Bills Digest no. 141 2007–08
Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme Bill 2008
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
Defence Home Ownership
Assistance Scheme Bill 2008
Date introduced: 28
May 2008
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Defence
Commencement: Sections
1 and 2 on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent; sections
3 to 85 on the later of, the day on which it receives the Royal Assent,
or 1 July 2008.
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 purpose of the Bill is to establish a home ownership
assistance scheme which will be available to eligible members of the Australian
Defence Force (ADF) who are serving on or after 1 July 2008. Members are
offered progressively higher levels of benefits as an incentive to remain
in active service.
The former Government’s White Paper entitled Defence 2000: Our
Future Defence Force highlighted the need for the ADF to retain skilled
and experienced people, noting that it was a priority concern for the
Government to ensure that people do not leave the ADF when they are of
most value.[1]
The White Paper followed on the heels of a report
by the Australian National Audit Office on retention of military personnel.[2] The objective of the audit was
to review the management of personnel retention within the ADF with a
view to evaluating the measures Defence has in place to monitor, and control,
the flow of trained personnel from the Services. It found that Defence
was making considerable efforts to ensure that the conditions of service
for members did not become a factor in members’ decisions to separate
from the military.
In 2003, the Australian National Audit Office published a follow up report
which concluded that:
action to reduce the flow of members from the ADF
would save resources lost in the training of members who leave and in
the resources that need to be applied to train their replacements. Expenditure
on retention has the potential to be much more cost effective than expenditure
on recruitment and training.[3]
Despite the recognition of the importance of effective retention of trained
personnel, the ADF suffered something of a ‘recruitment and retention
crisis’ in 2005.[4] This
followed the release of the results of the 2004 Defence Attitude Survey
which showed that one in three military personnel surveyed wanted to quit
on the grounds of, amongst other things, poor pay and conditions.[5]
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute reported that despite spending
$500 million over five years on initiatives to improve the recruitment
and retention of military personnel, the process of building ADF numbers
had stalled. Not only had the size of the permanent ADF fallen for two
years in a row but the average strength achieved in the financial year
2004/05 was almost a thousand below the target that had been set.[6] These diminishing numbers occurred at a time
when Australia was deploying personnel to a diverse range of activities.
Major General Michael Jeffery listed the expected future calls on the
ADF as follows:
- Regional Assistance Missions to provide support throughout the South
West Pacific in similar ways to the assistance which had already been
provided to the Solomon Islands
- United Nations contributions in the prevention of genocide and famine
and for health support functions
- countering terrorism locally, regionally and globally, and
- disaster support to the civil community.[7]
The Bills Digest
for the Defence Force (Home Loans Assistance) Amendment Bill 2007 provides
the following information about the current Defence HomeOwner Scheme (DHOS).
The DHOS was introduced in 1991 to assist eligible members and ex-members
of the Australian Defence Force to purchase their own home by providing
a subsidy on the interest of a home loan borrowed from the approved lender,
the National Australia Bank.
The scheme is administered in accordance with the Defence Force (Home
Loans Assistance) Act 1990 (the 1990 Act). The Defence Housing Authority
administers the scheme on behalf of the Department of Defence.
Under the current scheme, ADF personnel must
serve a set period (‘basic service period’) before qualifying for the
scheme. The basic service period is:
- regular service personnel who are still serving - five years of continuous
effective full-time service, or
- regular service personnel with less than 15 years of effective full-time
service, and have been discharged with a compensable disability - basic
service period is waived, or
- active and emergency reserve personnel still serving after 8 November
1996 - eight years of continuous efficient service (where the annual
statutory training obligation has been met each financial year).
However, regular service personnel with warlike (Somalia, Cambodia, East
Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq) or operational service need not serve the
basic service period in order to qualify. Warlike service is the period
of service in an operational area defined as warlike by the Minister for
Defence.
Normally, eligible ADF members are entitled to one year of subsidy for
each completed year of service after completing their respective basic
service period, up to a maximum of 20 years of subsidy. Members
with warlike service are eligible for an extended subsidy period.
