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Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Finance) Bill 2013
Introduced into the House of
Representatives on 13 February 2013
Portfolio:
Trade and Competitiveness
1.1
This
bill seeks to make changes to the financial arrangements in Part 8 of the Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Act 1991 to:
- authorise the
payment of a one-off dividend to the Commonwealth;
- confer power on
the Minister to direct the Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC)
to pay a special dividend; and
- create a new
power for the Minister to prescribe an increase in EFIC’s callable capital
should it be necessary to help EFIC meet its future prudential requirements.
1.2
Proposed new
section 55A requires the EFIC to pay the Commonwealth a one-off dividend of
$200 million before 30 June 2013. The explanatory memorandum states that this
is in line with a 2012-13 Budget Measure, and that ‘the payment of special
dividends from EFIC’s surplus capital is supported by the 2012 Productivity
Commission Inquiry Report into EFIC, which found that EFIC retains capital well
above its minimum requirements and that this surplus capital has an opportunity
cost that is borne by the taxpayer.’[1]
Compatibility with human
rights
1.3
A statement of
compatibility was not provided for this bill and there is no reference to any
consideration of human rights issues in the explanatory memorandum.
1.4
The
committee considers that this bill does not appear to give rise to any human rights
concerns.
1.5
The committee
intends to write to the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness to draw his
attention to the requirement under the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011 for all bills to be accompanied by a statement of compatibility even
where the conclusion is that the bill does not engage or limit any human
rights. The purpose of requiring a statement of compatibility is to ensure that
a review of any potential human rights concerns has been carried out before the
bill is introduced into the Parliament and at the stage the relevant policy is
being developed.
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