Petroleum (Submerged Lands) (Retention Lease Fees) Act 1985

No. 83 of 1985

An Act to provide for the payment of fees in respect of retention leases under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967

[Assented to 6 June 1985]

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) (Retention Lease Fees) Act 1985.

Commencement

2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which section 5 of the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Amendment Act 1985 comes into operation.

Incorporation

3. The Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 is incorporated and shall be read as one with this Act.

Lease fees

4. (1) There is payable to the Designated Authority by a lessee, in respect of each year of the term of the lease, a fee calculated at the rate of $4,500 for each of the blocks to which the lease relates at the commencement of that year.

(2) A fee referred to in sub-section (1) is due and payable at the end of one month after—

(a) in the case of the first year of the term of the lease—the day on which that term commenced; and

(b) in the case of a year of the term of the lease other than the first—the anniversary of that day.

Penalty for late payment

5. If an amount of a fee referred to in section 4 remains unpaid after the time when it became due and payable, an additional amount is due and payable by way of penalty by the lessee to the Designated Authority at the rate of one-third of 1% per day on the amount unpaid, computed from that time.

Fees and penalties debts due to the Commonwealth

6. (1) A fee under section 4 or an amount payable under section 5 is a debt due by the lessee to the Commonwealth and is recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(2) Fees and other amounts referred to in sub-section (1) received by the Designated Authority shall be received by the Designated Authority on behalf of the Commonwealth.

[Minister’s second reading speech made in—

House of Representatives on 23 April 1985

Senate on 20 May 1985]