charging of fees by the Authority in respect of such licences, permissions, permits and authorities.

Pursuant to Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plans, the written permission of the Authority is required in order to conduct certain activities within the Marine Park. Examples of activities which require a written permission of the Authority include the conduct of a tourist program and the construction and conduct of a mooring. Several "permissions" may be issued under the one "permit".

The purpose of the Regulations is to:

•       introduce new Permit Administrative Fees relating to the transfer of chargeable permissions, requests for variations of a condition of a permission, and a permit administration fee for a range of permission related requests; and

•       update the formula used to index the Permit Application Assessment Fee (PAAF) and the new Permit Administrative Fees to the All Groups Consumer Price Index number for Brisbane published by the Australian Statistician.

The introduction of administrative, variation and transfer fees reflects the changing nature of permit activity since 1 July 1993, when the normal term of a permission was increased from one year to six years. As a result, the number of variations, transfers and administrative requests has increased, while the revenue from the permit assessment has decreased. The changes reflect the user pays principle and the resources required to ensure the permit system is both effective for management of the Marine Park, and responsive to client needs.

PAAFs are currently in place in connection with activities of a commercial nature that require permission in order for the activity to be undertaken in the Marine Park. The revision of the PAAFs (which are set out in Schedule 7 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983) updates the fees in line with the All Groups Consumer Price Index number for Brisbane published by the Australian Statistician and reflect indexation that has been applied annually since the Schedule was originally introduced in 1990.

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

The Act specifies no conditions that need to be met before the power to make the proposed Regulations may be exercised.

The Regulations would commence on gazettal.

Attachment

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1)

Details of the Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 provides that the name of the Regulations is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983.

Schedule 1 -- Amendments

Amendment 1 amends paragraph 52(2)(a) of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983 ("the Principal Regulations") in order to facilitate Amendment 3.

Amendment 2 amends paragraph 52(2)(c) of the Principal Regulations in order to facilitate the following amendment.

Amendment 3 inserts a new paragraph 52(2)(d) into the Principal Regulations. This amendment provides that in addition to the other matters that an application for approval to transfer a chargeable permission must satisfy, such an application must also be accompanied by a fee in accordance with (new) regulation 73A.

Amendment 4 amends subregulation 52(4) of the Principal Regulations to clarify that the Authority must, within 28 days after receiving an application or, if the application is not accompanied by a fee in accordance with (new) regulation 73A, within 28 days after the fee is paid, approve or not approve the proposed transfer.

Amendment 5 replaces the heading to Part 8 of the Principal Regulations with a new heading "Part 8 Fees".

Amendment 6 replaces the reference to "this Part and Schedule 7" in subregulation 67(1) of the Principal Regulations with a reference to "this Part (other than regulation 73A) and Part 1 of Schedule 7". The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that the definition of permission for the purposes of Part 8 and Part 1 of Schedule 7 does not apply to regulation 73A.

Amendment 7 replaces the heading to regulation 69 of the Principal Regulations with a new heading "Indexation of fee for assessment".

Amendment 8 replaces subregulation 69(1) of the Principal Regulations with a new provision outlining the revised formula required in order to index the Permit Application Assessment Fee to the All Groups Consumer Price Index number for Brisbane published by the Australian Statistician for applications for permissions made after the year 2004.

Amendment 9 replaces the heading to regulation 70 of the Principal Regulations with a new heading "Waiver of fee for assessment".

Amendment 10 replaces the heading to regulation 71 of the Principal Regulations with a new heading "Notice of fee for assessment".

Amendment 11 replaces the heading to regulation 72 of the Principal Regulations with a new heading "Lapsing of application for permission".

Amendment 12 inserts a new regulation 73A into the Principal Regulations after regulation 73.

New subregulation 73A(1) establishes the new Permit Administrative Fees which are specified in column 3 of Part 2 of Schedule 7 that are payable to the Authority with an application or request described in column 2 of an item in Part 2 of Schedule 7.

New subregulation 73A(2) provides that if an application or request made by a person is not accompanied by the fee specified, the Authority must, as soon as practicable after receiving the application or request, give the person a written notice. The written notice must set out the amount of the fee payable, the date of the notice, and state that the application or request will lapse if the fee is not paid to the Authority within 10 working days after the date of the notice.

New subregulation 73A(3) provides that an application or request to which this regulation applies lapses if the fee for the application or request is not paid within 10 working days after the date of the written notice sent in accordance with new subregulation 73A(2).

New subregulation 73A(4) provides that a fee payable under this regulation for an application or request received in a year after 2004 is to be calculated according to the formula set out in this subregulation which provides that the fee is to be indexed to the All Groups Consumer Price Index number for Brisbane.

New subregulation 73A(5) clarifies that when calculating an amount in accordance with the formula in (new) subregulation 73A(4), any part of the result that is less than $1 is to be ignored. The effect of this provision is that amounts are rounded down to the nearest whole dollar.

New subregulation 73A(6) defines working day for the purpose of this regulation. Working day has been defined as a day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in Queensland.

Amendment 13 replaces the heading to Schedule 7 of the Principal Regulations with a new heading "Fees" and inserts a new heading into the Schedule being "Part 1 Fees for assessments in respect of applications for permission".

Amendment 14 inserts a new Part 2 into Schedule 7 of the Principal Regulations with the heading "Fees for other applications and requests". The new Part 2 of Schedule 7 sets out the new Permit Administrative Fees that are payable pursuant to (new) regulation 73A.

Amendment 15 makes consequential amendments as a result of Amendment 13. These consequential amendments replace the reference to "Schedule 7" in a number of regulations in the Principal Regulations with references to "Part 1 of Schedule 7".

This amendment also replaces the amounts for the Permit Application Assessment Fee (PAAF) listed in (new) Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Principal Regulations with revised amounts. These revised amounts represent the PAAF amounts as introduced in 1990 indexed to the All Groups Consumer Price Index number for Brisbane published by the Australian Statistician as at 1 January 2004. These revised amounts will then provide a base for the indexation of the PAAF in accordance with the formula as provided in regulation 69 of the Principal Regulations.