The subsidy is equal to 40% of the average monthly interest on
the loan, calculated on a 25 year loan period. The maximum loan amount
eligible for the subsidy is $80,000 per ADF member (a married or defacto
couple who were both eligble ADF members could get $160,000).
In May 2006 a review
of the scheme, which was due to end on 31 December 2006, was announced.
The purpose of the review was to examine ways of improving the DHOS and
to take advantage of the more competitive conditions in the house finance
market.[8] The Defence Force (Home Loans Assistance)
Amendment Act 2006 extended the life of the scheme for a further year
so that the review could be carried out.
In the 2007/08 Budget, the then Minister for Defence, the Hon. Dr Brendan
Nelson, released some details of the Government’s response to the Review.
The key proposals would:
- replace the old home loans assistance scheme
- provide contemporary and relevant home loan assistance which would
reflect housing prices
- provide increasing entitlements as members serve beyond key exit points
- be responsive to changes in the housing market, and
- provide flexibility and choice by giving a number of mortgage providers.
The Defence Force (Home Loans Assistance)
Amendment Act 2007 provided for a further extension to the DHOS to
30 July 2008 to allow time for the new Scheme, announced in the 2007 Budget,
to be fully developed and implemented.
However, relevant legislation had not been introduced when Parliament
was prorogued on 15 October 2007.
The Hon. Bob Baldwin has stated that the
coalition supports the Bill on the grounds that the new DOHS was a Howard
government initiative and the 2007/08 budget provided relevant funding.[9]
This bills digest should be read in conjunction with the Bills Digest
for the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme (Consequential Amendments)
Bill 2008.
The financial implications of the new home ownership assistance scheme
are:
- Defence will meet the ongoing monthly subsidy payments.
- Defence will meet administrative costs of the scheme, including assessing
applications for entitlement and payment of subsidy.
- Defence will pay Fringe Benefits Tax in relation to the subsidy,
which is a reportable fringe benefit.
The costs of the above will be, to some extent, offset by payment by
loan providers to the Commonwealth, of a premium amounting to $169.87
million over 10 years. All costs and revenue will be dependant on the
extent of take-up of subsidised loans under the scheme.[10]
This Bill will require funding for the scheme to be provided as an administered
appropriation to the Department of Defence. The 2008-09 Federal Budget approved
funding of $988.965 million over the period 2008-09 to 2017-18.
Part 1 contains preliminary
provisions.
The definitions in clause 3 which are relevant to this section
are:
‘Compensable condition’ means a condition, disease, illness or
injury suffered by a person for which compensation is, has been or would
be payable under the following:
- the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
- the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986
- the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 or
- a law of the Commonwealth prescribed by regulations.
‘Effective service’ is service in the Defence Force
by the person in accordance with the regulations.
‘Foreign service member’ means a member of the Defence Force who
had been a member of the armed forces of a foreign country.
‘Partner’ – a person is the partner of another person if the two
persons have a relationship as a couple (whether the persons are different
sexes or the same sex) and ordinarily live with each other on a permanent
and bona fide domestic basis.
‘Permanent Forces’ means the Permanent Navy, the Regular Army
or the Permanent Air Force.
‘Reserves’ means the Naval Reserve, the Army Reserve or the Air
Force Reserve.
Clause 5 provides that, for the purposes of the Scheme, a person
who has been engaged as a member of the Reserves will be treated as a
member of the Reserves until their engagement ends or, when in a service
year, the person does not perform effective service.
Clause 7 lists the categories of persons who will be eligible
to participate in the home ownership assistance scheme as:
- a serving member
- an incapacitated member
- a rejoining incapacitated member
- a rejoining member
- a separated member
- an old scheme member.
A person is eligible as a ‘serving member’ at a particular
time (referred to as the ‘eligibility time’ throughout this Part) if the
person is a member of the Defence Force and has completed the relevant
‘qualifying service period’: subclause 8(1). Subclause 8(2)
provides that the ‘qualifying service period’ is 4 years of ‘effective
service’ for a member of the Permanent Forces or a foreign service member;
and 8 years of ‘effective service’ for a member of the Reserves.
A person is eligible as an ‘incapacitated member’
if the person ceased being a member of the Defence Force on or after 1
July 2008 because of a ‘compensable condition’ and has not become a member
again: clause 9.
