{"id":"C1951A00039","name":"Cotton Bounty Act 1951","slug":"cotton-bounty-act-1951","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"39 of 1951","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":4557,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1951A00039-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Cotton Bounty Act 1951","content":"COTTON BOUNTY.\n\nNo. 39 of 1951.\n\nAn Act to provide for the Payment of a Bounty on the Production of Seed Cotton.\n\n\\[Assented to 5th December, 1951.\\]\n\n\\[Date of commencement, 2nd January, 1952.\\]\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, for the purpose of appropriating the grant originated in the House of Representatives, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Cotton Bounty Act 1951.\n\n  \n\nRepeal.\n\n2.—(1.) The Acts specified in the Schedule to this Act are repealed.\n\n(2.) Bounty under the Acts repealed by this section is not payable in respect of raw cotton produced from seed cotton harvested on or after the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-one.\n\nDefinitions.\n\n3.—(1.) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—\n\n“authorized person” means a person appointed by the Minister under section eleven of this Act to be an authorized person for the purposes of the provision in which the expression occurs;\n\n“bounty” means bounty under this Act;\n\n“Collector” means Collector of Customs for a State;\n\n“ginnery” means premises registered by the Minister as a ginnery under section nine of this Act;\n\n“grower” means a grower of seed cotton;\n\n“processor” means a person, firm, corporation or growers’ co-operative institution who or which purchases or otherwise acquires seed cotton from growers and produces, at a ginnery, raw cotton from that seed cotton;\n\n“raw cotton” means the natural fibrous hairs of the seed of the cotton plant, separated from the seed by the process of ginning;\n\n“seed cotton” means cotton seed with the natural fibrous hairs attached, as extracted from the ripened bolls of the cotton plant;\n\n“the Comptroller-General” means the Comptroller-General of Customs;\n\n“year” means a period commencing on the first day of January and ending on the following thirty-first day of December.\n\n(2.) Premises which were, at any time before the commencement of this Act, a ginnery for the purposes of the Raw Cotton Bounty Act 1940-1946 shall be deemed to have been at that time a ginnery for the purposes of this Act.\n\nAppropriation.\n\n4. The bounty specified in this Act is payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated accordingly.\n\nSpecification of bounty.\n\n5. Subject to this Act, bounty is payable in respect of seed cotton which has been—\n\n(a) harvested in Australia on or after the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-one;\n\n(b) delivered to a ginnery on or before the thirty-first day of December, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-five; and\n\n(c) processed at a ginnery into raw cotton which has been sold for use in Australia.\n\nGrade and quality.\n\n6. Bounty is not payable in respect of seed cotton unless it is of a grade higher than the grade known as “strict good ordinary” and is of good and merchantable quality.\n\n  \n\nTo whom bounty payable.\n\n7.—(1.) Bounty is payable, subject to this Act, to the processor for distribution to growers as provided by the next succeeding subsection.\n\n(2.) A processor to whom bounty is paid shall distribute it, in such manner and subject to such conditions (if any) as are prescribed, to the growers of the seed cotton in respect of which the bounty is paid.\n\nRate of bounty.\n\n8.—(1.) Where the average price per pound for all the seed cotton, in respect of which bounty is payable, delivered to a processor by growers in a year (being the amount ascertained by dividing the total of the amounts paid by that processor for that seed cotton by a number equal to the number of pounds of that seed cotton) is less than Ninepence half-penny, there is payable as bounty in respect of that seed cotton an amount per pound equal to the difference between that average price and Ninepence half-penny.\n\n(2.) Where the Minister is satisfied that the total of the amounts paid for seed cotton by a processor to growers of seed cotton, in respect of which bounty is payable, delivered in a year is less than the amount remaining after deducting from the proceeds of the sale by the processor of the raw cotton produced from the seed cotton and of by-products of that seed cotton a reasonable amount for expenses of ginning and of administration, the bounty payable in respect of that seed cotton shall be reduced by the amount of the deficiency.\n\nRegistration of ginneries.\n\n9.—(1.) A person, firm, corporation or growers’ co-operative institution may apply to the Minister for the registration as a ginnery of premises at which he or it carries on, or proposes to carry on, the production of raw cotton.