EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2009 No. 284

 

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Education

 

Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000

 

Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 1)

 

 

Authority

 

The Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 (the Act) provides for Commonwealth financial assistance to advance the education of Indigenous persons.

 

Section 18 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing 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.

 

Section 14B of the Act sets out the appropriations for non-ABSTUDY payments for the period from 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2013. Non-ABSTUDY payments are payments (other than ABSTUDY payments) made for the purposes of the Act to organisations, institutions and individuals. Payments are made under a number of Indigenous education programs, such as Parent and Community Engagement and Closing the Gap – Literacy and Numeracy for Underachieving Indigenous Students.

 

Subsection 14B(2) of the Act allows the making of regulations to increase the appropriations provided in section 14B by reference to changes in a specified index. The index specified for this purpose in the Regulations is the Wage Cost Index Number 1 (WCI1).

 

 

Purpose and operation

 

The purpose of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 1) (the Regulations) is to make provision for an increase in the amounts that may be payable to organisations, institutions and individuals under Section 14B of the Act in order to supplement the cost of delivering educational services to Indigenous students for the period 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2010 in line with changes in the WCI1.

 

The Regulations amend the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Regulations 2001 (the Principal Regulations) to provide for increases in the appropriations for non-ABSTUDY payments set out in subsection 14B(1) of the Act. These Regulations have the effect of increasing the amount stated in item 1 of the table in subsection 14B(1) by a factor of 1.02. This increase reflects the change in the WCI1 for the 2009 calendar year and has the effect of providing an additional $3.04 million for the period 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2010.

 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

 

Commencement

 

The Regulations commenced on the day after they were registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

 

 

Consultation

 

The Regulations have the effect of increasing the funding amounts payable under the Act. As the increase in funding amounts has a beneficial effect on stakeholders, consultation was not undertaken as it was not considered necessary.