Clause 10 provides that a person is eligible as a
‘rejoining incapacitated member’ if:
- the person stopped being a member of the Defence Force due to a compensable
condition and
- on or after 1 July 2008, again became a member of the Defence Force
- no more than five years elapsed between the time the person stopped
being a member of the Defence Force and their return and
- at the eligibility time, the person is a member of the Defence Force
who has completed the ‘relevant qualifying service period’.
Subclause 10(2) provides that the ‘qualifying service
period’ is 4 years of ‘effective service’ for a member of the Permanent
Forces and 8 years of ‘effective service’ for a member of the Reserves.
Clause 11 states that a person is eligible as a ‘rejoining
member’ if:
- the person stopped being a member of the Defence Force, having been
eligible immediately before that time and
- on or after 1 July 2008, again became a member of the Defence Force
- no more than five years elapsed between the time the person stopped
being a member of the Defence Force and their return and
- at the eligibility time, the person is a member of the Defence Force.[11]
A person is eligible as a ‘separated member’ if the
person stopped being a member of the Defence Force on or after 1 July
2008, was eligible immediately before they stopped being a member, and
has not again become a member of the Defence Force: clause 12.
A person is eligible to participate in the home ownership
assistance scheme as an ‘old scheme member’ if the person meets the requirements
prescribed by the regulations: clause 13.
This Part sets out the process by which an eligible person can apply
for, and be provided with, a ‘subsidy certificate’. Once issued, the
subsidy certificate can be given to a loan provider as evidence of eligibility
for subsidy under the home ownership assistance scheme.
A person must apply to the Secretary[12] for a subsidy certificate on the approved form:
clause 14. Once the person’s application has been lodged, the
Secretary must give a subsidy certificate if the provisions of
clauses 17 to 20 apply: subclause 16(2).
Under clause 17 a subsidy certificate must be given to
a person who:
- is eligible
- does not already hold a subsidy certificate which is in force and
- where the person is not a member of the Defence Force, has not already
applied for a subsidy certificate.
Subclauses 17(2) and (3) provide some qualification
to the entitlement of an eligible person to obtain a subsidy certificate
as follows:
- For an ‘incapacitated member’, the Secretary may give the
subsidy certificate if the application is made within two years of the
time that the person stopped being a member due to their compensable
condition, or the Secretary is satisfied that the compensable condition
caused or contributed to the person’s failure to apply within two years:
subclause 17(2).
- For a ‘separated member’ the Secretary may give the subsidy
certificate only if the application is made within two years of the
date the applicant stopped being a member of the Defence Force: subclause
17(3).
Under clause 18 a subsidy certificate must be given to
a person where:
- the applicant is the surviving partner of a deceased partner[13]
- the deceased partner was eligible immediately before their death[14] and
- the person has not already applied or been given a subsidy certificate
in respect of the deceased partner.
Subclauses 18(2) and (3) provide some qualification
to the rights of a surviving partner’s entitlement to obtain a subsidy
certificate as follows:
- the Secretary may give the subsidy certificate only if the
application is made within two years of the time of the death of the
deceased partner, or the date the deceased partner ceased to be a member
of the Defence Force, whichever, is the earlier: subclause 18(2)
- the Secretary has the discretion to extend the two year application
period for a further year if satisfied that the late application was
reasonable: subclause 18(3).
Clause 19 provides an exception to the time limits imposed under
clauses 17 and 18 where a subsidised loan has been discharged because
the property that secured the loan has been destroyed, compulsorily acquired
under a Commonwealth, State or Territory law or sold or transferred under
an order of a Court. In those circumstances the Secretary must give a
subsidy certificate as long as the relevant application is made within
12 months after the subsidised loan was discharged.
Clause 20 provides an exception to the time limit for issue of
a subsidy certificate for an incapacitated member. A subsidy certificate
must be issued in circumstances where the person was discharged from the
Defence Force for a compensable condition and finds it necessary to move
to another house because of factors directly attributable to that condition.
Clause 22 provides the period during which the subsidy
certificate is in force. The period starts on the day stated on the subsidy
certificate. The period ends on the earliest of the day the subsidy commences,
the day the certificate is cancelled or 12 months after the date that
the subsidy certificate was issued.
