An Act to provide Financial Assistance to the States for Purposes connected with Urban and Regional Development in certain Areas
1 Short title [see Note 1]
This Act may be cited as the Growth Centres (Financial Assistance) Act 1973.
2 Commencement [see Note 1]
This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
3 Interpretation
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
appropriate Minister, in relation to a State, means a Minister of the Crown of that State having functions relating to urban and regional development, and includes any other Minister of the Crown of that State for the time being acting for and on behalf of such a Minister.
approved authority means an authority approved by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance.
approved program means a program referred to in section 4.
place includes an area or region.
urban and regional development includes:
(a) urban expansion;
(b) the re‑development of existing urban areas; and
(c) the setting aside of land, whether in its natural state or otherwise, for purposes of public recreation or of conservation.
4 Approved programs
(1) The Minister may:
(a) in consultation with an appropriate Minister of a State, approve:
(i) programs of urban and regional development in relation to places specified in the Schedule; and
(ii) study programs relating to urban and regional development in relation to places specified in the Schedule and other places in the State of Tasmania; and
(b) with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, agree with that Minister upon the financial assistance to be provided under this Act in respect of expenditure by that State or an approved authority of that State under any such program.
(2) A program approved under subparagraph (1)(a)(i) may include provision for the acquisition of land by the State or an approved authority of the State for purposes connected with urban and regional development.
(3) A program providing for land acquisition shall clearly identify the land to be acquired and specify whether it is:
(a) land intended for urban use, including the provision of urban facilities; or
(b) land not falling within paragraph (a).
5 Financial assistance to States
Subject to this Act, where, in accordance with an approved program, moneys have been expended during the year ending on 30 June 1974 by a State or by an approved authority of a State, there is payable to that State, by way of financial assistance in respect of that expenditure, an amount or amounts determined as agreed in accordance with paragraph 4(1)(b).
6 Evidence of expenditure
A State is not entitled to a payment under section 5 in respect of any expenditure unless the State has furnished the Minister for Finance with:
(a) a statement of that expenditure in accordance with a form approved by the Minister for Finance, accompanied by a certificate by:
(i) in the case of expenditure by the State—the Auditor‑General of the State; or
(ii) in the case of expenditure by an approved authority of the State—the duly appointed auditor of that authority;
certifying that the expenditure was incurred in accordance with the relevant approved program; and
(b) such further information, if any, in respect of that expenditure as the Minister for Finance requires.
7 Advances
(1) The Minister for Finance may, at such times and in such amounts as he or she thinks fit, make advances on account of payments that may become payable under section 5.
(2) An amount, or part of an amount, advanced to a State under this section may be deducted from an amount that subsequently becomes payable to that State under section 5.
(3) If the total amount of the payments under section 5, and the advances under this section, made to a State exceeds the total amount payable under section 5 to that State, the amount of the excess shall be repaid by the State to Australia at the request of the Minister for Finance.
(4) A State shall ensure that an amount, or any part of an amount, advanced to the State and not repaid under subsection (3) is not used or applied except for the purpose of meeting or reimbursing, as the case may be, the expenditure to which the advance relates.
8 Financial statements
A State shall furnish the Minister for Finance with such documents and other evidence to justify the making of an advance to the State under section 7 or to show how an amount, or any part of an amount, advanced to the State under that section has been used or applied, as the Minister for Finance requests, whether the request by the Minister for Finance is made before or after the relevant advance is made.
9 Conditions of payments under this Act
(1) A payment or advance to a State under this Act is subject to:
(a) such conditions, not inconsistent with this Act, as are agreed between Australia and the State; and
(b) such of the other conditions provided for by this Act as are applicable.
(2) A condition agreed between Australia and a State providing for terms to be applicable in the event of a breach of a condition by the State shall not be taken to be inconsistent with this Act.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), such of the provisions of this Act as are applicable to a State shall be regarded as conditions.
10 Payment for certain purposes to be loans
(1) Where a payment or advance under this Act is made to a State in respect of expenditure for the purposes of acquiring land referred to in paragraph 4(3)(a), the payment or advance shall be made by way of a loan, and the succeeding provisions of this section apply.
