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CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer and Copyright Details
Migration (Visa Application) Charge
Amendment Bill 1998
Date Introduced: 3 December 1998
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
Commencement: Immediately after the
commencement of the Migration (Visa Application) Charge Act
1997.
To make minor
technical amendments to the Migration (Visa Application) Charge
Amendment Act 1998 (the Principal Act).
The Howard Government introduced the Bill for
the Principal Act in 1996. This Bill was aimed at implementing the
Government's policy of cost recovery in respect of immigration
procedures and services. The existing system of visa application
fees, the English Education Charge and the Health Services Charge
were rolled into one visa application fee, with the amount of the
fee being set by regulations, as well as giving the Minister the
power to make regulations specifying exemptions and concessions.
The incorporation of the English Education Charge and the Health
Services Charge into a global visa application fee was said by the
Government to make it procedurally easier for the Government to
implement their policy of cost recovery.
This original Bill, as part of a package,
attracted some controversy. The package involved the implementation
of the Coalition's policy of full cost recovery principles in the
Adult Migrant English Program for those immigrants subject to the
English Education Charge. The changes proposed by the current Bill
are extremely minor. Nevertheless it has been sent to the Senate
Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for enquiry.(1)
The amendments to the principal legislation are
set out in Schedule 1.
Item 1 changes the pronoun
which is used to refer to the most recently published reference
base for the Consumer Price Index from 'their' to 'the'. That is,
the phrase which previously read 'their most recently published
reference base' will now read 'the most recently published
reference base'. The rationale for this amendment is unclear. The
use of the possessive pronoun 'their' to refer to a plural set of
numerical figures seems unexceptionable.
Item 2 replaces the word
'index' with the word 'indexation' in the main section of the
Principal Act. This is explained to be needed to ensure
consistency.
Item 3 inserts the word
'except' into a phrase that was designed to cater for an exception,
but, as it is currently worded, would be likely to operate in such
a way as to render the subsection dysfunctional. The subsection in
question specifies that calculations are to disregard figures
published in substitution of previously published figures and,
rather than excepting the case where the figures are
published to take account of changes in the reference base, the
section currently goes on to suggest that they should be
disregarded when the substituted figures are published to take
account of changes in the reference base.
For ease of reference the current provision
[ss5(4)(b)] is reproduced here, with the proposed amendment in
italics:
[Calculations under subsection (2)] are to
disregard indexation numbers that are published in substitution for
previously published index numbers (except where the
substituted numbers are published to take account of changes in the
reference base).
-
- According to the House of Representatives Notice Paper the Bill
was referred to the Committee on the 9th of December
1998, which is due to report on the 8th of March
1999.
Kirsty Magarey
4 February 1999
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1999
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