The Secretary may vary a subsidy certificate if it contains
an error: clause 24. The Secretary may also cancel a subsidy certificate
in circumstances where it was given as a result of a false or misleading
statement or where the person was not entitled to be given the certificate:
clause 25.[15]
The definitions in clause 3 which are relevant to this part are:
‘House’ means a single dwelling, including a unit that is a single
dwelling, but does not include:
- a dwelling which is unfit for habitation
- a dwelling which is to be compulsorily acquired under a law of the
Commonwealth, State or Territory or any local government authority
- a caravan, houseboat, or any other mobile dwelling or
- a flat that is not a unit.
‘Subsidised borrower’ means a person to whom subsidy is payable.
‘Subsidised loan’ means a loan in relation to which subsidy is
payable.
‘Subsidised loan account’ in relation to a subsidised borrower
who is party to a subsidised loan with a loan provider, means the loan
account maintained by the loan provider in the name of the borrower in
connection with the subsidised loan.
‘Unit’ means a unit held under a strata title system established
under a law of a State or Territory together with accompanying common
property and any permanent improvement such as a garage or storeroom.
Once a subsidy certificate has been issued, the amount of subsidy to
which the eligible person is entitled and the manner in which it will
be paid has to be determined.
Clause 26 provides that subsidy is payable as either or both
a monthly subsidy or a subsidy lump sum.
Clause 28 provides that subsidy becomes payable when:
- the loan is made by a declared loan provider[16]
- the loan is secured by a mortgage over an interest in land and
- the conditions in clauses 29 to 34 are satisfied.
Subclause 28(4) provides that subsidy is payable for only one
loan at any one time.
Under clause 30, the Secretary must satisfied that the loan which
will be subsidised is to be used for any of the following:
- to buy land on which a house already stands
- to buy land on which a house is to be constructed, renovated or repaired
(called ‘building work’)
- to undertake ‘building work’ on land which is already owned by the
person or
- to discharge another loan which was used for any of the above purposes.
In addition:
- the subsidised borrower (or the subsidised borrower and their partner)
must hold a 50% or greater interest in the land[17] and the land must be in Australia: clause
31.
- where the subsidised loan is to buy land on which a house already
stands, the subsidised borrower, or a dependant of the subsidised borrower,
occupies the house as a home : clause 32, for at least the first
year after the first authorisation day for the subsidy: clause 39
and
- the land is not used primarily for carrying on a business, trade
or profession: clause 33.
Clause 34 sets out the conditions in which a subsidy
lump sum (rather than monthly subsidy) becomes payable. It provides,
amongst other things, that a subsidy lump sum is payable only for the
first home that the member has purchased while the borrower has been a
member of the Defence Force: paragraph 34(1)(f).
Clause 36 contains a table which sets out events
and critical times. Any of the events which are listed will cause subsidy
to stop being payable. Subsidy ceases to be payable from the start of
the monthly authorisation period in which the critical time occurs.
In addition, subsidy will stop being payable if:
- building work is not completed within 2 years after the first authorisation
day for subsidy: clause 37
- if the subsidised borrower holds an interest of less than 50% in
the land: clause 38 or
- where the subsidised loan is to buy a house and land, or to build
a house, the subsidised borrower does not occupy the house as a home
for at least one year from the date of the first authorisation day for
subsidy, unless there are exceptional circumstances: clauses 39 and
40 respectively.
Clause 42 requires a subsidised borrower to give
notice to the Secretary of any change in circumstances which would cause
the subsidy to stop being payable within a reasonable time after the subsidised
borrower because aware of the event (called the ‘constructive knowledge
time’).
A subsidised borrower may request the Secretary, on the
approved form, to stop the payment of the subsidy: clause 43.
The Secretary may, by written notice to the subsidised borrower,
revoke the authorisation of the payment of subsidy where the Secretary
is satisfied that it should never have been given or was given because
of a false or misleading statement by the borrower or another person:
clause 44.[18] Where an authorisation is revoked, the subsidy that
has been paid is taken to have never been payable and may be recoverable
by the Commonwealth: subclause 44(4). Where the subsidised borrower
has died, the Commonwealth may give notice that the authorisation has
been revoked to the borrower’s legal personal representative: subclause
44(6).
