{"id":"C2004A04569","name":"Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (Environmental Management Charge—Excise) Act 1993","slug":"great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"14 of 1993","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":26857,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2004A04569-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title [see Note 1]","content":"#### 1 Short title \\[see Note 1\\]\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (Environmental Management Charge—Excise) Act 1993.","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement [see Note 1]","content":"#### 2 Commencement \\[see Note 1\\]\n\n  This Act commences, or is taken to have commenced, as the case requires, on the commencement of Part VA of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Application of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975","content":"#### 3 Application of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975\n\n  Sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 apply in relation to this Act in a corresponding way to the way in which they apply in relation to that Act.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Imposition of charge","content":"#### 4 Imposition of charge\n\n  (1) Charge payable in accordance with section 39B of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 is imposed.\n  (2) This section imposes charge only so far as that charge is a duty of excise within the meaning of section 55 of the Constitution.","sortOrder":3}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act narrows the scope of an environmental management charge by importing the charge in section 39B of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 but limiting imposition to the extent the charge qualifies as a duty of excise under section 55 of the Constitution (see section 4(1)–(2)). The Act also ties its operation and timing to external provisions (sections 4 and 5, and Part VA), meaning its practical scope is defined by those referenced provisions rather than by new, standalone rules in this Act (see sections 2–4)."},"complexity_factors":["Cross-reference to section 39B of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 for the substantive charge (creates reliance on external text).","Application of sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 to this Act in a corresponding way (delegates operational detail to those provisions).","Constitutional limitation: the charge applies only insofar as it is a duty of excise within section 55 of the Constitution (requires constitutional interpretation).","Commencement dependency on the commencement of Part VA of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (timing contingent on another provision).","Minimal standalone detail in the Act itself, so practical effects depend on interpretation and implementation of referenced provisions."],"plain_english_summary":"What this law does, mechanically\n\n- This Act creates an obligation to pay an \"environmental management charge\" by importing the charge described in section 39B of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 into this separate Act (see section 4(1)).\n- The Act only imposes that obligation to the extent the charge qualifies as a duty of excise under section 55 of the Constitution (see section 4(2)).\n- The Act comes into force at the same time as Part VA of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (see section 2).\n- Sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 are applied to this Act in the same way they apply to that Act (see section 3).\n\nWho pays and who decides (source-grounded)\n\n- The persons required to pay are those who are liable under section 39B of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975; this Act does not restate that liability but imports the charge by reference (see section 4(1)).\n- The legal limit on who can be required to pay is set by the Constitution: the charge is imposed only so far as it is a duty of excise within the meaning of section 55 of the Constitution (see section 4(2)).\n- Timing for when this Act has effect is controlled by the commencement of Part VA of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (see section 2). Administrative arrangements, procedures or powers that are in sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 are applied to this Act in a corresponding manner, so operational detail will follow from those sections (see section 3).\n\nIncentives, costs and compliance mechanics (source-grounded)\n\n- Direct payer impact: persons who are liable under section 39B will face an added monetary cost to the extent that the relevant charge is an excise (see section 4(1)–(2)).\n- Legal constraint: because the Act limits the charge to duties of excise (section 4(2)), some potential levies that would not meet the constitutional test are excluded by operation of this Act.\n- Administrative dependency: enforcement, collection, exemptions, penalties or other operational details are not set out in this short Act; instead, the Act relies on section 39B and on sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 being applied correspondingly (see sections 3 and 4(1)). That means compliance procedures and administrative discretion will be determined by those external provisions.\n\nTrade-offs, risks and implementation notes (source-grounded)\n\n- Dependence on external provisions: interpretation and administration depend on the content of section 39B and of sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975. This Act itself is largely a vehicle that imposes the charge only insofar as constitutional authority exists (see sections 3 and 4).\n- Constitutional gatekeeping: section 4(2) narrows the Act’s practical reach by excluding any part of the charge that would not qualify as an excise under section 55 of the Constitution; that is a legal limit rather than an administrative exemption (see section 4(2)).\n- Implementation timing: because commencement is linked to the commencement of Part VA of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975, the effective start date is contingent on that other provision commencing (see section 2)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"circular_definition","section":"2","severity":"low","reasoning":"The Act commences on the commencement of Part VA of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975. If Part VA never commenced, or if there is ambiguity about when it commenced, this Act has no determinable commencement date. The phrase 'commences, or is taken to have commenced, as the case requires' suggests the drafters anticipated retrospective application scenarios, which introduces uncertainty about whether the Act was ever validly in force during any gap period between its passage and Part VA's commencement.","confidence":0.55,"description":"Circular/contingent commencement creating potential temporal uncertainty"},{"type":"other","section":"4(2)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 4(2) restricts the imposition of charge only to the extent it constitutes a duty of excise under s55 of the Constitution. This is a standard