Bills Digest no. 144 2008–09
Rural Adjustment Amendment Bill 2009
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Financial implications
Main provisions
Concluding comments
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Date
introduced: 14 May
2009
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry
Commencement:
Royal
Assent
Links: The
relevant links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second
reading speech can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/.
When Bills have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is
at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The Bill amends the Rural
Adjustment Act 1992 (the Rural Adjustment Act) to permit
members of the National Rural Advisory Council (NRAC) to be
re-appointed twice after the expiry of their initial term.
NRAC was established in December 1999 as
a statutory body under the Rural Adjustment Act. It is the
successor to the Rural Adjustment Scheme Advisory Council, albeit
with a more expanded role. It is largely a skills-based advisory
council that provides the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry (the Minister) with such advice and information as he or
she requests on rural issues, including applications for
Exceptional Circumstances (EC) relief and extensions to EC
declarations.[1]
EC events are defined as rare and severe events outside those a
farmer could normally be expected to manage using responsible farm
management strategies .[2] Specifically, the event:
- must be rare, that is, it must not have occurred more than once
on average in every 20 to 25 years
- must result in a rare and severe downturn in farm income over a
prolonged period of time (eg. greater than 12 months)
- cannot be planned for or managed as part of farmers normal risk
management strategies, and
- must be a discrete event that is not part of long-term
structural adjustment processes or of normal fluctuations in
commodity prices.[3]
Currently, NRAC consists of a chairperson and not more than
seven other members.[4] The members are appointed by the Minister on a part-time
basis.[5] At least
one member is appointed to represent the States; at least one
member is an officer of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Forestry who is appointed to represent the Commonwealth; one
member is appointed to represent the National Farmers Federation;
and the other members are appointed because of their expertise in
economics, financial administration, banking, sustainable
agriculture, regional adjustment, regional development, farm
management or training .[6]
Four of the eight current members second terms expire on 30 June
2009, and without the proposed amendment will be unable to serve a
third term.[7] The
amendment will mean that current members who have developed
considerable expertise in undertaking EC assessments can continue
to make significant contributions to NRAC by serving a third term
.[8]
There is no financial impact.[9]
Under subsection 7(2) of the Rural Adjustment Act as it
presently stands, a member can be re-appointed to NRAC only once.
That is, a member can serve his or her initial term, and be
re-appointed for a further term. Item 1 of
Schedule 1 to the Bill proposes to amend this rule to permit a
member to be appointed to the Board for a maximum of three
periods.
Currently, under subsection 7(1) of the Rural Adjustment Act,
each period of appointment is not to exceed three years. The Bill
does not affect this provision.
Concluding comments
The re-appointment of members of NRAC for a maximum of three
periods (or a total of up to nine years) is considered necessary by
the Government to ensure that NRAC retains the benefit of the
considerable expertise of its current members, particularly in EC
assessments. However, assuming that the amendment is passed, half
of the present members will need to retire in 2012. It is not clear
what succession planning is needed, or will need to occur, before
then in order to ensure that the other four members (or possible
appointees) gain the experience necessary to advise the Minister
properly in place of the four members who will be ineligible for
re-appointment.
Members, Senators and Parliamentary staff can obtain further
information from the Parliamentary Library on (02) 6277
2795.
Morag Donaldson
28 May 2009
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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