Clause 45 provides that an authorisation may be varied
when a subsidised borrower has not provided effective service in a year
when they were a member of the Reserves. In that case, the borrower may
be entitled to subsidy as a separated member. The Secretary must advise
the subsidised borrower in writing that this may effect the subsidy amount.
Clause 29 provides that subsidy becomes payable if the subsidised
borrower has a subsidy certificate which is in force and has a ‘service
credit’.
The first step is to work out the person’s ‘accrued subsidy period’
in accordance with the table in clause 47.
Clause 46 contains the method statement for working out a person’s
‘service credit’. This is the difference between the number of months
the person has undertaken specified service at any particular time (the
‘accrued subsidy period’) and the number of months during which the person
has already been entitled to subsidy, including any subsidy under a previous
scheme.
Clause 48 provides additional months of subsidy where a person
has performed warlike service.[19] Subclause 48(2) contains a table setting out the additional
months of subsidy for periods of warlike service ranging from three months
or less to more than nine months. According to subclause 48(3)
where a person is repatriated from warlike service because of wounds,
injury or illness, the additional months of service will be calculated
as if the person continued to perform warlike service until the end of
the period the Secretary considers that the person could reasonably be
expected to have continued to undertake warlike service.
Clauses 49-51 set out the necessary technical formulae for working
out the amount of monthly subsidy. The formula in subclause 50(2)
refers to the ‘median interest rate’. Clause 53 provides that
the Minister may, by legislative instrument, either determine the ‘median
interest rate’ or determine the method for calculating the ‘median interest
rate’.
In addition subclause 51(2) contains a table which sets out the
limit of the amount of the subsidised loan payable to a subsidised borrower
at a particular time. The amount payable is referrable to ‘the average
house price’. Clause 52 provides that the Minister may by legislative
instrument determine the ‘average house price’ for the purposes of the
Act in a financial year.
Clause 54 determines the method of calculating any subsidy lump
sum which is payable to a subsidised borrower in accordance with the provisions
of clauses 34 and 58.
Clause 56 provides that the subsidy must be paid to the loan provider[20]
in accordance with either clause 57 or clause 58 into the
subsidised borrower’s ‘subsidised loan account’ for the benefit of the
borrower.
Clause 57 is about payment of monthly subsidy. It is payable
to a loan provider in accordance with a loan agreement and any other relevant
agreement or determination by the Minister: subclause 57(1). The
subsidy is paid on a monthly basis in arrears in respect of the most recently
ended ‘monthly authorisation period’. This begins at the start
of a day of one month, and end immediately before the start of a day of
the next month: subclause 57(3).
Clause 58 is about payment of a subsidy lump sum. It is payable
to a loan provider in accordance with a loan agreement and any other relevant
agreement or determination by the Minister: subclause 58(1).
Clause 60 applies where subsidy was payable to a ‘deceased partner’
in respect of an interest in land which is held with the ‘surviving partner’
as joint tenants. In that case, the subsidy is transferred to the surviving
partner and continues to be payable in the same way as it had been paid
to the deceased.
Where the ‘surviving partner’ was not a joint tenant with the ‘deceased
partner’ (paragraph 61(1)(a)) but their interest is transferred
to the ‘surviving partner’ under a will or under an intestacy law (paragraph
61(1)(b)), the subsidy is suspended (subclause 61(2)) until
the transfer takes place and will be back paid to the date of the suspension
(subclause 61(3)).
Where the ‘surviving partner’ was not a joint tenant with the ‘deceased
partner’ and does not inherit their interest in the land on which subsidy
was payable, clause 62 provides that:
- upon the death of the ‘deceased partner’ borrower the subsidy is
suspended
- upon the transfer of the interest in the land to another person, the
subsidy is taken to have stopped with effect from the start of the monthly
authorisation period in which the death occurred.