(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (5A), the loan is subject to the following conditions:
(a) interest shall accrue in respect of each payment or advance, calculated from the date on which the payment or advance was made, on so much of the payment or advance as for the time being has not been repaid by the State;
(b) the rate at which interest shall accrue under paragraph (a) shall be the long‑term bond rate or such lower rate as the Minister for Finance, with the concurrence of the Minister, determines;
(c) interest so accrued shall be paid by the State to Australia on 15 June and 15 December in each year;
(d) the State shall repay to Australia each payment or advance (not being an advance repaid under section 7) by instalments in such manner, and within such period, not exceeding 30 years, after the date on which the payment or advance is made to the State, as is agreed between Australia and the State, the first instalment in each case to be paid on 15 June or 15 December next occurring after the expiration of 12 months after that date.
(3) Commencement of repayments of principal, and payments of interest, by a State in respect of payments and advances made to the State in relation to an approved program may be deferred for such period, not exceeding 10 years (in this section referred to as the period of deferment), as is agreed between Australia and the State and, in that event, subsection (2) does not apply, but, subject to subsection (5A), the loan is subject to the following conditions:
(a) interest shall accrue in respect of each payment or advance, calculated from the date on which the payment or advance was made, on so much of the payment or advance as for the time being has not been repaid by the State;
(b) the amount of interest that has accrued under paragraph (a), together with interest that has accrued under paragraph (c), shall be calculated as at 15 June and 15 December in each year;
(c) each amount calculated under paragraph (b) as at a date before the expiration of the period of deferment shall be payable by the State to Australia in accordance with paragraph (f) as if that amount had been a payment made to the State under section 5 on the date on which the payment or advance was made, and interest shall accrue in respect of that amount, calculated from the date as at which that amount was calculated, on so much of that amount as for the time being has not been paid by the State;
(d) an amount calculated under paragraph (b) as at a date after the expiration of the period of deferment shall be paid by the State to Australia upon that date;
(e) the rate at which interest shall accrue under paragraphs (a) and (c) shall be the long‑term bond rate or such lower rate as the Minister for Finance, with the concurrence of the Minister, determines;
(f) the State shall repay to Australia each payment or advance (not being an advance repaid under section 7) by instalments in such manner, and within such period, not exceeding 30 years, after the date on which the payment or advance is made to the State, as is agreed between Australia and the State.
(4) An agreement fixing a period in accordance with this section may include provision for the variation of that period before the expiration of that period and for the consequential variation of other matters.
(5) A reference in this section to the long‑term bond rate, in relation to interest in respect of a payment or advance made to a State or in respect of an amount referred to in paragraph (3)(c), is a reference to the rate that is equivalent to the rate of yield to maturity of the long‑term loan of the last loan‑raising by the Australian Government in Australia for public subscription prior to the date on which that payment or advance was made or that amount was calculated, as the case may be.
(5A) An agreement between Australia and a State relating to a loan referred to in this section may vary any conditions provided for by subsection (2) or (3).
(6) The preceding provisions of this section shall not be taken to prevent the inclusion of additional conditions in an agreement relating to a loan referred to in this section.
11 Payments for certain purposes to be grants
(1) A payment under section 5 made to a State in respect of expenditure for the purposes of acquiring land referred to in paragraph 4(3)(b) shall be made by way of a grant, repayable only in the event of a breach of a condition of the payment.
(2) A payment to a State in accordance with subsection (1) in respect of expenditure incurred by an approved authority of the State is subject to the condition that the State shall, out of moneys other than moneys paid to the State under this Act, make a grant to that authority of an amount bearing such proportion to that payment as the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, determines.
12 Moneys to be paid by State to approved authorities
Where a payment or advance has been made to a State under this Act in respect of expenditure by an approved authority, the State shall pay the amount of that payment or advance to that authority.
13 Supply of information
A State shall, at the request of the Minister, furnish him or her with such information as he or she requires in relation to the carrying out of an approved program.
14 Use of land
Where moneys have been paid or advanced to a State under this Act in respect of expenditure for purposes of acquiring any land, the State shall ensure that the land so acquired shall be used only in accordance with the relevant approved program or for such other purpose as the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, approves.
15 Agreements to be tabled in Parliament
The Minister shall cause a copy of every agreement made under this Act, including every amending agreement, to be laid before each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the date on which the agreement was made.
16 Appropriation
Payments (including advances) to the States under this Act:
(a) shall not exceed an aggregate amount of $24,000,000; and
(b) shall be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is appropriated accordingly.
