URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT (RESEARCH AND PLANNING) ACT 1974
No. 46 of 1974
An Act to make Provision with respect to Research and Planning in connexion with Urban Public Transport.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows: —
Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as the Urban Public Transport (Research and Planning) Act 1974.
Commencement.
2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
Interpretation.
3. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—
“approved project” means a work or other matter that is approved by the Minister under section 4;
“research or planning in connexion with urban public transport” means scientific, technical or economic research, investigation or planning in connexion with public transport services in urban areas, and includes—
(a) the investigation of public transport services in urban areas in relation to other means of transportation in urban areas; and
(b) research into matters affecting the needs of persons requiring transportation in urban areas;
“urban area” means—
(a) an area designated for the purposes of the Census taken in the year 1971 as—
(i) the Sydney Statistical Division;
(ii) the Melbourne Statistical Division;
(iii) the Brisbane Statistical Division;
(iv) the Adelaide Statistical Division;
(v) the Perth Statistical Division; or
(vi) the Hobart Statistical Division; or
(b) a part of Australia that is, by virtue of a declaration under section 5, an urban area for the purposes of this Act;
“year to which this Act applies” means the period of 12 months that commenced on 1 July 1973.
(2) A reference in this Act to urban areas includes a reference to a particular urban area.
(3) A reference in this Act to an amount expended in respect of an approved project of a State is a reference to an amount expended in connexion with the carrying out of a work or other matter constituting or included in an approved project of the State, being a work or matter carried out in accordance with particulars of the work or matter approved by the Minister under section 4.
Approvals in respect of projects.
4. For the purposes of this Act, the Minister may—
(a) upon receipt of a request from a State, approve—
(i) a work or other matter by way of research or planning in connexion with urban public transport, being a work or matter carried out during the year to which this Act applies;
(ii) particulars of the work or matter so approved; and
(iii) the amount that is the approved cost of the work or matter so approved for the purposes of this Act; and
(b) revoke or vary any such approval.
Urban areas.
5. The Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, declare a specified part of Australia to be an urban area for the purposes of this Act, or vary such a declaration.
Grant of financial assistance to the States.
6. (1) Subject to this Act, where a State has, during the year to which this Act applies or, subject to sub-section (2), after the expiration of that year, expended an amount in respect of an approved project of the State, there is payable to the State, by way of financial assistance, an amount equal to two-thirds of the amount so expended.
(2) An amount is not payable to a State in relation to an amount expended by the State after the expiration of the year to which this Act applies unless—
(a) the amount is or was expended for the purposes of meeting commitments undertaken during that year; and
(b) the amount is or was so expended before 1 January 1975.
(3) The sum of the amounts paid under this Act to a State in respect of an approved project of the State shall not exceed two-thirds of the amount that is, for the purposes of this Act, the approved cost of the work or other matter comprising the project.
Limitations on expenditure on approved projects.
7. Payments (including advances) to the States under this Act—
(a) shall not exceed, in the aggregate, the sum of $ 1,000,000; and
(b) shall be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is appropriated accordingly.
Evidence of expenditure.
8. A State is not entitled to a payment under sub-section 6 (1) in relation to any expenditure in respect of a work or other matter comprising an approved project of the State unless the State has furnished the Treasurer with—
(a) a statement in respect of that expenditure, in accordance with a form approved by the Treasurer, accompanied by a certificate of the Auditor-General of the State certifying that, in his opinion, the amounts shown in the statement as having been expended were expended in respect of the approved project; and
(b) such further information, if any, as the Treasurer requires in respect of that expenditure.
Advances.
9. The Treasurer may, at such times as he thinks fit, make advances to a State of such amounts as he thinks fit on account of an amount that may become payable to the State under this Act.
Conditions.
10. Payment of an amount (including an advance) to a State under this Act in relation to an approved project of the State is subject to the conditions—
(a) that there will be furnished to the Minister by the State a comprehensive report concerning the results of the project; and
(b) that, if the Minister informs the Treasurer of the State that he is satisfied that the State has failed to fulfil the condition specified in paragraph (a), the State will repay that amount, or such part of that amount as the Minister specifies, to Australia.
Additional condition.
11. Payment of an amount (including an advance) to a State under this Act is subject to the condition that the State will repay to Australia, on demand by the Treasurer, the amount by which, at the time of the demand, the total of the amounts (including advances) paid to the State under this Act exceeds the total of the amounts that have become payable to the State under this Act.
Access to records.
12. A person authorized by the Minister may, at all reasonable times, inspect, and take copies of, or extracts from, any plans, designs, tenders, records or other documents relating to an approved project of a State.
NOTE
1. Act No. 46, 1974; assented to 21 August 1974.