drafting device used in tandem with a companion Act covering the customs duty head of power. However, taken alone, if the charge is determined by a court to not be a duty of excise at all, the section imposes nothing — meaning the entire operative effect of the Act collapses to zero. The Act contains no fallback or savings mechanism. The Act's entire substantive content (a single imposition clause) is wholly contingent on a constitutional characterisation that is never defined or tested within the Act itself.","confidence":0.65,"description":"Self-limiting imposition clause that may render the Act redundant or incomplete"},{"type":"other","section":"3","severity":"low","reasoning":"Section 3 applies sections 4 and 5 of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 'in a corresponding way' without explaining what 'corresponding' means in the context of this much shorter and narrower Act. If sections 4 and 5 of the parent Act contain provisions that have no logical analogue in this Act, the incorporation is either meaningless or creates unintended obligations. The phrase 'in a corresponding way' is inherently ambiguous and delegates interpretive work to administrators and courts without guidance.","confidence":0.5,"description":"Wholesale incorporation of external provisions without specifying which aspects are relevant"}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"4(1)","section_b":"4(2)","confidence":0.72,"description":"Section 4(1) states flatly that '[c]harge payable in accordance with section 39B of the [parent Act] is imposed,' suggesting a complete and unconditional imposition. Section 4(2) then contradicts this by confining the imposition solely to charges that are duties of excise within s55 of the Constitution. The result is that the apparently absolute statement in 4(1) is immediately qualified into a partial imposition in 4(2), creating an internal tension: the charge is both 'imposed' (4(1)) and only imposed to a limited constitutional extent (4(2)). Any portion of the charge that does not meet the s55 excise characterisation is simultaneously 'imposed' by 4(1) and not imposed by 4(2), producing a logical contradiction as to the legal status of that portion."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act has a narrow, technical and well-defined purpose: to constitutionally validate the imposition of the environmental management charge as an excise duty. There is no indication the scope has shifted from this original intent. It remains a purely enabling/constitutional formality Act."},"complexity_factors":["Very short Act with only four operative sections","Complexity is largely hidden — it relies almost entirely on another Act (the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975) for substantive detail","Requires understanding of the constitutional distinction between 'excise' and other forms of taxation (s55 of the Constitution) to fully appreciate why it exists","Cross-referencing to external legislation (Part VA and sections 39B, 4, and 5 of the 1975 Act) adds a layer of complexity for readers trying to understand the full picture"],"plain_english_summary":"## Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (Environmental Management Charge—Excise) Act 1993\n\n**What does this law do?**\nThis short Act formally imposes an **environmental management charge** (a fee) on certain activities within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It is the legal mechanism that allows the government to collect money from tourism operators and others who commercially use the Marine Park.\n\n**Why does it exist as a separate Act?**\nThis is a technicality of the Australian Constitution. The Constitution requires that taxes classified as **\"duties of excise\"** (taxes on goods or services produced or consumed domestically) must be imposed by a separate, specific Act of Parliament. This Act exists solely to satisfy that constitutional requirement — the actual rules about *who* pays, *how much*, and *when* are all set out in the main **Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975**.\n\n**Who does this affect?**\nPrimarily **commercial tourism operators** — such as dive companies, reef tour boats, and other businesses — who need permits to operate in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The charge they pay helps fund the management and protection of the reef.\n\n**Key takeaway for ordinary people:**\nYou likely won't deal with this Act directly. But if you've ever paid for a reef tour and noticed a small levy included in the price, this is part of the legal foundation for that charge. The money collected goes toward protecting the Great Barrier Reef."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This legislation has remained tightly focused on its original purpose since 1993. It was always intended as a constitutional 'wrapper' to validate the environmental management charge as an excise duty, and it continues to serve only that function. The substantive rules about rates, collection, and enforcement have always lived in the parent Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely short — only 4 operative sections","No defined terms section; relies entirely on definitions in the parent Act (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975)","Minimal conditional logic — essentially one trigger (section 39B of the parent Act) and one constitutional limitation (section 55)","Heavy reliance on external legislation — the entire substance of what is being taxed and how much is located in a different Act","No exceptions, exemptions, or administrative machinery in this Act itself"],"plain_english_summary":"This law creates a special tax called an 'environmental management charge' for visitors to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It works alongside the main Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Imposes a charge** (a fee) on people who use the Marine Park for commercial tourism activities — things like reef tours, diving trips, and scenic flights.\n- **Limits itself to 'excise' duties** — this is a constitutional trick. Under Australia's Constitution (section 55), only the federal government can impose excise taxes. By framing this charge as an excise duty, the law ensures the fee is constitutionally valid and can't be challenged by the states.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Tourists indirectly (they pay the charge as part of their tour price)\n- Tourism operators who collect the charge and pass it to the government\n- The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which uses the money to manage and protect the reef\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThe money raised helps fund reef protection, research, and management. Without this law, there'd be no clear constitutional basis for the federal government to collect this specific fee, potentially leaving reef management underfunded."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993","history":"/api/acts/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993/history","analysis":"/api/acts/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-environmental-management-charge-excise-act-1993/documents"}}