2008

The Legislative Assembly for the 
Australian Capital Territory

Water Resources (Validation of Fees) Bill 2008

Explanatory Statement

Circulated by authority of
Jon Stanhope MLA
Minister for the Environment, Water and Climate Change

OVERVIEW

The Water Resources (Validation of Fees) Bill 2008 (the Bill) validates fees charged for water-related licences and fees under the Water Resources Act 1998 (the former Act) from 1 July 2007 until 31 July 2007.  

Between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 fees under the former Act were set by the Water Resources (Fees) Determination 2006 (No 1) (DI2006-138).  However between 1 July 2007 and 31 July 2007 no valid fee determination operated under the former Act in the transition to the new Water Resources Act 2007 (the new Act), which repealed and replaced the former Act on 1 August 2007.  A new fee determination, made under the new Act, took effect from 1 August 2007.  The resulting one month gap between valid fee determinations led to the collection of approximately $1,700,000.00 in licence fees (substantially water abstraction charges collected from ACTEW) without proper authority.

The fees thus validated by this Bill do not differ from the fees set for financial year 2006-07 by DI2006-138.

CLAUSES 1, 2 AND 3: FORMAL CLAUSES 
Clauses 1 – 3 are formal clauses which:
•	state the name of the Act being created;
•	provide for commencement of the Act; and
•	explain the role of notes in the Act.

CLAUSE 4: VALIDATION OF FEES
Clause 4 extends the operation of the Water Resources (Fees) Determination 2006 No 1 (DI2006-138) to cover the period between 1 July 2007 and 31 July 2007 in order to validate the licence fees that have been charged under the former Act for that period.

CLAUSE 5: EXPIRY
Clause 5 provides for the expiry of the Act on the day after notification.