\n\n(2.) The Minister may require an applicant under this section to furnish such information as the Minister considers necessary for the purposes of this Act, and may refuse to register the premises until the information is furnished to his satisfaction.\n\n(3.) Subject to the last preceding sub-section, if, in the opinion of the Minister, seed cotton is, or is proposed to be, ginned in accordance with the prescribed conditions (if any) at the premises in respect of which the application is made, he shall register those premises as a ginnery for the purposes of this Act.\n\n(4.) Where the Minister is satisfied that raw cotton is not being produced at a ginnery, or is not being so produced in accordance with the prescribed conditions (if any), he may, by notice in writing served by post on the occupier of the ginnery, cancel the registration of the ginnery.\n\nAccounts.\n\n10.—(1.) A processor who receives bounty shall keep, to the satisfaction of the Minister, an account showing the amounts of bounty received by him and the amounts of bounty distributed by him to growers.\n\n  \n\n(2.) A processor shall, within three months after receiving a final payment of bounty in respect of the cotton delivered to him in a year, furnish to the Comptroller-General a statement of the receipts and disbursements of that bounty as recorded in the account referred to in the last preceding sub-section, and such other statements in relation to receipts and disbursements of bounty as the Minister requires.\n\n(3.) The processor shall furnish with the statements referred to in the last preceding sub-section a certificate signed by him that they are true and correct in every particular and a certificate, signed by an auditor, that they are true and correct to the best of the auditor’s knowledge and belief.\n\nPenalty: One hundred pounds.\n\nAppointment of authorized persons.\n\n11. The Minister may, in relation to a provision of this Act, by writing under his hand, appoint a person to be an authorized person for the purposes of that provision.\n\nStocktaking and inspection of production and accounts.\n\n12.—(1.) An authorized person may, at all reasonable times, enter a ginnery or other premises where seed cotton in respect of which bounty has been paid or claimed is or has been stored or where raw cotton produced from any such seed cotton is or has been produced or stored and may—\n\n(a) inspect or take stock of the seed cotton or raw cotton;\n\n(b) take samples of the seed cotton or raw cotton;\n\n(c) inspect the processes of production of the raw cotton; and\n\n(d) inspect the accounts, books and documents of the processor relating to the production and sale of the raw cotton.\n\n(2.) The owner or occupier of the ginnery or other premises shall provide the authorized person with all reasonable facilities and assistance for the effective exercise of his powers under this section.\n\nPenalty: Fifty pounds.\n\nPower to require persons to answer questions and produce documents.\n\n13.—(1.) The Comptroller-General, a Collector or an authorized person may, by notice in writing, require a person whom he believes to be capable of giving information, relevant to the operation of this Act, in relation to the production, storage or sale of raw cotton which has been produced from seed cotton on which bounty has been claimed or paid, to attend before him at the time and place specified in the notice, and then and there to answer questions and to produce to him such accounts, books and documents in relation to the production, storage or sale of the raw cotton as are referred to in the notice.\n\n(2.) The Comptroller-General, the Collector or the authorized person to whom accounts, books or documents are produced in pursuance of this section may make and retain copies of, or extracts from, those accounts, books or documents.\n\n  \n\n(3.) A person is not excused from answering a question or producing accounts, books or documents when required so to do under this section on the ground that the answer to the question or the production of the accounts, books or documents might tend to incriminate him or make him liable to a penalty, but his answer to the question is not admissible in evidence against him in proceedings other than proceedings for an offence against this Act.\n\n(4.) Where a processor or a person employed by a processor has failed to attend or to answer a question, or to produce any account, book or document when required so to do under this section, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, withhold payment of any bounty payable to the processor until the processor or that person has attended, answered the question or furnished the account, book or document, as the case may be.\n\nPower to examine on oath.\n\n14.—(1.) The Comptroller-General, a Collector or an authorized person may administer an oath to a person required to attend before him in pursuance of the last preceding section and may examine that person on oath.\n\n(2.) Where any such person conscientiously objects to take an oath, he may make an affirmation that he conscientiously objects to take an oath and that he will state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to all questions asked him.\n\n(3.) An affirmation so made is of the same force and effect, and entails the same penalties, as an oath.\n\nPenalty for refusing to answer questions, &c.\n\n15. A person shall not refuse or fail—\n\n(a) to attend before the Comptroller-General, a Collector, or an authorized person;\n\n(b) to be sworn or to make an affirmation; or\n\n(c) to answer questions or produce any account, book or document,\n\nwhen so required in pursuance of this Act.\n\nPenalty: Fifty pounds.\n\nSecurity for compliance with Act.\n\n16. The Minister may require a processor to give security by bond, guarantee or cash deposit, or by all or any of those methods, for compliance by him with the provisions of this Act and the regulations or for the performance of an undertaking given by him in pursuance of this Act or the regulations, and the processor shall give security accordingly.\n\nBounty not payable unless Act complied with.\n\n17. Bounty is not payable to a processor unless he satisfies the Minister that the requirements of this Act and the regulations have been substantially complied with.\n\nOffences.\n\n18.—(1.) A person shall not—\n\n(a) obtain bounty which is not payable;\n\n(b) obtain payment of bounty by means of a false or misleading statement; or\n\n  \n\n(c) present to an officer or other person doing duty in relation to this Act or the regulations an account, book or document, or make to such an officer or person a statement, which is false or misleading in a particular.\n\nPenalty: Five hundred pounds or imprisonment for twelve months.\n\n(2.) Where a person is convicted under the last preceding subsection, the court may, in addition to imposing a penalty under that sub-section, order the person to refund to the Commonwealth the amount of any bounty wrongfully obtained.\n\n(3.) Where a court has made an order under the last preceding sub-section, a certificate under the hand of the clerk or other appropriate officer of the court, specifying the amount ordered to be refunded and the person by whom the amount is payable, may be filed in a court having civil jurisdiction to the extent of that amount and is thereupon enforceable in all respects as a final judgment of that court.\n\nReturn for Parliament.\n\n19.—(1.) The Comptroller-General shall, not later than the thirty-first day of August next following each year in the period of five years commencing with the year One thousand nine hundred and fifty-one, prepare a return setting forth, in relation to bounty paid in respect of seed cotton delivered to processors during that year—\n\n(a) the name and address of each processor to whom bounty was paid;\n\n(b) the quantity of seed cotton in respect of which bounty was paid to each processor;\n\n(c) the amount of bounty paid to each processor;\n\n(d) the number of growers of seed cotton to whom each processor distributed bounty; and\n\n(e) such other particulars (if any) as are prescribed.\n\n(2.) The Comptroller-General shall cause a copy of the return to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within fifteen sitting days of that House after the thirty-first day of August next following the end of the year to which the return relates.\n\nRegulations.\n\n20. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act, and in particular for prescribing—\n\n(a) the form and manner in which, and the time within which, applications for bounty shall be made;\n\n(b) the notice to be given by processors of their intention to claim bounty; and\n\n(c) penalties not exceeding Fifty pounds for a breach of the regulations.\n\n  \n\nSection 2. THE SCHEDULE\n\nACTS REPEALED.\n\nRaw Cotton Bounty Act 1940.\n\nRaw Cotton Bounty Act 1941.\n\nRaw Cotton Bounty Act (No. 2) 1941.\n\nRaw Cotton Bounty Act 1946.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act is a direct continuation and consolidation of the Raw Cotton Bounty Acts 1940–1946, which it expressly repeals and replaces. Its scope is tightly confined to the same purpose as its predecessors: paying a production bounty on Australian seed cotton to support domestic growers. There is no evidence of scope creep — the subject matter, mechanism, and beneficiaries are essentially identical to the earlier scheme, with the only material changes being updated dates and refined compliance machinery. The Act was always intended as a short-term industry support measure and remains exactly that."