House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Senator the Hon Peter Cook)

OUTLINE

This Bill together with the Departure Tax Amendment Bill 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 (CIQ) 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. Most of the amendments effected by the two bills therefore simply substitute the current references to "tax" in each of the Principal Acts with "charge".

The Departure Tax Amendment Bill 1994 imposes the charge while the Departure Tax Collection Amendment Bill 1994 provides the mechanism for collecting the charge.

Financial Impact Statement

The replacement of the existing $25 departure tax with the $27 passenger movement charge will result in the following increases to revenue: