Purpose:
The purpose of this legislation is to enhance the public good by building drought resilience in Australia.
Objectives:
- To establish the Future Drought Fund to enhance the Commonwealth’s ability to make arrangements and grants related to drought resilience.
- To transfer the balance and investments of the Building Australia Fund to the Future Drought Fund.
- To provide for the investment of the Future Drought Fund by the Future Fund Board to maximise return over the long term.
- To enable the Drought Minister to make arrangements and grants to persons or bodies for achieving drought resilience.
- To establish the Agriculture Future Drought Resilience Special Account to fund drought resilience arrangements and grants.
- To establish the Future Drought Fund Consultative Committee to provide advice on drought resilience funding.
Key Provisions:
- Establishment of the Future Drought Fund (Section 10) consisting of the Future Drought Fund Special Account and its investments.
- Transfer of the balance and investments from the former Building Australia Fund to the Future Drought Fund (Sections 11, 12).
- Debiting of amounts from the Future Drought Fund for purposes including transfers to the Agriculture Future Drought Resilience Special Account and costs related to fund management (Sections 15, 16, 17).
- Authority for the Drought Minister to make arrangements and grants for drought resilience projects, research, advice, services, and technology adoption (Section 21).
- Requirement for written agreements setting out terms and conditions for grants of financial assistance (Section 22).
- Establishment of the Agriculture Future Drought Resilience Special Account and annual transfers of $100 million from the Future Drought Fund to it (Sections 33, 34).
- Establishment of the Future Drought Fund Consultative Committee to advise the Drought Minister on drought resilience funding plans and program design (Sections 36B, 36D, 36E).
- Requirement for the Drought Minister to determine and comply with a Drought Resilience Funding Plan for coherent and consistent approach to arrangements and grants (Section 31).
- Mandate for the Future Fund Board to invest the Future Drought Fund with an objective to maximise long-term return and support transfers for drought resilience (Sections 38, 41, 42).
- Requirement for the Drought Minister to publish information relating to arrangements and grants on the Agriculture Department’s website (Section 27A).
Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:
- Compliance with Grant Terms and Conditions: Grant recipients must comply with the terms and conditions set out in a written agreement with the Commonwealth (Section 22(3)). This implies the need to maintain records demonstrating adherence to project scope, financial expenditure, and other agreed-upon obligations specified in their grant agreement.
- Repayment of Amounts: Grant recipients must repay amounts to the Commonwealth in circumstances specified in the written agreement (Section 22(4)). Evidence of compliance would involve clear financial records and, if a breach occurs, documentation of the repayment action.
- Alignment with Drought Resilience Funding Plan: While not a direct compliance requirement for organisations, their applications for arrangements or grants under Section 21 and 22 would need to demonstrate alignment with the prevailing Drought Resilience Funding Plan (Section 25). This implies that organisations seeking funding would need to understand and address the objectives and strategies outlined in the current plan.
- Publication of Information: For each arrangement or grant made, the Agriculture Department’s website will publish information including the name of the recipient and the purpose of the arrangement or grant (Section 27A(1)(d)). While this is a governmental reporting requirement, it means agricultural organisations receiving funds will have their details publicly available as part of the transparency measures.
Metadata Keywords:
Drought resilience, Agriculture, Funding, Grants, Investments, Commonwealth, Future Fund, Regional Investment Corporation, Policy
Publication Information:
Compilation date: 6 July 2024
Includes amendments: Act No. 54, 2024
Registered: 13 July 2024
Agricultural Industry Alignment:
Beef & Veal, Chicken, Coarse Grains, Cotton, Dairy, Eggs, Fisheries, Forestry, Horticulture, Oilseeds, Pig, Sheep Meat, Sugar, Wheat, Wine, Wool.
Date Added to database:
This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025
URL:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2019A00055/2024-07-06/2024-07-06/text/original/pdf →