},"complexity_factors":["10 defined terms in the interpretation section (s.3), adding moderate definitional overhead","Conditional bounty rate formula in s.8(1) requires arithmetic calculation based on average price per pound","Nested reduction mechanism in s.8(2) — bounty is reduced where the Minister is satisfied processors have underpaid growers, introducing a subjective ministerial judgment layer","Multiple enforcement actors with overlapping powers (Comptroller-General, Collectors of Customs, and authorised persons), requiring cross-referencing between ss.11–15","Self-incrimination carve-out with admissibility limitation in s.13(3) — a nuanced evidentiary rule","Quality and grade condition in s.6 cross-references an external industry grading standard ('strict good ordinary') not defined in the Act itself","Time-limited scheme with multiple operative dates (harvest date, delivery deadline, five-year reporting window) creating eligibility conditions that must be read together across ss.2, 5, and 19","Repeal and transitional provisions in s.2 and s.3(2) require cross-referencing with predecessor legislation"],"plain_english_summary":"## Cotton Bounty Act 1951 — Plain English Summary\n\n### What is this law about?\n\nThis Act set up a **government subsidy (bounty)** to support Australian cotton farmers. Specifically, it paid money to encourage the production of **seed cotton** (raw cotton still attached to the seed, as pulled from the cotton boll) that was grown and processed in Australia.\n\n---\n\n### Who does it affect?\n\n- **Growers** — farmers who grew seed cotton in Australia\n- **Processors** — businesses (individuals, companies, or growers' cooperatives) that bought seed cotton from farmers, ginned it (separated the cotton fibre from the seed) at a registered facility called a **ginnery**, and sold the resulting raw cotton\n- **The Commonwealth government** — which funded the bounty from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (the main federal government account)\n\n---\n\n### How did the bounty work?\n\n- The bounty applied to seed cotton **harvested from 1 January 1951** and **delivered to a ginnery by 31 December 1955**\n- The raw cotton produced from that seed cotton had to be **sold for use in Australia** (not exported)\n- Only cotton above a minimum quality grade (\"strict good ordinary\") qualified\n- The bounty rate was a **top-up payment**: if the average price farmers received was less than **ninepence halfpenny per pound** of seed cotton, the government paid the difference — essentially a price floor to guarantee farmers a minimum return\n- However, if a processor was paying farmers less than they should have (pocketing more than a fair share of the proceeds after ginning costs), the bounty would be **reduced accordingly** — a built-in fairness check\n\n---\n\n### Who received the money?\n\nThe bounty was paid to the **processor**, but the processor was legally required to **pass it on to the growers** whose cotton was used. Processors had to keep proper accounts, get them audited, and report to the government.\n\n---\n\n### Compliance and enforcement\n\n- Processors had to **register their ginnery** with the Minister; registration could be cancelled for non-compliance\n- Government inspectors (\"authorised persons\") could enter ginneries to inspect cotton, take samples, check production processes, and review financial records\n- Officials could **compel people to answer questions under oath** — even if the answers might be self-incriminating (though those answers couldn't be used against them in other proceedings)\n- Processors could be required to provide **security** (like a bond or cash deposit) to guarantee compliance\n- **Penalties** applied for fraud, false statements, or obstructing inspectors — up to £500 or 12 months' imprisonment for serious offences\n- Courts could order **repayment** of any bounty wrongly obtained\n\n---\n\n### Transparency\n\nThe Comptroller-General of Customs was required to prepare an **annual report to Parliament** for each year of the scheme, listing how much bounty was paid, to whom, for how much cotton, and how many farmers benefited.\n\n---\n\n### Why does it matter?\n\nThis law was a short-term, time-limited government support scheme for the Australian cotton industry during the early 1950s — essentially a **rural industry assistance measure** designed to keep domestic cotton farming viable by guaranteeing farmers a minimum price. It replaced a series of earlier Raw Cotton Bounty Acts dating back to 1940."