EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2005 No. 234

 

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Education, Science and Training

 

Schools Assistance (Learning Together – Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004

 

Schools Assistance (Learning Together – Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 2)

 

Background

The Schools Assistance (Learning Together – Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 (the Act) provides for financial assistance to the States and Territories for government and non‑government schools for the 2005-2008 funding quadrennium.

 

Authority

Section 140 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations 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.

 

Purpose and operation

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Schools Assistance (Learning Together –Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Regulations 2005 (the Principal Regulations) to correct a technical problem associated with the date of commencement of the Schools Assistance (Learning Together –Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1). These Regulations will also adjust the level of supplementation in the 2006 to 2008 program years for primary and secondary education under sections 124, 126 and 127 of the Act.

 

The Principal Regulations are expressed to commence on the first day that they are no longer liable to be disallowed. The disallowance period has not yet expired, and the Principal Regulations have not yet taken effect; they are expected to take effect in November 2005. However, the Schools Assistance (Learning Together –Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1) (the Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1)) – which amended the Principal Regulations – were expressed as taking effect on 1 October 2005. While the Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1) were validly made, they are not able to operate as intended.

 

These Regulations amend the commencement provisions of the Principal Regulations, allowing the amendments contained in the Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1) to have effect. This results in financial assistance for schools being made available during October 2005. The Regulations achieve this by specifying that Parts 1 and 4 of the Principal Regulations are taken to have commenced on 1 October 2005, and that Parts 2 and 3 of the Principal Regulations commence on the first day on which subsection 140(2) of the Act is complied with (being the day that the disallowance period expires).

 

Additionally, the Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1) only provided supplementation to the 2005 program year under subsections 124(4) and 126(3) of the Act when they should have provided supplementation for the current and each future year specified in the Act. This is rectified by the Regulations.

 

Further, the Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1) do not specify the factor under subsection 127(1) of the Act for each year individually. These Regulations correct this and specify numbers for each individual year.

 

Subsection 124(4) provides that before the Governor-General makes regulations for the purposes of subsection 124(1), the Minister must consider changes in the relevant figures known as the AGSC published from time to time by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs.  The Minister has considered changes to these figures.

 

Subsection 126(3) provides that before the Governor-General makes regulations for the purposes of subsection 126(1), the Minister must consider changes in an index of building prices, and an index of wage costs, published by the Australian Statistician.  The Minister has considered changes in these indices.

 

Subsection 127(1) provides that the regulations may provide for an amount in the table in Schedule 6 to the Act to be increased by reference to an index determined in writing by the Finance Minister for the purposes of this section.  The Index to be used for this purpose is the Wage Cost Index Number 1 (WCI1). The Finance Minister has determined in writing the changes in the WCI1.

 

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

 

Commencement

These Regulations are taken to have commenced retrospectively on 1 October 2005.  The Regulations provide for increases in the grants paid under the Act and consequently do not disadvantage recipients in any way.  The Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing has advised that the retrospective commencement of the Regulations does not contravene subsection 12(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

Consultation

Consultation was not undertaken prior to making the regulations as it was not considered necessary.  The regulations have the effect of increasing the amounts payable under sections 124, 126 and 127 of the Act.

 

Details of the Regulations

 

Regulation 1 – Name of Regulations

 

This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Schools Assistance (Learning Together – Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 2).

 

Regulation 2 – Commencement

 

These Regulations are taken to have commenced on 1 October 2005.

 

Regulation 3 – Amendment of Schools Assistance (Learning Together – Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Regulations 2005

 

This regulation provides that the Schools Assistance (Learning Together – Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Regulations 2005 (the Principal Regulations) are amended as set out in Schedule 1.

 

Schedule 1– Amendments

 

Item [1]

 

Amends the commencement of the Principal Regulations to 1 October 2005 for Parts 1 and 4, and the first day on which subsection 140(2) of the Act is complied with for Parts 2 and 3. Subsection 140(2) of the Act provides that the provisions in the Principal Regulations relating to the performance framework take effect no earlier than on the first day on which no longer liable to be disallowed.

 

Item [2]

 

Regulation 4.2 deals with general changes to recurrent grants and provided that for paragraph (b) of the definition of recurrent number for the program year in section 124 of the Act, the number for the 2005 program year was 1.038. This amendment applies the same number to the 2006 to 2008 program years.

 

Item [3]

 

Regulation 4.4 deals with changes to capital grants for government schools and non-government schools, and provided that for paragraph (b) of the definition of capital number for the program year in section 126 of the Act, the number for the 2005 program year is 1.117. This amendment applies the same number to the 2006 to 2008 program years.

 

Regulation 4.5 deals with changes to other grants for non-government rural student hostels and provided that for subsection 127(1) of the Act, each amount mentioned in the table in Schedule 6 of the Act is increased by a factor of 1.021, which is the factor by which the Wage Cost Index No. 1 has changed from the 2003‑2004 financial year. This regulation specifies the factor for each year from 2005 to 2008.