Clause 63 gives effect to clause 18 whereby a ‘surviving
partner’ is able to access a subsidy certificate loan under the same criteria
as would have been applied to the ‘deceased partner’. Clause 64
contains a table which sets out the eligibility class for the ‘surviving
partner’ so that they are treated in the same way that the ‘deceased partner’
would have been treated had they not died.
Overpayments under this Act will occur when the Secretary has paid an
amount to a loan provider as subsidy into a subsidised loan account when
the overpaid amount was not payable. In that case the debtor (that is,
the subsidised borrower) must pay the amount due to the Commonwealth under
subclause 67(1). The amount owing is the overpaid amount plus
interest at the ‘general interest charge rate’[21]
per day: subclause 67(2).
Subclause 68(1) empowers the Secretary to give notice in writing
to a loan provider of the amount of a debt which is to be deducted from
an authorised loan account.[22]
Subclause 68(2) provides that the loan provider must comply with
the notice by paying out of the borrower’s subsidised loan account either
the whole of the debt due to the Commonwealth or, if there are insufficient
funds in the subsidised loan account to meet the whole of the debt, then
the amount available in the subsidised loan account.
Where a loan provider sells an interest in land by way of
enforcing a mortgage securing the subsidised loan, then clause 69
requires that the loan provider must pay the Commonwealth the amount of
the debt out of any monies that the loan provider would otherwise return
to the debtor.
Clause 70 empowers the Secretary to recover a debt
due to the Commonwealth in a Court of competent jurisdiction.
Clause 71 lists all of the decisions which are ‘reviewable decisions’
under the Act.
Clause 72 specifically provides that a declared loan provider
is not considered to be a person whose interests are affected by the scheme.
The Secretary must give notice in writing to all of the persons who are
affected by a reviewable decision, including the reasons for the decision
and the person’s right of review: clause 73. A person whose interests
are affected by a ‘reviewable decision’ may apply to the Secretary for
review of the decision. The application for review must be in the approved
form (subclause 74(2)) and made within 28 days after the person
was notified of the decision, or such longer period as the Secretary allows:
subclause 74(3).
The Bill provides for a two-tiered mechanism of review. The first
tier is by way of internal review by a ‘reviewer’ appointed by the
Secretary: clause 75. Where the Secretary personally made the
decision in dispute, then ‘the reviewer’ will be the Minister.[23] Where a delegate of the Secretary made the
decision in dispute, ‘the reviewer’ will be the Secretary, or another
delegate who was not involved in making the reviewable decision.
The reviewer is empowered to confirm, vary or set aside the reviewable
decision and substitute a new decision: subclause 75(2).
The second tier provides for external review of an internal review
decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal: clause 76. Subclause
76(2) specifically excludes a declared loan provider from appealing
against an internal review decision.
Subclause 79(1) is about use and disclosure of the personal information
of an applicant for subsidy certificate, a person who has been given a
subsidy certificate, a person who is, or has been, a subsidised borrower
and their partner or dependants.
Subclauses 79(2) and (3) provide that the following entities may
use personal information, or disclose personal information to another
of the entities, for a purpose prescribed by regulation:
- the Secretary
- a delegate of the Secretary under section 81 or the Defence Force
(Home Loans Assistance) Act 1990 (the 1990 Act) or the Defence
Service Homes Act 1918 (the 1918 Act)
- a loan provider who has received an application for a subsidised
loan, or who has made a subsidised loan under this Act
- a Bank which has received an application for subsidised loan, or
made a subsidised loan under the 1990 Act, and
- a credit provider who has received an application for a subsidised
advance, or made a subsidised advance under the 1918 Act.
Clause 80 provides that the Minister may delegate to the Secretary
or an SES employee or an acting SES employee, the power to determine an
‘average house price’ or the ‘median interest rate’. Subclause 81(1)
provides that the Secretary delegate any of their powers and functions
to a Naval officer holding the rank of Commodore or higher, an Army officer
holding the rank of Brigadier or higher, an Air Force officer holding
the rank of Air Commodore or higher, or to an SES or acting SES officer
in the Department.
The Secretary may also delegate any or all of their functions to an authorised
Commonwealth contractor under subclause 81(2).
The Bill appears to be uncontroversial and to have general support from
both the Government and the Opposition.
Paula Pyburne
18 June 2008
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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