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 2(2)","severity":"high","reasoning":"Section 2(2) cuts off bounty under the old Acts for seed cotton harvested on or after 1 January 1951. The new Act commences 2 January 1952. This creates an 11-month legislative gap in 1951 where neither the old Acts nor the new Act were operative. Growers harvesting seed cotton throughout 1951 could not have known the legal basis for any bounty claim, and no bounty scheme was technically in force at the time of their harvest. While Section 5(a) of the new Act retrospectively extends eligibility back to 1 January 1951, the gap between the old Acts being cut off and the new Act commencing creates a period of retroactive impossibility — growers could not comply with a scheme that did not yet exist.","confidence":0.85,"description":"The repealing provision retrospectively removes bounty entitlements for raw cotton produced from seed cotton harvested on or after 1 January 1951 — but this Act was not assented to until 5 December 1951 and did not commence until 2 January 1952. This means that for the entire calendar year of 1951, growers and processors harvesting and processing seed cotton had no clear legislative basis for bounty claims: the old Acts were prospectively stripped of effect from January 1951, yet the new Act did not exist to replace them until December 1951."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 3(1) — definition of 'ginnery'","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The definition of 'ginnery' derives its entire meaning from the act of ministerial registration under s9, rather than from any substantive description of the premises or activities conducted there. Section 9 itself uses the word 'ginnery' in its heading and subprovisions without adding independent content. The practical effect is that a 'ginnery' is a ginnery because the Minister says so, with no independent criteria anchoring the definition. This creates a circular loop: you need to be a ginnery to be registered as one, but you only become a ginnery upon registration.","confidence":0.75,"description":"The definition of 'ginnery' is circular: a ginnery is defined as 'premises registered by the Minister as a ginnery under section nine of this Act'. Section 9, in turn, refers repeatedly to 'a ginnery' and 'registration as a ginnery'. The definition tells you nothing about what a ginnery actually is — only that it is premises registered as one."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 8(1)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 8(1) instructs the calculator to average the price of 'all seed cotton in respect of which bounty is payable' — but bounty payability depends, partly, on compliance with this same section. The scope of the average (which parcels to include) can only be determined after bounty payability is established, yet the average is required to determine the bounty amount. While this may be resolvable in practice through sequential eligibility testing under ss.5–6 before applying s.8, the drafting creates an internal logical loop that requires careful untangling.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The bounty rate calculation requires knowing the 'average price per pound for all seed cotton in respect of which bounty is payable' delivered in a year — but whether bounty is payable on any given parcel of seed cotton cannot be determined until the average price is already known. Bounty eligibility under ss.5 and 6 affects what goes into the average price calculation, and the average price determines the bounty rate, creating a logical circularity."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 19(2)","severity":"low","reasoning":"The phrase 'within fifteen sitting days of that House after the thirty-first day of August next following the end of the year' creates an ambiguity: does the fifteen-day clock start on 31 August (the preparation deadline), or after 31 August? If the return is due by 31 August and tabling must occur within fifteen sitting days after 31 August, there is a workable window. However, the drafting does not guarantee the return will be ready before 31 August — it says 'not later than', meaning it could be completed on 31 August, leaving zero buffer for transmission to Parliament before the tabling clock starts. This is an administrative awkwardness rather than an impossibility, but it creates genuine practical difficulty.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The Comptroller-General is required to table a return in each House of Parliament 'within fifteen sitting days of that House after the thirty-first day of August next following the end of the year to which the return relates'. The return must be prepared by 31 August following each year. The tabling obligation is therefore triggered by the same 31 August deadline that produces the return — meaning the return must be both prepared and tabled by or within fifteen sitting days of the date it is due to be completed. If the return is not completed until 31 August itself, tabling must occur within fifteen sitting days of the very day the return was finalised."