Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Hon Ian Macfarlane, MP)General outline and financial impact
General Outline
This Bill is part of the package of Bills intended to enable the passage of a rewritten version of the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 and incorporated Acts.
To this end, this Bill proposes repeal of the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967, Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Fees Act 1994, Petroleum (Submerged Lands) (Registration Fees) Act 1967 and Petroleum (Submerged Lands) (Royalty) Act 1967 .
The legislative regime in these Acts would be re-established by passage of the Offshore Petroleum Bill 2005, Offshore Petroleum (Annual Fees) Bill 2005, Offshore Petroleum (Registration Fees) Bill 2005 and Offshore Petroleum (Royalty) Bill 2005.
Additionally, 30 other Commonwealth Acts have been identified as requiring consequential amendments if the Offshore Petroleum Bill becomes law. These Acts refer to provisions of the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act, either to avoid conflict with that Act or because they confer rights, make prohibitions or impose obligations under different areas of law on persons who are physically in the geographic areas that are covered by the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act. These areas of law include, for example, taxation and immigration.
The consequential amendments to these Acts proposed by this Bill are mostly straightforward substitutions of terminology and references to schedules, parts and sections that appear in the Offshore Petroleum Bill. Some of the amendments are more elaborate, for example because of a need to insert a transitional provision in the Act being amended. These are discussed in greater detail in the notes on individual clauses.
Financial Implications
The consequential amendments in this Bill are intended, among other things, to preclude any possibility of financial implications, or net effects on the Budget, flowing from the creation of a new Act to replace the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 , especially where the consequential amendment relates to a taxing Act.
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