EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 143

Issued by the authority of the

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

 

 

Tradesmen's Rights Regulation Act 1946

 

Tradespersons' Rights (Cost Recovery) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1) (the Regulations)

 

 

The Tradesmen's Rights Regulation Act 1946 (the Act) establishes a process for providing national recognition in prescribed metal and electrical trades for eligible Australian residents who developed their skills through means other than an Australian apprenticeship.

Trades Recognition Australia (TRA), within the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the Department), is responsible for;

*      assisting eligible Australian residents to achieve formal recognition of metal and electrical trade skills acquired outside of the Australian apprenticeships framework in accordance with the Act; and

*      assessing the trade skills of potential migrants as part of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) Skilled Migration Programme and in accordance with the Migration Act 1958.

Subsection 51A(2) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make cost recovery regulations for the purpose of reimbursing the Department for costs and expenses incurred in administering the Act. Paragraph 51A(3)(a) provides that the cost recovery regulations may prescribe fees in relation to applications for trade certificates.

 

The Tradespersons' Rights (Cost Recovery) Regulations 1993 prescribe fees for making an application for a trade certificate in under the Act. Subregulation 3(1) prescribes an application fee of $300. Subregulation 3(3) currently prescribes a lesser fee of $100 for applicants who have already had their skills assessed under the Skilled Migration Programme.

 

The Regulations remove the $100 application fee and exempt the class of persons identified in subregulation 3(3) from having to pay an application fee, as they have already been assessed under the Skilled Migration Programme and have paid an assessment fee under the Migration Regulations 1994. The removal of the fee will facilitate the movement of approximately 500 skilled migrants per year into the Australian labour market.

 

The new regulation 4 prescribes an application fee of $300 in respect of reapplications, that is, the situation where an applicant for a trade certificate who, having had their original application refused, subsequently makes a new application for the same kind of trade certificate.  Some applicants make multiple applications, with or without additional information.  Currently TRA absorbs the administrative cost of considering these reapplications.  Under regulation 4 reapplications will require payment of an application of $300.  However, subregulation 4(3) will require the application fee to be refunded in circumstances where a reapplication without additional information results in the grant of a trade certificate.  This will ensure that an applicant whose original application was refused in error is not double charged in relation to their application.

 

It is difficult to identify possible applicants for Australian Recognised Trade Certificates, and as there is no representative body for such applicants, no formal consultation process has been undertaken.

 

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

 

The Regulations commence on 1 July 2006.