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Section 10(3)","severity":"low","reasoning":"It is logically incongruous to require a non-expert processor to certify absolute truth while allowing the trained auditor to certify only to the best of their knowledge. The auditor, who presumably has superior skills in verifying financial records, has a lower standard imposed. This creates an internal inconsistency in the evidentiary and compliance framework: the person least capable of detecting errors is held to absolute accuracy while the expert verifier enjoys a qualification. This risks creating an impossible compliance standard for processors who cannot be certain of absolute correctness in complex accounts.","confidence":0.8,"description":"Section 10(3) requires a processor to attach a certificate that statements are 'true and correct in every particular', and separately an auditor's certificate that they are 'true and correct to the best of the auditor's knowledge and belief'. The processor's certificate carries an absolute standard ('in every particular') while the auditor's certificate carries a qualified standard ('to the best of knowledge and belief'). This means the processor is held to a higher standard of certainty than the professional auditor engaged to verify the same documents."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2(2)","section_b":"Section 5(a)","confidence":0.82,"description":"Section 2(2) removes bounty entitlement under the old Acts for seed cotton harvested on or after 1 January 1951, while Section 5(a) grants bounty under the new Act for seed cotton harvested on or after 1 January 1951. Together, these provisions attempt to create a seamless handover, but since the new Act did not commence until 2 January 1952, there is a contradictory period in 1951 where: (a) the old Act expressly denies bounty, and (b) the new Act's entitlement had not yet come into existence. The retrospective operation of s.5(a) partially resolves this, but creates tension with the principle that rights cannot arise under legislation before its commencement."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 7(1)","section_b":"Section 8(2)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 7(1) says bounty is payable to the processor 'for distribution to growers'. Section 8(2) provides that where the total amounts paid by a processor to growers are less than the net proceeds (after ginning and admin costs), the bounty shall be 'reduced by the amount of the deficiency'. This creates a contradiction: the purpose of the bounty under s.7 is to supplement grower income via the processor, yet s.8(2) effectively penalises the processor (by reducing bounty) for not paying growers enough — without any mechanism ensuring the reduction is not simply absorbed by the processor rather than passed on, potentially defeating the grower-protection purpose entirely."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 13(3)","section_b":"Section 15","confidence":0.72,"description":"Section 13(3) provides that a person cannot refuse to answer questions or produce documents on the grounds of self-incrimination, but their answers are inadmissible 'in proceedings other than proceedings for an offence against this Act'. Section 15 then makes it a separate offence to refuse to answer or produce documents. Read together, a person who answers questions compelled under s.13 has those answers admissible against them in a s.15 proceeding (for refusal), which is internally contradictory — but more importantly, a person faces the dilemma of either answering and having their answers used against them in Act-related prosecutions, or refusing and being prosecuted under s.15. The protection in s.13(3) is narrower than it appears, creating tension with the coercive machinery of s.15."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 9(3)","section_b":"Section 3(2)","confidence":0.78,"description":"Section 3(2) deems premises that were a ginnery under the old Raw Cotton Bounty Act 1940-1946 to have been a ginnery for the purposes of the new Act 'at that time'. However, Section 9(3) requires the Minister to form an opinion that seed cotton 'is, or is proposed to be, ginned in accordance with the prescribed conditions' before registering a ginnery. The deeming provision in s.3(2) bypasses the ministerial satisfaction requirement of s.9(3), meaning old ginneries are automatically deemed registered without the Minister ever forming the requisite opinion — potentially including premises that could not satisfy the new prescribed conditions."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/cotton-bounty-act-1951","history":"/api/acts/cotton-bounty-act-1951/history","analysis":"/api/acts/cotton-bounty-act-1951/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/cotton-bounty-act-1951/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/cotton-bounty-act-1951/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/cotton-bounty-act-1951/documents"}}