Bills Digest no. 42 2005–06
Appropriation (Regional Telecommunications Services) Bill
2005-06
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
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Appropriation (Regional Telecommunications Services) Bill
2005-06
Date Introduced: 7
September 2005
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Finance and Administration
Commencement: Royal Assent
To appropriate $219.218 million to the Department of
Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) for subsidies
to certain regional telecommunications programs as part of the privatisation
of Telstra.
The broader context of the Bill is the subsidisation of regional telecommunications
as part of the sale of Telstra. For additional information, see the Bills
Digests for the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Future Proofing
and Other Measures) Bill 2005 and the Telecommunications
(Carrier Licence Charges) Amendment (Industry Plans and Consumer Codes)
Bill 2005.
The other Bills in this suite of legislation are the Telecommunications
Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Issues) Bill 2005
and the Telstra (Transition to Full Private Ownership) Bill 2005.
According to the second reading speech, the funding is for two programs:
The Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS) is an on-going program,
which provides internet service providers with incentive payments to supply
higher bandwidth services in regional areas at prices comparable to those
in metropolitan areas. HiBIS is part of the Government's contribution
to the National
Broadband Strategy(1) and was established in response to
a recommendation of the Regional
Telecommunications Inquiry (the Estens Inquiry).(2) Service
providers receive $1540 for connecting premises with faster internet services
over a digital telephone line or $3300 for premises without such access.
Providers are required to use the payments to reduce the price of services
or to help offset the cost of providing services to regional areas without
such access. The Bill seeks additional funding of $67 million in 2005-06
because of ‘higher levels of demand’, according to the Minister’s second
reading speech.
In its Portfolio Budget Statements, DCITA includes HiBIS as an ‘administered’
item, in outcome 3, under the heading of ‘Regional Telecommunications
Inquiry response’.
Connect Australia is a new program, which Senator Hon. Helen Coonan (Minister
for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) announced(3)
on 17 August 2005. The program has four
elements:(4)
-
Broadband Connect: $878 million will be provided
to expand broadband services
-
according to the Minister’s second reading speech, broadband
connect will be based on HiBIS but will introduce ‘refinements’
to encourage providers to increase the areas they service, and
to ‘limit the possibility of providers recovering more than the
legitimate capital costs of installing broadband infrastructure’.
The Minister did not, however, elaborate on how this will be achieved
-
Clever Networks: $113 million will be provided to roll out
new broadband networks to improve the delivery of health, education
and other services
-
Mobile Connect: $30 million will be provided to extend terrestrial
mobile coverage to areas where they can be commercially maintained
and continue satellite handset subsidies for other areas
-
Mobile Connect will ‘build on’ the Regional
Mobile Phone Programme(5) (which was established
with $40.6 million over three years from 2001-02) and will subsume
the Satellite Handset Subsidy Scheme (which subsidises the purchase
of mobile satellite phones by people living in areas beyond CDMA
or GSM terrestrial mobile coverage), and
-
Backing
Indigenous Ability:(6) $90 million will be provided
for telephones, internet and videoconferencing in remote indigenous
communities and improved indigenous radio and television.
The Bill seeks funding of $148.8 million in 2005-06 for the broadband
connect and the mobile connect elements.
Connect Australia also falls within DCITA’s outcome 3.
The Bill also seeks around $3.5 million in 2005-06 for departmental expenses,
that is, for the cost to DCITA of administering the programs.
The Bill is to all intents and purposes, identical with Appropriation
Act (No. 1) 2005-06,(7) with the definitions and wording
of most clauses in the Bill the same as in that Act. The Bill’s legal
effect is thus very similar to an annual appropriation Act. The main differences
in the Bill follow.
Clause 3, which contains definitions, includes a definition of
‘Portfolio Supplementary Estimates Statements’. They are the documents—akin
to the Portfolio Budget Statements—that DCITA published, and which provide
information about the appropriation in the Bill. Clause 3 also defines
‘Portfolio Budget Statements’ to mean those presented in relation to Appropriation
Act (No. 1) 2005-06 and Appropriation Act (No. 2)
2005-06.
Clause 11 deals with Comcover receipts and relates to section
13 of Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2005-06. Agencies
pay premiums to Comcover to cover, for example, physical injuries that
agency employees incur. Comcover pays agencies for any successful claims
against Comcover. Section 13 of Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2005-06
provides that any amount that Comcover pays to an agency is added
to that agency’s funds. In the words of section 13, the Comcover payments
are added to an ‘available item’. In effect, clause 11 provides that Comcover
receipts are added to an available item in Schedule 1 of the Bill.
Schedule 1 sets out the services for which funds are appropriated.
The main feature of Schedule 1 appears on page 15 of the Bill where it
shows that a total of $219.218 million will be appropriated to DCITA’s
Outcome 3. This is split between $3.459 million for departmental expenses
and $215.759 million for administered items.
Endnotes
-
http://www.dcita.gov.au/tel/internet_and_broadband_services/overview_of_internet_and_broadband_services/a_national_broadband_strategy
-
http://www.telinquiry.gov.au/rti-report.html
-
http://www.minister.dcita.gov.au/media/media_releases/connect_australia_-_a_plan_to_future_proof_telecommunications
-
http://www.dcita.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/30296/FACT_SHEET_Connect_Australia.pdf
-
http://www.dotars.gov.au/dept/budget/regional/2003_2004/communications.aspx
-
http://www.dcita.gov.au/newsroom/media_releases/telstra_sale_to_benefit_indigenous_
broadcasting
-
http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/3/3712/top.htm
Richard Webb
9 September 2005
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This paper has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament
using information available at the time of production. The views expressed
do not reflect an official position of the Information and Research Service,
nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2005
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